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[EP 68] We learn some things about Arkansas! (transcript) Hello, thanks for calling Unexpected English, who am I speaking with? Hi, this is Kat Mondu. Kat, Yes! Where are you calling from, Kat? I'm calling from Arkansas. Arkansas. OK. I'm not sure people know where, Arkansas, is geographically so could you tell us? It is kind of in the mid-south of the USA. In the middle of the south of the USA, with other states around you like.,,Like, Oklahoma, and Texas, Missouri. Okay, all right, I guess, if, anybody doesn't know, you can look at a map for, Arkansas, right? Right above Louisiana. Right above Louisiana. Wait a minute, I have a problem with Arkansas. Yeah, I'll tell you what my problem is. Could you spell that for us? Yes. ARKANSAS That’s Arkansas right? But then you have KANSAS, and that's Kansas! So how come you guys aren't ark-KANSAS? Well, because Kansas should really be kan-SAW! OK. All right, I'm glad we got that cleared up! So this is Kat calling from Arkansas which is nowhere near kan-SAW. All right. Well, so what should we know about the beautiful state of Arkansas? Arkansas is known as the natural state. And we boast over 50 state parks. OK, so because when you say natural I'm thinking, does that mean everybody walks around naked? No it doesn't mean that, right? No, not quite that natural. You can find that here! Lots of state parks. That means hills and ... do mountains there? We have mountains in the Ozarks. Oh good, I'm learning so much. This is good, because I've never been to Arkansas. I ave to be honest it's not, it's not a place I've been to. But if I go there, well I guess I'm going for the nature, because it's the, nature state or the natural state, which is it? It's the natural state. The natural state, beautiful. And I always like to know if I go to some, some state if there's a, you know, like a typical dish or some kind of specialty or something that people like to eat there that you might not find other places. Well, Arkansas, is actually home of cheese dip. Cheese DIP? Yes, we invented it, or at least we claim it, and it was in Little Rock where it was invented, Oh, do you guys have, like, cheese dip competitions? Yes, we take it very seriously, I guess so! And what, what do people in Arkansas, dip into their cheese dip? Just about anything! Tortilla chips or pretzels, or fried pickles, even! Fried pickles! That's another thing that,  I don't know why I've never had a fried pickle. Are they good? They are delicious. Especially when dipped in a nice creamy cheese I suppose! Oh yes! Okay. Oh boy, well, I'm getting kind of hungry. But before we go, are there any unique expressions in Arkansas? I don't know that there are, but I'm always looking for some kind of language thing. Oh yes, let me give you a few. Oh my gosh you've got language things there, OK! Well, of course, I mean, if you’ve got, you got fried pickles in cheese dip, I guess you got everything yeah? So, okay, I'm ready. Just know if a southerner says, “Bless your heart!” that's not a good thing. If they say “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” that IS a good thing. Okay. Bless your heart, kind of is used to ... shut somebody down, is that it? To say like, what does it really mean? Like, Oh, you poor soul! Oh, but that sounds, that sounds sympathetic. Not so much... Okay, and the other one sounded kind of semi-adult. What was that? It was, “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” And that just means. Well, look who's here! Oh man, that's beautiful, that's a good one. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! Yeah, that’s perfect. Is that right? Oh good, I did it okay! You did a great job. I’m so proud of myself. Okay, Kat, well thanks very much for your time this has been fun and very educational too. Well thank you for having me. This was very fun. FOLLOW!