Weird Things Americans Have Said To/Asked Me

[Udella&Wiz 325]

We were at a car dealership the other day on a car search. The salesman asked if there'd be a trade-in. I said yes if we get a good price for it so he asked me what it was. I said "A ZX2." He said "How do you spell that?" I said "Z. X. 2." He went . My husband looked up and said "Zee X2."

When I get the blank stare after saying 'zed'.....I now add...oh that's right, youre American...you say 'zee'.

As a Canadian - why is it that I can be flexible if someone says either? not to pick, but why is it that every American receptionist I deal with has a brain the size of a peanut? Guess they've never been further then around the corner to the mall???????

Yah - I'm generalizing - but not a word of a lie, I always have to repeat it - they NEVER get it the first time

[Krikit 1,165]

The other day at work I said, Mobile like Mo-bye-le and my 2 coworkers looks at me like I had 2 heads... so i was like, sorry I meant 'Mobull' - and they were like, haha we knew what you meant, but it just sounded so cute!

You mean it's called Mobull? I've always called it Mobile.

I was around the Fort Sill/Lawton, in Oklahoma area and they scan the back of ID's to see whether or not a certain person is allowed on base. So, they asked for my ID, and without thinking I gave them my AB license. The guy scanned it and nothing came up, so he started going on about how my ID was fake and that I should be arrested. And how Alberta wasn't even a state... so I pulled out my CDN passport. Since then, I use my Passport for ID when in the USA

Well, now that's a bit extreme.

[Krikit 1,165]

As a Canadian - why is it that I can be flexible if someone says either? not to pick, but why is it that every American receptionist I deal with has a brain the size of a peanut? Guess they've never been further then around the corner to the mall???????

Yah - I'm generalizing - but not a word of a lie, I always have to repeat it - they NEVER get it the first time

I think a lot of people are insulated down here. If they've never travelled and have never lived close to the northern border, they pretty much only have the local channels for information.

[Rustbelt 0]

Wife of Steve Treible here:

I grew up in the UK and spent time in the US before moving to Canada. When I first moved to the US, I couldn't figure out where the pillar boxes (aka mailboxes) were. I mean, there were no red pillar boxes anywhere! OTOH, there were all these blue trashcans outside every post office . . .

When Princess Di died people acted as if I knew her personally. Was I upset? It must be so sad for me. How terrible for you! Uh . . . sure it's sad, but it's not like we were best friends.

Anytime I mentioned that I'd lived near London (UK), people would say "OH! I have a friend/cousin/distant relative/colleague's parents who live in London. Their names are <names>. Do you know them?" Uh, it's quite a BIG city you know.

Took me ages to figure out how to ask for water in a restaurant. (This was near Philadelphia, btw). The correct way to ask for water in a restaurant is to say "a glass of wudder, please, NO ICE!!!" It will then arrive crammed full of ice cubes (even in mid winter), but at least it's water.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

omg, Bill and I fight about the "zed" "zee" thing everyday, its hilarious!

You know those little suggary candies you get in a roll? In Canada we call them rockets. Here they call them smarties. But smarties are chocolate! We also argue about that daily.

I've learned a trick down here. Whenever I mispronounce a word, mess up an expression, or just screw something up I can say... "Well thats how we say it in Canada," and nobody questions it. They just say, "oh really? weird"

[The_Dude 1,142]

The zee vs. zed thing, Mel and I always hassle each other over that. When I say "zee" or she says "zed" we'll pretend not to have any idea what the other is talking about. It's pretty clear though, I won't use "zed" for the same reason Mel won't use "zee"..... it's what we grew up with. Through 13 years of schooling, and then university and so forth it's the norm. I think it would be very hard to change your behavior after it's been drilled into you for 18-20 years.

[Malrothien 6]

Oh god, as an American living in Canada, I have too many stories.

I'll post more later, but this one happened yesterday:

Newswoman on Global yesterday in BC says, "We have such beautiful mountains here in Canada!" This was while Mt. Baker was on the screen.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

As a Canadian - why is it that I can be flexible if someone says either? not to pick, but why is it that every American receptionist I deal with has a brain the size of a peanut? Guess they've never been further then around the corner to the mall???????

