Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[Aladora]

Have they retained a bit of the South African accent?

We haven't met yet (mostly covid and just life busy) but I do know from my nextdoor neighbor that new neighbors up the street moved last year from South Africa. When I worked at JCP when I was a teen my coworker moved from South Africa as a toddler and didn't have an accent any longer but her mother def. did

My parents, yes absolutely. My sister, no because she was only around a year old at the time they moved here.

How do Canadians view Captain Simcoe? We don’t have positive views on him here in the USA but I believe he is viewed favorably in Canada for his contributions?

I'm gonna have to Google him before I can answer this in any way...although I have to assume he is what Lake Simcoe is named after?

A question for Canadians. When I was a kid visiting my Aunts and Uncles in Canada I was surprised that the mailman made deliveries twice a day, morning and afternoon. However, the mailman would not pickup outgoing mail from your house, you had to go to a drop box or the post office for that. Is that still the case?

No to the two deliveries per day and yes to the not picking up outgoing mail. I've actually never seen 2 deliveries per day and I am almost 50.

In my experience, South Africans can certainly figure out a native accent rather quickly. I had a classmate in high school who moved from South Africa. Her accent was indistinguishable from locals almost immediately.

All the ex-South Africans I know have kept their accents with the caveat that if they left SA when they were young, then likely no to keeping it. There is a pretty large ex-SA population where I live and I really enjoy hearing the accents!

Do Canadians have absentee voting?

We have mail-in ballots as well as advance polling in addition to voting on election day.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

In my experience, South Africans can certainly figure out a native accent rather quickly. I had a classmate in high school who moved from South Africa. Her accent was indistinguishable from locals almost immediately.

I'm going to agree with the other poster the South African accent is very distinctive and usually sticks around. That said actors and actresses do this all the time for all sorts of accents. Your classmate must have wanted to not have her accent to show through. Maybe the less she used it and instead focused on not letting it come across the less it stuck around.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

All the ex-South Africans I know have kept their accents with the caveat that if they left SA when they were young, then likely no to keeping it. There is a pretty large ex-SA population where I live and I really enjoy hearing the accents!

Not really related to your comment but the conversation made me think of this. When I was in college my senior year I worked for the bookstore. I don't know if it's changed but at that time all pull over 3/4 zip hoodies that had Alumni embroidered on it along with the masot embroidered were made in the Kingdom Of Lesotho. Why I have no idea (I mean sure cheap labor is possible and likely but why that country). I kinda find it fun to look at the tags to see where clothing is made from so that's how I even stumbled upon it. Having never heard of Lesotho I just had to look it up. It's a country surrounded by South Africa previously under UK control but decades ago got its independence. It's a factoid I have somehow committed to memory.

**Back on your comment I find the accent to be really interesting to hear myself.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I'm gonna have to Google him before I can answer this in any way...although I have to assume he is what Lake Simcoe is named after?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Graves_Simcoe

 

[goofyernmost]

Without getting political, immigration is a hot topic in America due to continuous illegal immigration. Congress has debated how to fix it, including a merit best system (but nothing gets done). Our countries both love and appreciate immigrants, just in the USA’s case it’s more of how it should be done and the cost factor when it comes to illegal workers. But anyone who is an American citizen is seen as American as anyone else period.

You obviously have not been paying attention over the last few years.

 

[Aladora]

Not really related to your comment but the conversation made me think of this. When I was in college my senior year I worked for the bookstore. I don't know if it's changed but at that time all pull over 3/4 zip hoodies that had Alumni embroidered on it along with the masot embroidered were made in the Kingdom Of Lesotho. Why I have no idea (I mean sure cheap labor is possible and likely but why that country). I kinda find it fun to look at the tags to see where clothing is made from so that's how I even stumbled upon it. Having never heard of Lesotho I just had to look it up. It's a country surrounded by South Africa previously under UK control but decades ago got its independence. It's a factoid I have somehow committed to memory.

**Back on your comment I find the accent to be really interesting to hear myself.

There is a really great book which was later made into a movie called "Cry Freedom" about Stephen Biko, a black anti-apartheid activist, and James Woods, a reporter. When James Woods escaped South Africa, he did so by crossing the border into Lesotho and flying to London via Botswana.

