Imagine watching a video of a woman walking down a city street with a baguette under her arm. She’s wearing a beret and a chic scarf, and as she passes an outdoor café you can hear an Edith Piaf tune playing.

Now imagine another video, this time of a man walking down the street of a rural town. He’s wearing a cowboy hat and boots and he passes a burger joint before climbing into his pickup truck.

Most people would guess that the woman is in France and the man in the United States, because of all the clues that are easy to pick out: their clothing, the food, the music, the truck, and more. 

All these clues form the tip of what is called the “cultural iceberg.” Anthropologist Edward Hall coined the term in 1976 because he saw culture as being similar to an iceberg—some of it clearly visible, some parts visible but in a vague way, and much of it invisible and mysterious.

How does this idea apply to France? Find out at France Today!