How should we characterise Canadians?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Way to go, Emancipation!

I really miss "This Hour has 22 minutes" and "The Red Green Show" too. Many of my US friends who live close to the border tune in regularly. If anyone wishes, you can also catch segments of "The Royal Canadian Air Farce" on their website (and I do, oh, it is so good!) at: http://www.airfarce.com/ .

Actually, I have made maple syrup - with sap tapped from maple trees at a friends house in Michigan (VBG) - what a process! It was really neat in Spring, though, to go out into the woods on a horse drawn sleigh to the sugaring off hut and eat hot syrup dribbled on the snow. We used to enjoy the many pancake and maple syrup festivals that sprang up when the sap was running in the early Spring. Fun times and good memories:-).

[*JG* 2]

They are absolutely CRAZY!!!! Well, at least the one's I know are. And, I love them to death!

[Marilyn. 340]

brrr, I am so glad I moved to California... it was soooo cold in my igloo....

[Lona.C. 16]

( see how we talk watch me spell )LOL

wanna know the real diferance . of C.A.N.A.D.A and U.S

Watch the movie Canadian Bacon with John Candy , ya can C reality there EH ......

Lmao

( its the battle of Molson V/S Coors light , GO MOLSON GOOOOOOOOOOO

lol

OH another thing we dont concider Mc Donalds as a main meal , geez try our poutin ya get addicted and forget about MC donalds

LOL

[Ron/Sharon 0]

They are ruthless savages that will stop at nothing to take over America

Yeah - and clubbing baby seals to death is their national pastime.

That is second only to Hockey

[Emancipation 2]

I agree completely!!

They are absolutely CRAZY!!!! Well, at least the one's I know are. And, I love them to death!

[Ron/Sharon 0]

Canadians are lame.

That's because we keep tripping over the American tourists

[DeadPoolX 9]

hoping that they will be welcomed as Canadians - ever popular travellers overseas.

Perhaps you missed post #23?

I have never heard of a single Yank doing that - I think it's an urban myth!

Nope, not an urban myth. I used to work in an MP's office in Canada (Member of Parliament). One of the nice things that we did is we handed out Canadian flag pins and sticky labels and such for Canadians who were travelling overseas. We REGULARLY (we lived an hour from the Windsor/Detroit border) had Americans stopping in while they were in the area wanting to pick up Canadian lapel pins, flags and other sort of paraphenalia. Their reason? Almost always that they were going overseas and knew that Canadians were better treated than Americans in many countries. Fact.

While I agree it would be a "fact" that Americans were stopping by to pick up Canadian items (you worked there, so you saw it yourself), you cannot say that it is "fact" that Canadians are treated better than Americans overseas. There are too many variables to take into account. Which country is it? What is the tourist doing? Did they make an effort to speak the language? And so on and so on and so on...

I'm absolutely sure that Canadians have been treated better than Americans in some cases. Lkewise, I'm sure there have been instances where Americans have been treated better than Canadians. It just depends on the situation, really.

After all, unless someone goes around stating "I'm an American!" or "I'm a Canadian!" most people from Europe or Asia or South America probably won't be able to tell, unless they've had repeated exposure to the many accents in both Canada and the United States. Let's be honest -- to untrained eyes and ears, Americans and Canadians do look alike and sound similar. The only people who would know from the get-go would be the customs officers and (with great exception) they rarely care WHERE you're from, so long as you've got a valid passport and you're just visiting.

[Ron/Sharon 0]

Let's just say when I was in England, I was upset if I got called Canadian instead of American.

They LOVE to put the maple leaf on anything & everything - signs, logos, foods, etc.

It must have been the I AM CANADIAN decal on your suitcase that confused them.

[Ron/Sharon 0]

Notice how they all live on the US border...

What does this graphic represent VJT?

satellite image at night

That is the time that the smart people go to bed and the Americans go to Walmart

[athena_ny 1]

hehehe, oh this will be a fun topic!

They say the fastest way to discover the differences between a Canadian and an American is to say to the Canadian that there is no difference!