Yah - I'm generalizing - but not a word of a lie, I always have to repeat it - they NEVER get it the first time

I think a lot of people are insulated down here. If they've never travelled and have never lived close to the northern border, they pretty much only have the local channels for information.

i know what you mean Krikit and yes, insulated is a good word. I guess I can count myself lucky to not have been insulated in Canada

[Krikit 1,165]

Newswoman on Global yesterday in BC says, "We have such beautiful mountains here in Canada!" This was while Mt. Baker was on the screen.

[Malrothien 6]

The weatherman totally wanted to say something to her, too.

[KnJ 0]

they sell bulls at mobile?

i love language differences. regional peculiarities, pronunciations. east coasters more used to the features of NF/NS/PEI accent, for instance. I cannot get over the US midwest accent.

___

but I also get a jolt (no, not the pop; i mean cola -- i mean soda!) when I'm in the US and feel a pervasive.. racial divide that I just don't get in Toronto. I won't generalize to all of Canada. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned loving the diversity in the US. Not sure where he/she is from.. I think this varies widely.

Even in a fairly diverse city centre (hahaha what?? I can't parse that word ~american) like Boston, it's like a. all fast food employees are immigrants. b. non-white people seem to approach me as a customer like i'm going to treat them with less respect than anyone else. It's really really subtle, but growing up with great diversity, less of an occupational divide, and still subtler forms of racism, it is hugely apparent to me how much there is racial tension in even a supposedly wordly city like boston. I figure maybe other cities are less so.. MA is so colonial.

Edited September 23, 2009 by KnJ

[The_Dude 1,142]

they sell bulls at mobile?

i love language differences. regional peculiarities, pronunciations. east coasters more used to the features of NF/NS/PEI accent, for instance. I cannot get over the US midwest accent.

___

but I also get a jolt (no, not the pop; i mean cola -- i mean soda!) when I'm in the US and feel a pervasive.. racial divide that I just don't get in Toronto. I won't generalize to all of Canada. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned loving the diversity in the US. Not sure where he/she is from.. I think this varies widely.

Even in a fairly diverse city centre (hahaha what?? I can't parse that word ~american) like Boston, it's like a. all fast food employees are immigrants. b. non-white people seem to approach me as a customer like i'm going to treat them with less respect than anyone else. It's really really subtle, but growing up with great diversity, less of an occupational divide, and still subtler forms of racism, it is hugely apparent to me how much there is racial tension in even a supposedly wordly city like boston. I figure maybe other cities are less so.. MA is so colonial.

I said that I love the diversity here. I live in Los Angeles, and we truly have a diverse population. I really didn't get any sense of that in Toronto or London, Ontario. Maybe it's my limited experience in Canada compared to where I live, but I think the same can be said elsewhere

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I know what you mean about the racial tension as well. I notice it here - but predominantly from the white/Caucasian people. Many seem very uptight and reserved and withdrawn as if they are holding their personal boundary space tightly into themselves and don't want to let anyone else touch it. I tend to be a friendly person and smile and say hello to strangers passing in parking lots or things. I would get eye avoidance or maybe a slightly hostile stare from many whites but not from blacks. They often initiated the hello, the smile, whatever. I've had complete conversations with total strangers while each of us are putting groceries into our cars. I enjoy that friendliness and definitely respond to it and wonder often if other whites would just be more friendly if some of that tension would just dissipate. One of the things I love about our neighbourhood is that it really is culturally diverse - on our small street alone we have blacks, Indians, Pakistanis, Brazilians, and whites. Mind you, I think only one family is native Georgians - the rest all come from different parts of the US, so maybe that is why they all get along so well.

[warlord 73]

omg, Bill and I fight about the "zed" "zee" thing everyday, its hilarious!

You know those little suggary candies you get in a roll? In Canada we call them rockets. Here they call them smarties. But smarties are chocolate! We also argue about that daily.

I've learned a trick down here. Whenever I mispronounce a word, mess up an expression, or just screw something up I can say... "Well thats how we say it in Canada," and nobody questions it. They just say, "oh really? weird"

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

[Krikit 1,165]

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

That may just be a Windsor thing. Or it is that you never noticed it. lol. The rest of Ontario says zed.