Funny Things we Canadians hear!

[RobTheGob]

Whenever I'm talking to an American, I seem to always take the proactive attack towards their misconceptions.

Normally, I mention to them how impressed I am with their grasp of ENGLISH. If they start talking about us as hicks, I usually point out some of the better known Canadian inventions (Here and here). They're usually surprised about the common items that they thought were American. I was working with a diabetic American in LA a while back that had a hard time believing that insulin was a Canadian discovery.

When they start talking about "eh", I usually mention the "y'all" and "uh-huh".

Uh-huh seems to be universally used in the US instead of "you're welcome". It used to really bother me when a waitress says uh-huh (because my mother would have swatted me in the head if I said that instead of your welcome), but then I realized that they don't say it to be flippant or rude. It just sounds that way to the overly polite Canadian...

 

[mom_rules]

Welcome RobtheGob-1st post?

I agree with you, my mom would have whapped me upside the head too
for saying uh-huh instead of you're welcome. I also know what you mean about the polite Canadian thing-One thing I do notice everytime I'm in the US, Americans tend to excuse themselves (bump into you "excuse me") but
Canadians are constantly apologizing (bump into you "I'm so sorry"), almost like we have a complex or something LOL.

 

[merfsko]

My cousin went to the US to visit her brother, and went to pick up some Goldfish Pretzels for me. She asked one of the workers where she could find them, and was told they weren't getting them until the following week. My cousin says,
"Oh, I'm from Canada and I'll be back home my next week, so I was going to stock up.." The store person, shocked replies
"You don't have pretzels in canada?!?!"

 

[sean-1966]

I just had to register to post on here. I live in Niagara, about as south as you can be while still being in Canada. I've seen Americans driving around in July with snow-skis on their car. Most Americans don't believe me when I say I live further south than them "But you live in Canada". I had relatives coming from England to visit for a few days. They wanted to drive to Vancouver for the weekend. When I told them it would take about a week to get to there they couldn't believe it.

 

[Islandergal]

I really can't get over how everyone thinks Eastern Canadians have such accents. Yes it's true that some do, but mostly people from smaller towns or more isolated areas. The majority of people who grew up in a city sound the same as or at least almost the same as someone from Ontario. I grew up on PEI and went to McGill in Montreal for university and I never had someone comment on my accent. Also, whoever mentioned the Scottish/Irish origins are probably the root of the "aboot" thing would be correct. I am not mad, but I am just shocked that people are making comments that they can barely understand us. By the way my funny story happened while I was living in Edmonton back in the late 80's. Another young person asked me If we had any electricity back East! and he was not joking either. Like someone said earlier, these kinds of comments happen everywhere. By the way I got a good laugh reading these stories.

 

[almacdonald]

True story, not mine but a friend's....

Cashier -American (slow drawl): "Did ya'll find everything ya were lookin for?"

Friend -Canadian: "Yup, sure did! Found everything we were looking for!"

Cashier (slow drawl): "Ya'll must be from CA-NA-DA.'

Friend: "We are, why do you say that?"

Cashier (slow drawl): "Ya'll talk REEAAALLLL fast!"

 

[Susan--Ontario]

Cashier (slow drawl): "Ya'll talk REEAAALLLL fast!"

I had a friend from Newfoundland that would come to Ontario to visit. No one could understand him because he talked too fast.

In our new Venture van (which is built somewhere in the US) we have a temperature gage on it. You can choose E for fahrenheit or C for celsius. Know what the "E" stands for??


It stands for English. Last time I checked Britain was metric. Made me laugh though.

the gage is always set to E so that we can relate to how much colder it is here than Disney World. Today it's a whole lot colder.

 

[sunkissed212]

I tell you what, these are really funny.

I'm from the US (Michigan) and my boyfriend is from Belle River, Ontario. I've lived just minutes from the border all my life and have spent a lot of time on the Canadian side throughout my life but I'm amazed at all I've learned since I started dating my boyfriend back in April.

It's interesting to see all of the differences when we're so close. We only live 30 miles from each other...but in different countries. I know I've asked some pretty silly questions already and I'm sure there's more on the way.

 

[ducklite]

Well I never!

HAHAHA! I have traveled pretty extensively through Canada, and am appalled at the lack of basic knowledge that many of my friends (especially those from the South) have about our neighbors to the North.

I grew up in Upstate New York where we thought of Ontario as "the next state over" (YES I KNOW IT'S A PROVINCE!) and Californaia as some very foreign country. LOL!

