Behaviors, manners and overall attitude

[jg_am 0]

I have already told my wife, if somethigng targic happened to her (as in dead), house would be up for sale, and I would be moving back to Canada ASAP!

Flames, That's only so you can get a place right next to Tim's.

[Flames9_RN 358]

No, I dont care for big cities!! Much prefer a smaller city, much more relaxed.

[CutienPurg 0]

No, I dont care for big cities!! Much prefer a smaller city, much more relaxed.

dont let him fool ya........the lines are shorter at Tim's in a smaller city

[Flames9_RN 358]

Thats not true at all!! Greenwood used to have huge line ups!! Same with Saskatoon!!

[CutienPurg 0]

http://travel.sympatico.msn.ca/Canadian+Mi...Nuts.htm?isfa=1

Canadian Misconceptions That Drive Me Nuts!

by Mike Thorburn, TheSoko.com

Do Canadians have misconceptions about themselves and other countries?

Anyone who has traveled to a foreign country and introduced themselves as Canadian knows about the many misconceptions that float around about us and many of them border on the absurd. Do people actually believe we're all beer-swilling, dog-sled-driving, igloo-dwelling Eskimos, eh?

Lester B. Pearson, then the undersecretary of External Affairs, addressed a youth congress at the United Nations headquarters in 1947. He insisted that Canadians were more than just "a few frozen farmers and trappers huddled in igloos around the North Pole." We're also all familiar with comic Rick Mercer, who has had President Bush lauding the efforts of Prime Minister Poutine. Even Peter Jennings once commented, "Canadians have an abiding interest in surprising those Americans who have historically made little effort to learn about their neighbour to the north."

While that might certainly be true, how much better are Canadians in their perspectives on the world and themselves? Not as far ahead as you might think – here are a few popular ideas that Canadians have that drive me up the wall.

He Shoots, He Scores

The popular notion that hockey is representative of our country and the seriousness with which many Canadians take the sport, are both simply a mystery to the rest of the world.

I remember one of the many America vs. Canada debates that are prone to happening in my foreign travels, this time in Taipei. While one Canadian was lauding Canada's hockey brilliance, the American he was arguing with said simply, "Whatever, it's just hockey." Simple, concise and an absolute argument-ender.

While it's unbelievably huge in most parts of Canada, the sport of hockey is an afterthought just about everywhere else in the world. Even stateside, the revenue from hockey broadcasts in the United States puts it on par with arena football and extreme sports. Fox Sports was even desperate enough to try to give the puck red comet tails to make it easier for viewing audiences to see the elusive piece of rubber.

The population of Canada and the US comes out to around 330 million people and with India's population of over a billion, how surprised can you really be that a whole lot more people are watching cricket? Hockey is a great game, but that's the point: It's just a game.

Our Neighbours To The South

The disagreement between the Canadian and the American naturally spilled over into the relationship between the two respective countries. While Canadians are eager to distance themselves from Americans, Americans are secure in the belief that Canadians are nothing more than a barnacle on their hull – powerless without their bigger, stronger brother. While both can be argued ad nauseum, it's the Canadian perspective that irritates me the most.

The notion that Canadian society is drastically different than American society is simply naïve. Anyone that's ever been a cross-country trip knows that trying to define Canadian culture is next to impossible. The culture is a mish-mash of individual and unique groups which all have their own individual charms. Whether you're gallivanting down George Street in St John's, Newfoundland or skiing on the slopes of Whistler, B.C., your experiences in Canada are going to be profoundly diverse.

The United States is no different. My experiences in New York City or Boston have varied unbelievably from the time I've spent in California or Arizona, and while there are clearly similarities between the two cultures, the shared stereotypes make up a larger group that can be known simply as "North American culture".

Haggling over the similarities and differences will have you going in circles. The misconception (shared by a countless number of countries) that Americans are ethnocentric, loud and obnoxious is the same sort of pigeonholing that Canadians are often the victim of, yet we do the exact same thing to our southern neighbours. Many Canadians mock the obesity problem in America, yet Canada is the 15th ranked country in obesity deaths and the United States is the 5th. Governments aside, are we really that different?

Despite our efforts to distance ourselves from Americans, we favour many of the same celebrities, sports stars and fashions.

Not So Well-To-Do

A final misconception that truly irks me is how ignorant Canadians are about the poverty in our country. We're proud (and should be!) of being ranked the 6th best place in the world to live by the United Nations, but in a 2005 report by noted economist Armine Yalnizyan (a study performed for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives), it was revealed that over 1.7 million households are living on less than $20,000 per year, while post-secondary education costs have double and tripled.

