Oops, Your Culture's Showing!

With tumult in the streets of France – borne out of peaceful student-led protests over education and living standards – we feel it is the perfect time to reissue our August 2021 episode on French culture, “France. Mais Oui.” Culture is an incredibly powerful – and all too often underappreciated – driver of what we as humans do (and don’t do), whether that be deciding to cross the street or to take to the streets. Prenez soin de vous. Bonjour mes amis! In this episode, Dean and Tom promenade along the riverbanks of French culture, from Descartes and Cartesian Logic to French cheese, wine, champagne, fashion, and art, to bringing dogs inside of restaurants. We invite you to revel in the hosts’ joie de vivre without delay, s’il vous plaît; à bientôt! ***Dean’s newest book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

We’re back from summer break, dear listeners, to finish talking turkey about Dean’s visit to Turkey! In this episode, Dean brings Tom and Torin along as he explores the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), gets hopped up on Turkish coffee, and schleps between two and twenty-seven rugs. Once again: ‘Tadını çıkar!’ (In English: ‘Enjoy!’) [As this episode was recorded remotely, please forgive any technical hiccups and/or audio oddities. Thank you!] ***Dean’s newest book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

As we rapidly approach the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, many school schedules are preparing to slow down or take a break in the warmer months, as some work schedules do too. With this in mind, please enjoy this special reissue of our 35th episode on work-life balance in cultures around the globe, “‘Work to live’ cultures, and ‘live to work’ cultures”, from October 2022. We here at ‘Oops, Your Culture’s Showing!’ will also be taking a break from releasing episodes this summer, as we soak up some sun (hopefully on a beach with a cold drink in one or both hands), travel, and time with family and friends. We’ll see you back here with new episodes in the fall, dear listeners – and until then, it’s a perfect time to visit/revisit our entire back catalogue of episodes! Listening to this while eating lunch in the workplace? Fais attention (be careful!) because if you’re in France, that’s illegal. In this episode, Dean and Tom get to work contrasting how countries from France to Japan to the US value, and even legislate, work-life balance – and, bien sûr (of course!), how it’s all grounded in culture. Plus, a Grammar Time segment somehow sneaks up on all of us…est-ce possible? (Here are the referenced NPR articles on the French lunch law and the Portuguese ‘right to disconnect’ law, from June 2022.) ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

Whether you’re enjoying the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, or autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s a great time for an outdoor stroll – with ‘Oops, Your Culture’s Showing!’ playing in your ears, of course. But when you’re navigating street crossings on this stroll, are there cultural implications attached to what you and those around you are doing? (Hint: There are!) Find out more about those, and much more, in this special reissue of our 34th episode, “There’s no chicken lane in Amsterdam!”, from August 2022. Enjoy, and don’t forget to look both ways! Why did Dean, the global cultures expert, cross the road? To chat with Tom about navigating street crossings in cities from Rome to Hong Kong, and the corresponding cultural implications – of course! Plus: Don’t miss the exciting premiere of Wordplay!, a subset of Grammar Time, later in the episode. We’re giving you the walk sign to stroll through this episode and enjoy it, hopefully without jaywalking involved (but if you do, we won’t – and can’t – tell on you). ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

Merriam-Webster defines “talking turkey” as “speaking frankly or bluntly”, but, honestly, where’s the fun in that…so instead, we’re talking about Turkey, the country, in this episode. Dean brings Tom and Torin along on his recent expedition there: from “fabulous, glorious center of the word” Istanbul, to the “fascinating” fairy chimneys of Cappadocia and the “enlightening” ceremony of the whirling dervishes – all while sipping on the freshest of pomegranate juice. There was so much Turkey to talk that they balked at trying to fit all the Turkey talk into one overstuffed pod-block (i.e., episode); therefore please enjoy this Part 1, and stay tuned for Part 2 next month! (‘Enjoy!’ in Turkish: ‘Tadını çıkar!’) [As this episode was recorded remotely, please forgive any technical hiccups and/or audio oddities. Thank you!] ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order yours today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack here to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

