What do they teach about Canada in America Schools?

[Wis-Can 0]

Well I had to share with my fellow Canadians a few encounters I have come across since my big move from Nova Scotia to Wisconsin that has made me really wonder what they teach in American schools about a country that shares its borders.

1. While at Walmart one day I was picking out some flowering mums to put beside my pumpkins on the step when a lady noticed my license plate of "Nova Scotia" and said, well aren't you going to be happy not to be seeing snow 365 days of the year.

2. Outside at Menards (hardware store) a gentleman said to me after looking at my license plate, "Nova Scotia, Canada's Ocean Playground" where abouts in Canada is there an ocean?

3. While stopping for gas at a Kwik Trip a gentleman said to me, "oh dear, you poor thing, you really are going to miss not being able to ski here". You'll have to drive about 50 miles north.

and my personal favorite while getting in my car outside of Walgreens and elderly couple looked perplexed standing at the back of my car looking at, yet again, my license plate, and asked, "dear may we ask you a question?" to which I replied, "you sure can" and she said, "how did they get your car here....did they bring it on a boat?" I seriously thought I was going to wet myself!

TRUE stories my fellow Canadians. I don't know if I want to change my license plate, its providing me with hours of entertainment.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Wis-Can

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Haha. That's very funny!

I wonder what some folks are going to think about my British Columbia license plate. I bet a few will think I'm British and a few will think I'm Colombian.

[Gemmie 142]

I've heard my fair share too, including "do you have BBQ's / seafood in England?"

I too wonder what they teach about other countries in American schools, especially because I often hear people in the UK saying that it's all American culture/history. Who knows.

[Wis-Can 0]

my honey was teasing me because I had said we need a new BBQ, he said no sweetie its not a BBQ its a grill...same difference to me!

[TBoneTX 45,267]

From the earliest grades, we are taught that "Canadia" is a third-world country where the natives routinely kill and eat foreign visitors; where the national sport is ice-fishing for deep-sea elk (which, when caught, are clubbed over the head with hockey-sticks); and where productivity is permanently hampered by the universal, exhausting work of adding the superfluous "u" to such words as humo(u)r, favo(u)r, and colo(u)r. These are just a few of the basic elements of knowledge that we learn aboot Canadia, si man.

Q: How did Canada get its name?

A: C eh N eh D eh.

Si, man, eh.

[Azzudiin 26]

My school you could choose to learn French German or Canadian. Most people would pick German because we could never pronounce eh? correctly.

[justashooter 430]

they teach that we shouldn't have accepted the surrender at the plains of abraham.

[Jasman0717 9]

When I was a kid they taught us that Canada was north

[Wis-Can 0]

eh is not something all Canadians say, you certainly didn't hear that where I grew up in Cape Breton...you are more likely to hear "by'e" after a sentence there! You can almost here the Newfoundlander who ran out of money on his way to Ontario in the twang in the upper part of Cape Breton.

When I worked at hotel near the Nova Scotia/New Brunswick border we had a couple come in from Kentucky one night and they brought there map out of the town of Amherst and asked the agent on the desk, "Could ya'll tell me where we could see some wild animals" to which I replied, "The Elm Tree Tavern downtown!". Good grief...then the man asked "where ya'll get your groceries at?"

From the earliest grades, we are taught that "Canadia" is a third-world country where the natives routinely kill and eat foreign visitors; where the national sport is ice-fishing for deep-sea elk (which, when caught, are clubbed over the head with hockey-sticks); and where productivity is permanently hampered by the universal, exhausting work of adding the superfluous "u" to such words as humo(u)r, favo(u)r, and colo(u)r. These are just a few of the basic elements of knowledge that we learn aboot Canadia, si man.

Q: How did Canada get its name?

A: C eh N eh D eh.

Si, man, eh.

[merijan 0]

Well I had to share with my fellow Canadians a few encounters I have come across since my big move from Nova Scotia to Wisconsin that has made me really wonder what they teach in American schools about a country that shares its borders.

1. While at Walmart one day I was picking out some flowering mums to put beside my pumpkins on the step when a lady noticed my license plate of "Nova Scotia" and said, well aren't you going to be happy not to be seeing snow 365 days of the year.

2. Outside at Menards (hardware store) a gentleman said to me after looking at my license plate, "Nova Scotia, Canada's Ocean Playground" where abouts in Canada is there an ocean?