As an aside, the reason my parents left South Africa when my sister was a baby was because my mother was involved in an anti-apartheid women's group called Black Sash. As a result, the police actually had a file on her and my parents realized that at some point in time, for the safety of the family, they would have to leave. They packed up and left SA. They had to pick where to move to and their choices were England, Australia, USA, or Canada.

I'm not sure why they didn't go to England but Australia was out because, as my mom puts it, "she didn't want to be a Sheila". The US was out because of the Vietnam war so by default they ended up in Canada.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

Corner Gas > Seinfeld, Friends, The Office, [basically any American sitcom that is overhyped]

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

There is a really great book which was later made into a movie called "Cry Freedom" about Stephen Biko, a black anti-apartheid activist, and James Woods, a reporter. When James Woods escaped South Africa, he did so by crossing the border into Lesotho and flying to London via Botswana.

Oooh interesting

As an aside, the reason my parents left South Africa when my sister was a baby was because my mother was involved in an anti-apartheid women's group called Black Sash. As a result, the police actually had a file on her and my parents realized that at some point in time, for the safety of the family, they would have to leave. They packed up and left SA. They had to pick where to move to and their choices were England, Australia, USA, or Canada.

I'm not sure why they didn't go to England but Australia was out because, as my mom puts it, "she didn't want to be a Sheila". The US was out because of the Vietnam war so by default they ended up in Canada.

That's quite a history your family has, admirable in my book the reason for leaving Interesting your mom didn't want to be considered a Sheila.

The only side I have knowledge of is my mom's side. They came over in the late 1800s like many others from Ireland and Germany. My husband's dad's side of his family has a bit more to them though coming here roughly the same time. As far as I understood it they came from Scandinavia through Canada into the U.S. and changed the spelling of their last name when they did it. A good portion of my husband's dad's family still lives in Minnesota where they settled (talk about an accent lol)

 

[porschegrl]

Corner Gas > Seinfeld, Friends, The Office, [basically any American sitcom that is overhyped]

I love The Office, but you're not wrong.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm 50 years old and we have never had twice daily mail delivery in my lifetime. And we don't have delivery on Saturdays.
Mailman does not take out of the house mailbox - only puts in. Maybe different in rural areas.

Is mail delivered on Sundays or is it both Saturday and Sunday? Other than Amazon stuff, USPS doesn't deliver on Sunday's here.

 

[Aladora]

Is mail delivered on Sundays or is it both Saturday and Sunday? Other than Amazon stuff, USPS doesn't deliver on Sunday's here.

We have mail delivery weekdays only, except for couriers that do deliver on weekends. During the Christmas rush, we do sometimes get Canada Post on the weekends but that is rare.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Is mail delivered on Sundays or is it both Saturday and Sunday? Other than Amazon stuff, USPS doesn't deliver on Sunday's here.

In my 50+ years I've only known Canada Post to deliver Monday - Friday once a day.

 

[bcla]

I have read it is consistently voted the country with the nicest people and you definitely have produced some of the funniest people ever. I want to especially thank Canada for John Dunsworth.

I don't know about "nicest". People are people. I don't know if people in Canada are genuinely nicer or not. But it's certainly a polite society. But in many polite societies it's often considered an obligation, and not everyone really means it.

 

[Aladora]

The "Sorry Law" might be my favourite Canadian thing ever.

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_06019_01
That link is for BC but Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have similar ones.

 

[Buzz Rules]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols_of_Canada


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols_of_the_United_States

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_United_States_state_symbols

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_provincial_and_territorial_symbols
List of symbols for each country and states/provinces.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have mail delivery weekdays only, except for couriers that do deliver on weekends. During the Christmas rush, we do sometimes get Canada Post on the weekends but that is rare.

In my 50+ years I've only known Canada Post to deliver Monday - Friday once a day.

That is quite interesting. We have M-Sat delivery with Amazon having a contract to delivery via USPS on Sundays. For UPS or FedEx that differs it depends on the service selected when shipping. These days with how I've gotten used to quick delivery of items (thanks to Amazon lol) I'm not sure how I would feel about not having any delivery on Saturdays. I've never kept track though what I'm typically getting in the mail on Saturdays so it's possible actual mail pieces wouldn't be as big of a deal but for packages I feel like I would really miss Saturday delivery.

ETA: speaking of holiday rushes it's common for USPS to deliver multiple times a day during that. You'll get your normal mail in the normal timeframe but then if you're expecting packages it may be on a separate truck or even multiple trucks. They even rent vans and use other vehicles to get the mail out.