In the early 90s, 75% of unemployed workers were receiving government benefits, compared to 38% now. An even more disturbing fact is that the number of homeless is figured to be a quarter million, which is a staggering amount considering our population now rests at under 33 million in total.

Other concerns, such as child poverty, have actually increased since the government pledged to eliminate them. So clearly we're not all as well off as we would like to imagine.

________________________

oh... canada

Despite the misconceptions that many Canadians have, which range from the comical to the morbidly serious, Canada is still a great country and a wonderful place to live. Every culture has its' share of misguided opinions and prejudices and we're no different. Canadians should be proud of their culture and embrace it, but not at the expense of recognizing the few flaws that do exist.

[Reba 2]

wow....I have to get ready to go to work so don't have time to read much of what came after so all I'm gona say is Holy #######! Sensitive much!?

Yes, I was generalising I even said so several times in my post.

These are MY experiences, in MY many travels around the US, and my 2 1/2 years of living in Small Town Bible Belt North Carolina. No, its not the same Everywhere in the US. That's why I said I was generalising. And I also said there's some pretty stupid Canadians out there as well, but as the topic Was about what have we noticed different in America from what we're used to in Canada, I didn't elaborate on them.

wow...

[homesick_american 1]

Well, I can't (and won't) speak for Homesick_American, but I didn't intend to be rude or insulting with my last post. I understand that in the past (and still sometimes today) Canada gets looked at rather poorly by the United States. I really don't understand what the reason for this is (I like Canada), but I mainly blame the media.

I don't look at Canada in a negative light. I've been to Canada (only the French-speaking part) and found people there to be polite, helpful, and friendly. I have nothing but fond memories of Canada, and I don't know anyone who thinks Canada is a sh!tty country. Everyone thinks it's very nice and tidy, if perhaps a bit dull. That's the only thing I've heard people say about Canada that could be taken badly...some people think it's boring. Maybe that's because it's too much like America.

I think it's good that Canadians have a healthy self-image about themselves nowadays. It's not good to constantly live in the shadow of another country. I've just seen a number of posts that continually blast the United States for not being exactly like Canada. Well, it's not going to be Canada. The U.S. is a different country. Sometimes I wish that weren't the case (it's make being with my fiancee a whole lot easier), but we do have our ways of doing things, and while some of those ways may seem foreign to some of you, that doesn't necessarily make them bad or worse than Canada's ways.

So do I. Canada is a great country and Canadians have a great deal to be proud of. However, being proud of being Canadian doesn't have to mean hating on us Americans or calling us a bunch of idiots because we don't know where Winnipeg is. Who CARES where Winnipeg is, except Canadians? I bet you if I got 1,000 Canadians and a blank map of the USA, they'd struggle to point out where Omaha, Nebraska is. Does that make them stupid? No! Who needs to know where Omaha is, unless you're from there or going there?

I don't think any Canadian is coming to the U.S. to solely get a greencard. It's not like Canada is Somalia; there's really no reason to "escape." But yes... there are people who believe that the U.S. is "the greatest country on Earth" and that anyone coming here is looking for "the land of milk and honey." I love my country (despite how it sometimes pisses me off) and I think it's a great country to live in; however, I won't go around saying (especially in front of foreigners) that "it's the best!" That's just rude and tacky. Besides, most everyone believes their own country is "the best" for whatever reason and announcing it to others is only going to alienate them; it certainly won't make them go, "You know what? You're right! Your country is so much better than my own!"

Yeah, really; I think the only thing Canadians are escaping from is really harsh winters. And maybe poutine. Can't be Celine Dion; she's in America now.

[warlord 72]

That hockey thing made me laugh. Though I do have several hockey nut friends here in the US, most are like me and have never found anything in hockey at all. Scary thing is my best friends in Canada who hate sports, will watch and root for hockey team and see them play if there's a big game.

Who knows, I just still think it's a silly game that I will never understand the fascination with. Unlike College Football where you'll see my beer drinking ### sitting on the couch watching the games every Saturday during the fall ha ha...

[homesick_american 1]

That hockey thing made me laugh. Though I do have several hockey nut friends here in the US, most are like me and have never found anything in hockey at all. Scary thing is my best friends in Canada who hate sports, will watch and root for hockey team and see them play if there's a big game.

