"Because everyone in Canada lives in an igloo..."

[thetreble 19]

I agree with you totally about cities and places. It really means nothing in terms of ... intelligence.

But do you get people asking if you live in a perpetual state of snow and darkness? I mean something like that may not be relevant to your life but I would hope that in the course of your life you would gain the knowledge to know that the country that is right above you actually has a summer, and looks pretty similar to the country you live in.

While I've never had people ask me if I live in a "perpetual state of snow and darkness" (I do live in Texas, after all), I have had plenty of people -- many from within my own country -- say and ask extremely stupid things regarding my city and state.

I live in Houston, which is the fourth largest city in the United States. Yet... I've known people from other states (usually the northeast) to ask questions such as "do you ride a horse to work?" or "what's it like living with all of that desert and cacti?" and even "how many shootouts have you seen?"

As you can probably tell, a lot of people have absolutely no clue whatsoever what Texas is really like and merely draw on whatever information they may have gleamed from Hollywood. For instance, Texas has numerous types of geographical landmasses (yes, we do have desert, but that's out in west Texas; I live in east Texas, where it's humid and full of forests), in addition to varied weather patterns, plants and animals.

Even though there may be some horse ranches outside the cities for tourists, riding a horse within city limits is (as far as I know) illegal, which is a good thing too, since I bet someone would attempt to either hit the horse with their truck or shoot it. Regardless, there are no saloons or "old west shootouts" and people don't walk around in cowboy gear.

Houston, being the huge city it is, is a concrete jungle and has all of the same problems the other "Alpha Cities" (the nickname given to the four largest cities in the U.S., which are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston) have, including smog, traffic congestion, crime, prostitution, etc. It's really quite amusing to watch the expression on a visitor's face when they get here and see how surprised (and sometimes disppointed) they are in that it looks like a "normal city" instead of something out of the 1800s.

So to answer your question... no, I've never had to deal with the whole "snow and darkness" thing, but I have head to handle other situations.

So then you've had experience dealing with these situations and some of them are annoying and unpleasant. You sort of solidified my point which was there are people in America that need to be educated on what texas is like, especially considering Houston is a huge city. I have enough common sense to know that you don't ride a horse to work You have enough common knowledge to know we aren't all living in 365 days of snow. So a greater knowledge base of these things on both sides would help out a lot but I suppose some ppl will always be a bit on the...um...odd side. People SHOULD know some things about houston considering they live in that country. It is not directly important to their life perhaps, if they live far away, but it is a shame that people are so left in the dark, so to speak, about their own country, no matter how big geographically you are.

More and more I find that people are just (many north americans actually) happy to live in the place they live in, never travel, and just centre themselves around their home.

[Marilyn. 340]

I am most certain that a lot of Canadians know where most of the major cities in the US are but in my personal experience, I don't think the same can be said of Americans...

I once had someone ask me if Vancouver was close to Toronto....

and someone else heard of a plane crash in the Toronto area and was worried about my family.. I had to explain to her that my family lived over a thousand miles away from Toronto...

my hubby has no idea where anything is in Canada besides Vancouver because he has been there....

Edited August 30, 2007 by MarilynP

[thetreble 19]

It doesn't really bother me. Most of the time it just makes me laugh. One of the reasons we do know potentially more about American geography is because what we see on tv. Cable tv in the US doesn't have any Canadian news unless you live close to the border. Therefore, from when we are children we are exposed to American culture and geography on such a wider scale.

[Tinker 0]

When I picked up Jim from Detroit and drove back here with him, he was completely shocked at the size of Toronto, (GTA) He's refusing to come that way to pick me up lmao, keep telling him middle or far left lane and just GO! He couldn't believe that we had cities that big up here.