That being said, there are a lot of similarities - especially now with the increasing-seamless cross-border communications and media, however the basic fundamental difference between Americans and Canadians relates to how each country gained its sense of identity. The US achieved its independence by force during a battle 'against' one of their major founding nations. That environment encouraged a strong sense of personal and collective independence that remains to today; the US and Americans are fiercely protective of what they consider their personal rights. The US has found and still finds itself involved in situations they often address through the use of arms, force, or power. Canada gained its initial sense of identity as a result of US aggression - first with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists (both the idealists and the opportunists) who arrived in British Canada after the American Revolution, and second when the US invaded Canada during the War of 1812 expecting to be received as liberators. Finding their very homes threatened, "Canadians" banded together to fight off the invaders and thus the Canadian 'identity' as separate and distinct from the US and from Britain was born. Canada became a country through negotiation with its varying partners when threats from US Fenians again challenged the US/Canadian borders and the varying Canadian provinces agreed to join together in a Confederation of Provinces as the Dominion of Canada. Instead of rebelling against Britain, Canada became an active part of the Commonwealth and eventually re-patriated its constitution through negotiations and diplomacy. While Canadians do not run away from a valid battle (ie. WWI and WWII) they also do not go seeking them out and when faced with such situations will try to find non-violent solutions through diplomacy and negotiation. Since joining together to protect everyone, Canadians learned early that it pays to look after all of its members so developed an approach to community that isn't focused on the independent individual but on the collective good. We have also learned over the years that a variety of talents and abilities makes the collective stronger so Canadians are much more supportive of immigration and cultural diversity. The US has been called a 'melting pot'; Canada has been called a 'cultural mosaic'.

There is a really fun movie you might want to rent called "Canadian Bacon". It is about a supposed US invasion of modern day Canada as a subterfuge for their real agenda, and it plays upon every Canadian stereotype you can imagine. It is absolutely hilarious!

and as Jamie67 said "They are ruthless savages that will stop at nothing to take over America" - and I guess we have started with Florida!

(Oh, check out Canadian humour - it is very hard for any politician in Canada to take him/herself too seriously - Canadian comedians just won't let them get away with it! Nothing is sacred! I miss it here in the US.)

Can't be bothered to read the whole thread - but I know more NYers in FL than Canadians. New York has taken over FL and you will never win hehehe

[Sister Fracas 5]

PS - I think it would be best if we could think about the positive attributes

well that went out the window pretty quickly, and slinging from BOTH sides I might add...

here's a concept, why not just think of Canadians (and any other nationalities) as just people....

oh who am I kidding? I guess it's more fun to drag out the stereotypes for EVERYONE...

[Cassie 8]

I have to call bull$hit too on the Americans pretending to be Canadians thing - I jsut don't know anyone who has ever done it. Besides you don't get "treated better" because of your nationality. You get treated better because you are nice and respectful.

Having said that, I think I'm the only American I know who is regularly mistaken for canuck abroad. Dunno why. Maybe growing up 10 miles from the border rubbed off on me.

Against my better judgement, I will relay the following experience.

During my trip to Scotland and England, our tour group had a group supper in our hotel. Some of us were rather loud and boisterous that evening, and our waiter was NOT amused and was rather rude to us whenever he saw us....until the next morning when he stopped to have a chat with us. Somehow the fact that we were Canadian came up. The waiter was shocked and exclaimed "You're Canadian? I thought you were Yankees!" and instantly, and I mean instantly, he was no longer Mr. Rude Waiter. He was actually turned out to be kinda cute and a lot of fun.

I have worked 10+ years in jobs that dealt directly with tourists and have travelled abroad myself and I have seen the "pretending to be Canadian phenomenon" and the "treating better because you are perceived to be Canadian" with my own two eyes. It happens.

Anyways, I see my prediction turned out to be right.

[L_n_O 3]

we are far more awesome than americans

[Sister Fracas 5]

we are far more awesome than americans

funny, I thought Canadians WERE Americans....

my bad...