Who knows, I just still think it's a silly game that I will never understand the fascination with. Unlike College Football where you'll see my beer drinking ### sitting on the couch watching the games every Saturday during the fall ha ha...

I remember when the Dallas Stars won the Stanley Cup. Almost nobody at work knew we were playing for it, and almost nobody realized it when we won. Dallasites just sort of looked at each other and shrugged. Big deal. Our response to the 1994 World Cup, where matches were played in our city, was even funnier. People were like, "World cup of what? Soccer? Who cares?" I remember they got on the radio, begging people to come and fill up the empty seats in the Cotton Bowl (where the matches were played) because the sponsors were afraid of looking bad with a billion people watching. They were letting people in for free. Basically the message from Dallas was "we don't care about soccer."

[homesick_american 1]

wow....I have to get ready to go to work so don't have time to read much of what came after so all I'm gona say is Holy #######! Sensitive much!?

Defensive much?

Yes, I was generalising I even said so several times in my post.

Yeah, I could tell you were generalizing.

These are MY experiences, in MY many travels around the US, and my 2 1/2 years of living in Small Town Bible Belt North Carolina. No, its not the same Everywhere in the US. That's why I said I was generalising. And I also said there's some pretty stupid Canadians out there as well, but as the topic Was about what have we noticed different in America from what we're used to in Canada, I didn't elaborate on them.

wow...

I'd say your experiences don't match those of most people. I'm American and spent 26 of my nearly 32 years living in Texas, a state known for its religious fervor and Republican politics and lacking a reputation for intellectual vigor. I've never met people like those you described, and one could reasonably assume that in such a dumb, Jesus-freaky state...one would. I felt that your descriptions were exaggerated, misinterpreted, or just flat-out wrong. You seemed upset that your neighbors didn't seem to accept you, and I was giving you my opinion as to why they might not seem to like you. Even North Carolinians, friendly as they are, don't like being thought of as idiots. You might not be telling them to their faces that you think they're stupid, but I'm certain they're at least clever enough to read between the lines. You probably don't have to say it out loud; the tone of your voice and your body language may be enough to send the message to them that you don't like them.

Plus...and I'm being honest here...if they're so stupid and different and annoying, why would you want to go to a BBQ at their house anyway?

Lastly, I wasn't kidding about trying a different city; if you're so uncomfortable with your neighbors, you may feel more at ease in a different part of the country. Try a blue state.

[misa 2]

Can't be Celine Dion; she's in America now.

Las Vegas can keep her!

[Emancipation 2]

I don't want start a war here, but I think it interesting that this thread IS pointing out differences of viewpoints between Canada & US.

If I'm reading this right - The CDNS posting in this thread are "generally" seeing things here in the US differently than the US posters.

Just wanted to point that out.. We appear to be looking at the same situation (living in the US) with different perspectives..

Who'da thunk it?

[Reba 2]

no, I'm certainly not exagerating, my husband has had similar experiences here in this town, and he was born and raised here. It's not just me. Even some Yankees I've met here in town have had similar experiences, and they're fellow Americans who've moved here!

When a conversation with one of my "friendly" neighbours who comes to welcome me to the neighbourhood starts out "wow, were we ever glad that you moved in and not some stikin Mexicans!" followed by "all the damn immigrants is what's wrong with this town" and my reply of "I'm an Immigrant" and their back peddling, trying to cover their bigotry. And other neighbours coming to tell me I should go to their church because the others are just not as good, and my polite reply "thank you no, we do not attend church", and they continue to push and prod saying I "simply MUST go to church" until I have to excuse myself to go the bathroom or something as inane just to get away.

Texas ain't North Carolina, and North Carolina ain't California, ain't Colorado, ain't New York, ain't Toronto.

Everyone's experience will be different. From small town Bible Belt to bustling metropolis of NYC to the freaky people of Hollywood. Its all different. Even from one end of the state to the other, your mileage may vary.

Why didn't we just leave and move to a blue state? Because when we were waiting on my visa, my husband's father fell ill with prostate cancer, and his father wanted his son close in his last months, and he bought us a small house. Then his mother got breast cancer, again, and my husband decided to stay til she died. That was just last year. I'd like to move closer to the border to be closer to my family. But that requires finding jobs and affordable housing in upper New York state. No easy feat.

Do you want the rest of the sordid details? How about the people I used to work with who all evening long I would have to listen to them bitching about all the damn immigrants in town messing up the place and taking their jobs and their welfare, not paying any taxes and blah blah blah...I reminded them that I'm an immigrant, and showed them my paycheck to let them know, that yes immigrants do most definitely pay taxes. Even illegal ones!