3. While stopping for gas at a Kwik Trip a gentleman said to me, "oh dear, you poor thing, you really are going to miss not being able to ski here". You'll have to drive about 50 miles north.

and my personal favorite while getting in my car outside of Walgreens and elderly couple looked perplexed standing at the back of my car looking at, yet again, my license plate, and asked, "dear may we ask you a question?" to which I replied, "you sure can" and she said, "how did they get your car here....did they bring it on a boat?" I seriously thought I was going to wet myself!

TRUE stories my fellow Canadians. I don't know if I want to change my license plate, its providing me with hours of entertainment.

That was good...lol..love it.. yes we are a nation of well... i want to say ignorance but maybe that's too harsh. yes we dont learn much about our world outside even our neighbors in Canada.. Im wondering do you find that Canadians are more informed than we are about small and big things regarding other countries?

[Mononoke28 135]

That was good...lol..love it.. yes we are a nation of well... i want to say ignorance but maybe that's too harsh. yes we dont learn much about our world outside even our neighbors in Canada.. Im wondering do you find that Canadians are more informed than we are about small and big things regarding other countries?

Exact same thing I was wondering.

Colombia has an island named San Andrés where I've manyCanadians go visit during the winter time. I've visited several forums with threads about their trips and to this day I still don't understand why they insist in spelling Columbia with a U when it's actually named Colombia. Go figure.

Diana

[Wis-Can 0]

I know when I went through School we did learn about the United States in History and Geography and Modern World Problems. We learned how many states, each of there names, the US flag and what the stars and stripes mean. The US involved in wars and conflicts. Past Presidents and what they did for the country. We even learned the climates of various states. I found they taught a little bit of the world in general, but we seem to learn the most about Canada and the next door neighbors, The United States. I think I need to write a letter to Tourism Nova Scotia, they need to be paying me for promoting the Province!

Its a bit of a culture shock to come here to Wisconsin. I am finding some people are very nice, others not so much. I am so use to a place where everyone talks to you. If you meet someone new back home you invite them over for dinner,...give'em a beer and put your feet up. I've been here three months now and haven't made one friend. It will come my sweetie keeps telling me.

[ms_jinga_lala 0]

Well I had to share with my fellow Canadians a few encounters I have come across since my big move from Nova Scotia to Wisconsin that has made me really wonder what they teach in American schools about a country that shares its borders.

1. While at Walmart one day I was picking out some flowering mums to put beside my pumpkins on the step when a lady noticed my license plate of "Nova Scotia" and said, well aren't you going to be happy not to be seeing snow 365 days of the year.

2. Outside at Menards (hardware store) a gentleman said to me after looking at my license plate, "Nova Scotia, Canada's Ocean Playground" where abouts in Canada is there an ocean?

3. While stopping for gas at a Kwik Trip a gentleman said to me, "oh dear, you poor thing, you really are going to miss not being able to ski here". You'll have to drive about 50 miles north.

and my personal favorite while getting in my car outside of Walgreens and elderly couple looked perplexed standing at the back of my car looking at, yet again, my license plate, and asked, "dear may we ask you a question?" to which I replied, "you sure can" and she said, "how did they get your car here....did they bring it on a boat?" I seriously thought I was going to wet myself!

TRUE stories my fellow Canadians. I don't know if I want to change my license plate, its providing me with hours of entertainment.

I've been out of school a while but the only thing I remember learning was about there being a mix of cultures, mostly French and Fanadian. I remember a pepsi can with two different languages on it. That's it lol. A few years ago though I know someone who went to Nova Scotia and was upset she couldn't find "African American" hair care products. We all had a good laugh over someone else telling her that was because she wasn't in America. That made me think that Canada can't be that much different.

Don't change your license plate, it's definitely good entertainment and it's so much cheaper than cable!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I will fully admit that I know little to nothing about many countries around the world, aside from the little CanAm bubble I've lived in. I wish that wasn't the truth, but aside from learning about conflicts, wars, international threats and cultural customs we would debate in a liberal society, schools usually skip over the fact there is value in learning about different places around the globe.

I think its natural for us to be educated about the United States, given its power position in the world, but for people in the US to be fairly ignorant to what goes on in Canada is fairly normal. I've got some interesting comments since moving myself. It usually happens after it snows here and everyone says, "Oh I bet you're used to this weather!" or "why did you bring the snow down with you?!" Meanwhile Colorado gets a lot more snow then I've ever experienced back home in Southern Ontario. For the most part I just laugh and go with it. Sometimes I bother correcting people, but it always seems to go right over their hands, and then the next snow event comes and they say the same thing. So sure, I'm completely used too 2 feet of snow falling in 24 hours, that's so normal...

But very funny and cute wiscan!

[rmncm 0]

Umm Canada??? Were the hell is that? Isn't that country the same as France....ready to surrender when faced with war????