If you find yourself itching to hear Dean and Tom this month, we’re happy to oblige: here is a special reissue of our January 2020 episode, “Which Body Part’s Itchy?”. There’s certainly no dry spell happening in this episode – enjoy! In this episode, Dean and Tom scratch away at cultural associations related to itchy noses, itchy palms, and itchy feet around the globe – so keep that hydrocortisone handy! Plus, all-time fan-favorite segment Grammar Time makes its return, and soon-to-be all-time fan-favorite segment Recap Time makes its first appearance. And of course, our friends at Licensing pop in once again to give Dean and Tom a rough time! ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

With Mardi Gras 2026 right around the corner, sink your teeth into a special slice – erm, reissue – of our Mardi Gras-themed episode, “Culture’s Consequences: King Cake At Mardi Gras”, from February 2024. Enjoy this purple, green, and gold delight! Introducing…Dean’s new “Culture’s Consequences” Substack column, in which he reveals the hidden cultural reasons behind the daily headlines! In this episode, Dean and Tom bite into Dean’s February 2024 “Culture’s Consequences” article about Dong Phuong Bakery’s luscious King Cake, available only during New Orleans’ Mardi Gras season, and how it represents a melding of New Orleans, Creole, French, and Vietnamese cultures. Plus, they float into talk of krewes and parades during Mardi Gras, involving some of the cutest dogs you’ve ever seen. We hope you find this episode to be the same as Dean’s description in the article of the Dong Phuong King Cake: “layer upon layer upon layer upon layer of just-right.” Don’t be afraid to drool if so, dear listeners, and laissez les bons temps rouler (i.e., let the good times roll)! ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order it today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

Happy (almost) new year! In this episode, Dean remembers his experience of ‘rum, rhumba, and remembrance’ in Havana Cuba on a past New Year’s Eve. Tom and Torin join him on this (literally) timeless journey, rum in hand, dancing shoes on, and all clearly being out-rhumba-ed by six-year-olds. Join us on this blur and whirl of an episode, because, as always, we are the walrus: coo coo ca choo! [As this episode was recorded remotely, please forgive any technical hiccups and/or audio oddities. Thank you!] ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order yours today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack here to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

Please enjoy this holiday-themed episode reissue from Boxing Day 2024, “How Not To Be The Ugly (Fill In The Country Of Choice) Tourist”, and have a happy end of 2025 & start of 2026! It’s a holiday-filled time of year and a heavy travel time across cultures, dear listeners; as such, we’ve been receiving your questions about how not to be the “ugly American (or fill in your country of choice) tourist” while traveling abroad. On this Boxing Day, Dean and Tom pause their gifting to unpack fears about this, and then to wrap up practical advice about it into a festive 40-minute episode! Plus: A holiday-themed Wordplay to shepherd us into 2025. Enjoy your holidays, thank you for listening, and we’ll be back soon with new episodes in the new year! ***Dean’s book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW – order yours today! And: Subscribe to Dean’s Substack here to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com

Thanksgiving is back in the US, and so are we with a special reissue of our November 2022 episode, “Holidays of gratitude”! (And don’t forget: Dean’s newest book, “Business Beyond Borders: Stories, Tales, and Lessons Learned from Working in 100 Cultures Around the World”, IS OUT NOW. Order your copy today!) Happy Thanksgiving to our US American listeners! In this episode, Dean dishes to Tom about both experiencing US American holidays like Thanksgiving while in different countries, as well as immersing himself in different countries’ holidays over the years – from Slovakia to India to China, and many more! Plus, Tom searches for wordplay (but does he find it?) and producer Torin calls out semantic satiation when he hears it (but can he say “satiation”?). Enjoy gobbling up this episode, and thank you for listening! ***Subscribe to Dean’s Substack here to find all of Dean’s “Culture’s Consequences” articles, CultureQuizzes, and much much more!*** Have a cultural question or episode idea? Reach out on X/Twitter & Facebook (@OopsCultureShow) or by email at [email protected]. Hosts: Dean Foster & Tom Peterson Audio Production: Tom Peterson & Torin Peterson Music: “Little Idea” – Bensound.com