There's some nice folks here too, the mildly amusing ones who've asked me how'd I learn to speak English so well (and there's been more than one). And the one who asked me if there are trees in Canada. To ones who ask me where's the best hunting, and we'll get to talking about deer season and some nice juicy grilled venison. Yum.

No, I'm not exagerating. And I'm not the only one who has had similar experiences. No, not everyone from here is like this, and not all Americans are like this. Quite a lot of them however seem to be concentrated in this general area. I've spent a great lot of time in a lot of US states, both for pleasure and for business. And I've met all kinds. From card carrying memebers of the KKK in West Palm Beach, to Canada flag waving hockey fans in Denver. Its just really different here.

[homesick_american 1]

Can't be Celine Dion; she's in America now.

Las Vegas can keep her!

LOL...no, she's yours...you have her!

[homesick_american 1]

no, I'm certainly not exagerating, my husband has had similar experiences here in this town, and he was born and raised here. It's not just me. Even some Yankees I've met here in town have had similar experiences, and they're fellow Americans who've moved here!

When a conversation with one of my "friendly" neighbours who comes to welcome me to the neighbourhood starts out "wow, were we ever glad that you moved in and not some stikin Mexicans!" followed by "all the damn immigrants is what's wrong with this town" and my reply of "I'm an Immigrant" and their back peddling, trying to cover their bigotry. And other neighbours coming to tell me I should go to their church because the others are just not as good, and my polite reply "thank you no, we do not attend church", and they continue to push and prod saying I "simply MUST go to church" until I have to excuse myself to go the bathroom or something as inane just to get away.

I've had the same 'all the damn immigrants are wrecking the place' cr@p from the British. So some people are xenophobes; that certainly isn't unique to North Carolina, or to the United States.

Texas ain't North Carolina, and North Carolina ain't California, ain't Colorado, ain't New York, ain't Toronto.

I know that. Unlike most of your neighbors, I can pick all of those places out on a map.

Everyone's experience will be different. From small town Bible Belt to bustling metropolis of NYC to the freaky people of Hollywood. Its all different. Even from one end of the state to the other, your mileage may vary.

American culture is actually pretty homogenous. Most of what changes is scenery and fast food joints. I've traveled all over the US and I can honestly say there's not a whole lot of difference between Los Angeles and Houston. The biggest differences are between big cities and small towns. Small towns seem to be a universe unto themselves.

Why didn't we just leave and move to a blue state? Because when we were waiting on my visa, my husband's father fell ill with prostate cancer, and his father wanted his son close in his last months, and he bought us a small house. Then his mother got breast cancer, again, and my husband decided to stay til she died. That was just last year. I'd like to move closer to the border to be closer to my family. But that requires finding jobs and affordable housing in upper New York state. No easy feat.

New York isn't the only blue state.

Do you want the rest of the sordid details? How about the people I used to work with who all evening long I would have to listen to them bitching about all the damn immigrants in town messing up the place and taking their jobs and their welfare, not paying any taxes and blah blah blah...I reminded them that I'm an immigrant, and showed them my paycheck to let them know, that yes immigrants do most definitely pay taxes. Even illegal ones!

No, because I'd probably agree with some of what they said. When they talk like that, assume they're talking about illegals. A lot of illegals don't pay taxes, and I understand their feelings and resentments because I agree that the illegal immigrant problem threatens to wreck my country.

There's some nice folks here too, the mildly amusing ones who've asked me how'd I learn to speak English so well (and there's been more than one). And the one who asked me if there are trees in Canada. To ones who ask me where's the best hunting, and we'll get to talking about deer season and some nice juicy grilled venison. Yum.

Are you sure you're not living next to an institution for the mentally challenged? I've never met someone so stupid that they did not know what languages Canadians speak.

No, I'm not exagerating. And I'm not the only one who has had similar experiences. No, not everyone from here is like this, and not all Americans are like this. Quite a lot of them however seem to be concentrated in this general area. I've spent a great lot of time in a lot of US states, both for pleasure and for business. And I've met all kinds. From card carrying memebers of the KKK in West Palm Beach, to Canada flag waving hockey fans in Denver. Its just really different here.

Eh...it's not really all that different. I think you're focusing on the negative, and I really can't believe that your neighbors are that stupid. I have never met people that stupid ever in my life.