Anne

 

[Torontogal]

"You are from Canada? What PROVIDENCE would that be?"
"My best friend's mother is from Canada - maybe you know them - Sarah Smith?"

 

[CharlesTD]

One of my favourites is why does your money look like it came from a monopoly game with all teh different colours.

 

[ducklite]

One of my favourites is why does your money look like it came from a monopoly game with all teh different colours.

Guilty.

But I can name the highest peak in Canada, does that absolve me from my sin? LOL!

Anne

 

[DutchsMommy]

"You are from Canada? What PROVIDENCE would that be?"
"My best friend's mother is from Canada - maybe you know them - Sarah Smith?"

I had to reply to that one because that is my name - but DS is only 3 so I doubt I was the person in question!

One from my past - we used to drive all over the Eastern Seaboard to go to Bike Rallys. Often it was alot of camping and drinking. At least once during our trip someone would try and pay for the breakfast bill with Canadian Tire money and convince the waitress it was legit Canadian currency. It worked at least once that I am aware of.

 

[diz karen]

My Father In Law was able to run a tab (years ago) all night at a bar as they had taken an imprint of his credit card. It was actually his Quebec Health Card.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Guilty.

But I can name the highest peak in Canada, does that absolve me from my sin? LOL!

Anne

Hold off on the absolution. The Government of Canada is changing the name of Mt. Logan. If you can tell us the new name, then perhaps your sins will be forgiven.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Hold off on the absolution. The Government of Canada is changing the name of Mt. Logan. If you can tell us the new name, then perhaps your sins will be forgiven.

Never mind -- the National Post story last week was wrong. Mt. Logan will remain Mt. Logan. Here's the story.

 

[ducklite]

Hold off on the absolution. The Government of Canada is changing the name of Mt. Logan. If you can tell us the new name, then perhaps your sins will be forgiven.

Well that's easy! For about four years now there's been a movement to rename it after former PM Trudeau. I signed a petition against it and used my friends address in Calgary hehehe!

Anne

 

[maryliz]

Well that's easy! For about four years now there's been a movement to rename it after former PM Trudeau. I signed a petition against it and used my friends address in Calgary hehehe!

Anne

MaryLiz

 

[declansdad]

Ya'll have to know this goes both ways, right? I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, which is in the southern U.S. my hubby and i love Canada, particularly Montreal. Once when we were there are a business trip I had several hours to "play" at the mall. I guess I look Canadian, because every sales person spoke French to me,then quickly switched to English(In my part of the country, Spanish is much more useful than French; therfore I do not speak French.) The questions they would ask me (I'm not making these up!):

"Do you live on a plantation?" (I admit, we get this from people in the U.S. too. Too much Gone With The Wind)

"Do you know any of the Braves?" (No, do you?)

"Does it ever get cold in Georgia?" (Well, it was 15 degrees last week.)

"Don't you get hot in Georgia?" (Only when the air conditioning breaks down.)

"Do you own a gun?" (Yes. a big one.)

"Do you keep hunting dogs?" (Only my poodle. We shot our Boston Terrier just kidding...)

"You have such a strange/weird/pleasant/funny accent. Say something!"(Thank you. You're obnoxious.)

We in the South really are pleasant people, but the media sometimes paints us all as though we were The BEverly Hillbillies or Dukes of Hazzard. I promise not to ask if you drive a dogsled, if you will not treat me like I'm an idiot just because I stumbled across the border (which way is it again?...)

Cathy--got some Canadian dollars burning a hole in my pocket

So true, you will hear it both ways.

I found it interesting that as I was reading your post, I was reading with a southern accent.

 

[declansdad]

Hello all, just finished reading though all the post and thought I should defend the maritimes a bit.

I have never heard anyone in the maritmes used "aboot" so don't go blaming that one on us. As for accents, every area has different accents, some just stronger than others.

I was on the etrain in Boston one night and struck up a conversation with a fellow passenger (I think it was because of the many cases of bear our group was carrying ). He had to say things two or three times before I could understand him.

I think the maine accent is a combination of the southern drawl and the new england nasal tone.

As for the maritimes, you will find different accents in all three provinces. New brunswickers, nova scotian and islanders all do sound a bit different. People from cape breton sound a lot like newfoundlanders.

Now back to the original topic of the thread:

While in high school my brother went to Portland Maine for a basketball tournament. Over the course of the weekend they had some social interactions withe the US players. One of the questions they were asked is "do you live close to Russia?" Now Portland is maybe 3 hours from the border so it seemed like an odd question. One of the players with my brother answered that it was just acrossed the river and we went shopping there every weekend.