Woody Guthrie

Lyrics that stick…

Tim: Had a line about getting robbed—"Some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen."
Pete: Woody Guthrie! “Pretty Boy Floyd.” Sang about justice, struggles of working folks.
Tim: Ah. And trains? Something about “This land…”
Pete: “This Land Is Your Land.” That’s his most famous one, but his songs weren’t just about the land—they were about people, railroad workers, even outlaws.
Tim: So folk music was more than just songs—more like stories?
Pete: Yup. Folk music is storytelling put to melody. Voices of farmers, laborers, wanderers—all carried on a simple tune. No fancy production, no gimmicks—just a person, a voice, and six strings.
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Voice-over
Woody inspired a lot of others - Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez. Folk music developed into protest songs. Nostalgia of the 60s.

Cross-cultural attitudes to self-deprecation

American

An American and a Japanese on a cross-cultural difference …

American: What does self-deprecatory mean in Japanese? Downplaying...

Japanese

Japanese: Like expressing humility or modesty? Herikudaru? When you praise someone for cooking and they reply, “Oh no, I’m hopeless at it.”

American: That’s it. And then it seems, in a self-deprecatory culture, what’s expected as a rejoinder is something like. “Oh but I can’t even boil an egg.”

Japanese: Yes, it’s sort of a game, what you might call competitive modesty.

American: There’s certainly competitive boasting. I mean, it’s OK for us Americans to blow our own trumpet, toot our own horn.

Japanese: Hmm. Brass bands are popular in the U.S. I hear.

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Voice-over

Self deprecatory (へりくだる) means undervaluing or being modest about oneself. It is used to not appear too boastful, sometimes to counter uncertainty about how to act, also used for humorous effect. British, New Zealanders, and some Asian people such as the Japanese are noted for their tendency to self-deprecate.

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