Side note about the plane crash in Toronto. I thought he was going to give himself whiplash trying to figure out where EXACTLY the plane crashed. He also understands now what I was talking about when the drivers on the 401 were stopping and running across to help..yikes. (I was amazed no one on the 401 was hurt)

[Tinker 0]

God Created Canada

On the sixth day God turned to Archangle Gabriel and said “Today I am going to create a land called Canada, it will be a land of outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall snow-capped majestic mountains and green fertile valleys, beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with bass and trout and oceans for catching cod and salmon. There will be miles and miles of golden wheat and barley fields and a forest region where elk, moose and bear wander”.

God continued “I shall make the land rich in oil and gas so as to make the inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, and they shall be known as the most friendly people on the earth”.

“But Lord,” asked Gabriel, “don’t you think you are being too generous to these Canadians?”. “Not really,” replied God, “just wait and see the neighbours I am going to give them”.

It's a JOKE, no one get their panties in a wad

[thetreble 19]

I remember the plane crash. My flight was delayed that day because of it. I couldn't help but look the next day! But cops were out ticketing those who were stopping to watch.

[Ban Hammer 13,110]

just how do you get the doorbell to stay on the igloo in the summer anyways?

*sneaks off*

[Kathryn41 3,205]

God Created Canada

On the sixth day God turned to Archangle Gabriel and said “Today I am going to create a land called Canada, it will be a land of outstanding natural beauty. It shall have tall snow-capped majestic mountains and green fertile valleys, beautiful sparkling lakes bountiful with bass and trout and oceans for catching cod and salmon. There will be miles and miles of golden wheat and barley fields and a forest region where elk, moose and bear wander”.

God continued “I shall make the land rich in oil and gas so as to make the inhabitants prosper, I shall call these inhabitants Canadians, and they shall be known as the most friendly people on the earth”.

“But Lord,” asked Gabriel, “don’t you think you are being too generous to these Canadians?”. “Not really,” replied God, “just wait and see the neighbours I am going to give them”.

It's a JOKE, no one get their panties in a wad

It is one of my favourite jokes, actually, but I didn't have the nerve to post it because I wasn't sure how the 'natives' might take it. Thanks for sharing it!

[Tinker 0]

It is one of my favourite jokes, actually, but I didn't have the nerve to post it because I wasn't sure how the 'natives' might take it. Thanks for sharing it!

It doesn't say anything bad, and it's not like it's a flag with an X through it...

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

just how do you get the doorbell to stay on the igloo in the summer anyways?

*sneaks off*

Didn't you know that all Canadians are born with telekinesis. Oops. I shouldn't have said that, I meant to say crazy glue, yeah, that's the ticket. Crazy glue.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

just how do you get the doorbell to stay on the igloo in the summer anyways?

*sneaks off*

Didn't you know that all Canadians are born with telekinesis. Oops. I shouldn't have said that, I meant to say crazy glue, yeah, that's the ticket. Crazy glue.

The same way we get the igloos not to melt in the summer sun - you know you get 24 hour sunlight up there in the far north! B)

OOOhhhNoooo . . . IR5FORMUMSIE - you are giving away our secret!

Edited August 31, 2007 by Kathryn41

[Tinker 0]

Shotgun wedding?

As an inspector for Canada Customs, it was his duty to ask visitors whether they were bringing any firearms into the country.

One day an American car came through the line, and its driver reported that the occupants were on their way to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for a wedding.

After the usual questions about length of stay and so forth, the inspector asked if there were any guns in the car. "No, no," said the driver, "it isn't that kind of wedding."

Okay, poking fun mostly the area I'm going to

[L_n_O 3]

hehehe

[~Nini~ 2]

Shotgun wedding?

As an inspector for Canada Customs, it was his duty to ask visitors whether they were bringing any firearms into the country.

One day an American car came through the line, and its driver reported that the occupants were on their way to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for a wedding.

After the usual questions about length of stay and so forth, the inspector asked if there were any guns in the car. "No, no," said the driver, "it isn't that kind of wedding."

Okay, poking fun mostly the area I'm going to

Hahahahahaha. I just fell out of my chair after reading that.

[thetreble 19]

hehehhee! nice one!