Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[Buzz Rules]

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[Buzz Rules]

I think the Library of Parliament and Library of Congress are equally beautiful.

 

[rlk]

I see you’ve met my children

Then you are absolutely welcome to research Tyndall stone as well! Your desire to learn must stem from that American inquisitiveness that I have heard so much about.

I have to keep up with my children!

 

[Frozen Canuck]

I’m telling you, it’s a real thing in most parts of the country.

I mean, I wish I was born with it, but being Canadian, relegates me to a life of herding grasshoppers while chewing on wheat straw.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

I have to keep up with my children!

Well, that won't be possible unless you come from the right part of the country. There may still be a chance if you are willing to relocate. Do not give up hope! You have the ability to be smarter than your zip code. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise.

 

[porschegrl]

When I hear "American inquisitiveness," I think:

 

[Frozen Canuck]

When I hear "American inquisitiveness," I think:

Gladys was just always curious to explore the world around her. She couldn't help it! She was born south of the 49th parallel!

 

[Buzz Rules]

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[Buzz Rules]

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[Frozen Canuck]

In all seriousness @Frozen Canuck, the “American inquisitiveness” actually goes back to the American Revolution. We started to question a lot of things during that period and it became part of our culture in most parts of the country today.

Okay, I'm tapping out! Buzz...

I'm glad you prefaced that to say you were serious. I am dumbfounded. I am starting to question a lot of things now. I believe you have begun an era of "Canadian inquisitiveness."

People were not all sitting around sucking their thumbs, waiting for America to be born, so they could get out of the Dark Ages and start being inquisitive. What the actual????

It was the inquisitiveness of explorers that even got people here in the first place! People were being inquisitive and innovative here for thousands of years before "Americans" showed up. There is no such thing as "American inquisitiveness." (I'm embarrassed to say that I actually looked it up to make sure.) There is only inquisitiveness. All people are born with it.

Believe it or not, the US is not full of Americans; however, it is full of descendants from every other nation on earth. It was THOSE PEOPLE who brought their inquisitiveness here. (Is that even a thing??? I'm starting to question my sanity now.) Inquisitiveness (IMO) can not be taught. You are not given more of it because you live in a certain zip code and have better schools. All people can be and are inquisitive to one degree or another.

This is how I feel right now. (To Buzz, every single thing can be reflected back to the greatness of America, even if it had no basis in America to begin with.)

 

[Buzz Rules]

Okay, I'm tapping out! Buzz...

I'm glad you prefaced that to say you were serious. I am dumbfounded. I am starting to question a lot of things now. I believe you have begun an era of "Canadian inquisitiveness."

People were not all sitting around sucking their thumbs, waiting for America to be born, so they could get out of the Dark Ages and start being inquisitive. What the actual????

It was the inquisitiveness of explorers that even got people here in the first place! People were being inquisitive and innovative here for thousands of years before "Americans" showed up. There is no such thing as "American inquisitiveness." (I'm embarrassed to say that I actually looked it up to make sure.) There is only inquisitiveness. All people are born with it.

Believe it or not, the US is not full of Americans; however, it is full of descendants from every other nation on earth. It was THOSE PEOPLE who brought their inquisitiveness here. (Is that even a thing??? I'm starting to question my sanity now.) Inquisitiveness (IMO) can not be taught. You are not given more of it because you live in a certain zip code and have better schools. All people can be and are inquisitive to one degree or another.

This is how I feel right now. (To Buzz, every single thing can be reflected back to the greatness of America, even if it had no basis in America to begin with.)

I wasn’t saying we started the Enlightenment or anything. I was only saying that we as a collective nation started to question things more within our own society. Not that we invented anything.

 

[seshat0120]

Canadian inquisitiveness= How can I be a nicer and more environmentally friendly neighbor?

Wow! As an American, I feel the need to apologize to Canadians. We all don't revel in American Exceptionalism and the rest of the world gets the crumbs we leave.

In all seriousness @Frozen Canuck, the “American inquisitiveness” actually goes back to the American Revolution. We started to question a lot of things during that period and it became part of our culture in most parts of the country today.

Those "things" that were questioned in the time leading up to the American Revolution were influenced by the writings of John Locke, John Jacques Rousseau, Baron de Montesquieu, and others...so I guess it would really be British and French inquisitiveness. And considering only a 1/3 of the colonial population actually supported breaking from Britain with 1/3 wanting to remain loyal, and 1/3 not really caring, I guess Americans really weren't that inquisitive as a group.

As an American, I'm asking, please stop. You're only furthering the "Arrogant American" view that quite a lot of the world has of us. Frankly, I get tired of being painted with that brush because of the few who don't know how to control their boastfulness. Patriotism is great. I consider myself a patriot and love the US, but you often are crossing over to nationalism and jingoism, neither of which is a good look.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Wow! As an American, I feel the need to apologize to Canadians. We all don't revel in American Exceptionalism and the rest of the world gets the crumbs we leave.



Those "things" that were questioned in the time leading up to the American Revolution were influenced by the writings of John Locke, John Jacques Rousseau, Baron de Montesquieu, and others...so I guess it would really be British and French inquisitiveness.

As an American, I'm asking, please stop. You're only furthering the "Arrogant American" view that quite a lot of the world has of us. Frankly, I get tired of being painted with that brush because of the few who don't know how to control their boastfulness. Patriotism is great. I consider myself a patriot and love the US, but you often are crossing over to nationalism and jingoism, neither of which is a good look.