 

[Buzz Rules]

How the US mail system was born:

 

[ronandannette]

Ooooh, I wanted to love this but the best I could end up giving you was a like . Points were lost when Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan, was pronounced Ree-Geena instead of Ree-G-eye-na (hard I sound; yes, it does rhyme with a ladypart).

A question for Canadians. When I was a kid visiting my Aunts and Uncles in Canada I was surprised that the mailman made deliveries twice a day, morning and afternoon. However, the mailman would not pickup outgoing mail from your house, you had to go to a drop box or the post office for that. Is that still the case?

If they were rural, or lived in a very small town, the mailman was probably a friend who maybe did things on his own schedule, which might have been common back in the day. Not widespread by any means and as has been discussed over and over here on the CB, many of the anecdotes you remember or were told by your Saskatchewan cousins were unique to them and NOT representative in any way of being generally Canadian.

...Legit question tho. I seem to remember hearing that while Canada does have universal healthcare, you do have to pay some fees for things that aren't covered by the plan? How does this really work? Because I feel like a lot of people have this misconception that you never have to pay for anything. But from what I've read people still buy private insurance for things.

Yes, absolutely. Major medical (doctor's visits, hospital care, care for chronic diseases and cancer care, among many other things) is covered by health care and since it is a provincial jurisdiction, what is covered may vary somewhat from province to province. Things like dentistry, vision care, some mental health services, chiropractic, physio and rehabilitation, naturopathic and homeopathic medicine and most prescription medication is NOT covered. Those things are either OOP or covered by supplemental insurance which many of us have as part of our employment benefits. Most provinces have some sort of supplement for low-income people that will pay for all these extras. For the vast majority in the middle-class, it's kind of like in the States - have insurance, pay for it yourself or do without.

Do Canadians have absentee voting?

Yes.

It’s just not that important. There is no reason to commit that to memory. Most Americans don’t care much about Canada. I know that’s hard to hear but it’s just the way it is.

Fair enough. Most Canadians don't care much about Spain, or Norway or Singapore - I see it as the same thing. And we shouldn't take it personally either. I doubt most Americans know (or care) any more about Mexico than they do about Canada.

 

[ronandannette]

The "Sorry Law" might be my favourite Canadian thing ever.

https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/00_06019_01

That link is for BC but Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have similar ones.

Alberta has it too, as part of a larger Bill regarding evidence. And honestly, what kind of a human being would withhold apologetic comfort and concern for another person out of fear of being held liable? That's a terrible way to live.

 

[Aladora]

Legit question tho. I seem to remember hearing that while Canada does have universal healthcare, you do have to pay some fees for things that aren't covered by the plan? How does this really work? Because I feel like a lot of people have this misconception that you never have to pay for anything. But from what I've read people still buy private insurance for things.

Yes, absolutely. Major medical (doctor's visits, hospital care, care for chronic diseases and cancer care, among many other things) is covered by health care and since it is a provincial jurisdiction, what is covered may vary somewhat from province to province. Things like dentistry, vision care, some mental health services, chiropractic, physio and rehabilitation, naturopathic and homeopathic medicine and most prescription medication is NOT covered. Those things are either OOP or covered by supplemental insurance which many of us have as part of our employment benefits. Most provinces have some sort of supplement for low-income people that will pay for all these extras. For the vast majority in the middle-class, it's kind of like in the States - have insurance, pay for it yourself or do without.

As Ronandannette said, most medical things are covered under our universal healthcare and she listed the things that typically are not although eye exams for kids are covered in BC.

When I gave birth to our son, the only things I ever paid for was $10 for the ultrasound photos and $7 to have a phone in my private room. Oh, and my husband had to pay for parking at the hospital.

When I had cancer, my chemo was 100% covered, all of my surgeries were covered including my reconstruction after bilateral mastectomy, and because our income at the time was low enough, all of my medication during chemo such as anti-nausea meds were also covered. I did have to pay out of pocket for a bottle of 100 generic Gravol but not only did that cost me a whopping $6, but if my oncologist had written a prescription then it would have been covered as well.

There are people who say that universal healthcare results in very long waits for treatment and/or surgery but that was not my experience. I was diagnosed with cancer on December 12th, my first surgery was December 27th, and I started chemo mid January.