I’m not arrogant. The Canadian inquisitiveness reference was meant as a compliment not an insult. And I wasn’t being boastful or claiming America is more intelligent than Canada. I said we didn’t start the Enlightenment and only that Americans living during that period started to question things during that period about things affecting our minor society at the time. And don’t bring politics into this. I’m not a nationalist and don’t want to be referred to as one.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Okay, I'm tapping out! Buzz...

I'm glad you prefaced that to say you were serious. I am dumbfounded. I am starting to question a lot of things now. I believe you have begun an era of "Canadian inquisitiveness."

People were not all sitting around sucking their thumbs, waiting for America to be born, so they could get out of the Dark Ages and start being inquisitive. What the actual????

It was the inquisitiveness of explorers that even got people here in the first place! People were being inquisitive and innovative here for thousands of years before "Americans" showed up. There is no such thing as "American inquisitiveness." (I'm embarrassed to say that I actually looked it up to make sure.) There is only inquisitiveness. All people are born with it.

Believe it or not, the US is not full of Americans; however, it is full of descendants from every other nation on earth. It was THOSE PEOPLE who brought their inquisitiveness here. (Is that even a thing??? I'm starting to question my sanity now.) Inquisitiveness (IMO) can not be taught. You are not given more of it because you live in a certain zip code and have better schools. All people can be and are inquisitive to one degree or another.

This is how I feel right now. (To Buzz, every single thing can be reflected back to the greatness of America, even if it had no basis in America to begin with.)

I’m sorry if my Canadian inquisitiveness reference wasn’t seen as a compliment. I was saying Canadians always seem to be friendly towards everyone they meet and care about the environment deeply. I meant it as a good thing in a joking matter.

I’ll stop saying and talking about American inquisitiveness (it wasn’t meant in a serious way).

 

[Buzz Rules]

I going to stay off the thread for awhile. Does someone on the thread have another topic to discuss about American and Canadian culture?

 

[Buzz Rules]

I want to apologize to all on thread if I came across as the “Arrogant American” as @seshat0120 says. That was never an intention of mine and was never meant to be a thing associated with the topic of the thread. The point of the thread was to talk about the differences and similarities between our two cultures. I think my sense of humor needs to be scaled back on the thread and I promise to do so. It’s hard sometimes to formulate the tone of a message in a post. It’s can be different than talking to someone face to face. @Frozen Canuck, please accept my apologies. The “in all seriousness” post was partly a joke at Americans. We have a stigma of questioning the government for many things in comparison to other countries where their public generally goes along with what their government says. I thought that was a well known stigma often said about Americans. I completely agree that everyone has inquisitiveness in them and that it’s a universal thing. I sorry for getting carried away with my posts.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

I want to apologize to all on thread if I came across as the “Arrogant American” as @seshat0120 says. That was never an intention of mine and was never meant to be a thing associated with the topic of the thread. The point of the thread was to talk about the differences and similarities between our two cultures. I think my sense of humor needs to be scaled back on the thread and I promise to do so. It’s hard sometimes to formulate the tone of a message in a post. It’s can be different than talking to someone face to face. @Frozen Canuck, please accept my apologies. The “in all seriousness” post was partly a joke at Americans. We have a stigma of questioning the government for many things in comparison to other countries where their public generally goes along with what their government says. I thought that was a well known stigma often said about Americans. I completely agree that everyone has inquisitiveness in them and that it’s a universal thing. I sorry for getting carried away with my posts.

Buzz, I hold no hard feelings and you have forgiven me many a time when I have crossed a line. I do agree that it is sometimes hard to tell how someone's words are meant to come across on a forum like this one. Let's put this one to rest, shall we? There are better conversations waiting just around the bend...

That being said, I have been trying to come up with a different topic all day long, but have been unsuccessful, thus far. You are usually the one who comes up with the great conversation starters. I find that I struggle with that, because I live in two different worlds. I am a Canadian who doesn't really have any questions for Americans, because I live here and I don't have any questions for Canadians because, well, I still have my foot in the door there as well. I do enjoy jumping in on topics as they arise. Except for soccer. I hold no opinion on soccer. (That's meant as a light-hearted joke, Buzz, not a dig in any way.)

So are we good?

 

[Buzz Rules]

Buzz, I hold no hard feelings and you have forgiven me many a time when I have crossed a line. I do agree that it is sometimes hard to tell how someone's words are meant to come across on a forum like this one. Let's put this one to rest, shall we? There are better conversations waiting just around the bend...

That being said, I have been trying to come up with a different topic all day long, but have been unsuccessful, thus far. You are usually the one who comes up with the great conversation starters. I find that I struggle with that, because I live in two different worlds. I am a Canadian who doesn't really have any questions for Americans, because I live here and I don't have any questions for Canadians because, well, I still have my foot in the door there as well. I do enjoy jumping in on topics as they arise. Except for soccer. I hold no opinion on soccer. (That's meant as a light-hearted joke, Buzz, not a dig in any way.)

So are we good?

We’re good.

 

[prairie_girl]

Buzz,

I have a serious question, and I hope you’ll give a serious answer.

How old are you and where are you from?

I think I’m having a hard time in this thread because I don’t have a frame of reference for you. It would help me connect a little bit more if I could get a little bit of a picture of you in my head.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Buzz,

I have a serious question, and I hope you’ll give a serious answer.

How old are you and where are you from?

I think I’m having a hard time in this thread because I don’t have a frame of reference for you. It would help me connect a little bit more if I could get a little bit of a picture of you in my head.

I’m a Gen Y who lives in the Northeastern part of the US. Good enough?