Have Americans ever asked you about Canadian stereotypes?

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Last month at WDW my family and I were at Earl of Sandwich and while my parents were in line I was at our table and this couple sitting next to me from South Florida asked if I was from Toronto because they saw my Maple Leafs hat. Anyway I said yes and then that persons wife asked me to say the world about, because she must have heard it on TV or in a movie the way some Canadians say it in a funny way. So I said it and she was shocked that I said it the correct way if you want to look at that and I said not all Canadians are like that. Honestly I was not angry or anything because I thought it was more funny and I did prove not all Canadian stereotypes are true. So has anyone been in situations like that?

 

[Ham Ham]

Whut you talkin aboot, eh? We all live in igloos, we all know everybody, we all love hockey, addicted to Tim Hortons, no one locks doors, our medicare system is the best in the world (until you need it), we have 10 days of summer, etc....

What we think aboot 'mericans. They all have guns.

I just don't hear when the Yanks think we pronounce aboot instead of about.
They seem to pronounce it abowt.

Have a look at a few words here.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourspace/american_speak.html

Canadian

Them

 

[JasonDVC]

There used to be a commercial in New England for the New England Sports Network (NESN) They were promoting that they were going to air CFL games. The commercial essentially goes like this:

Canadians are just like us...except different. We have Police...They have Mounties. We have ham...they have bacon. We say about...they say aboot. We have football...they Canadian Football.

During the commercial they would show a picture of each item. Like for the "aboot" part, they would have a picture of a boot. It was very funny. My wife has family from Calgary and when they come to the states I ask them the same stupid questions, sorry

P.S. the Canadian Rockies (Banff area) are breath taking!

 

[Sillyminny40]

Most Americans can spot our "Canadian" accents right away.

 

[sean-1966]

I love to see the looks on American's faces when I explain to them that I live further south then 1/3 of the States. I live on the same latitude as Northern California. They tend not to believe me till they see a map.

 

[SandraC]

I used to live in New York....not too far from Manhattan....what a treat that was! LOL!

These are SOME of the questions I got;

Do you have McDonald's?
Do you know Bob in Alberta?
Do you have the same New Years Eve?
When is your Christmas?
Say 'house' and 'about'!

DRUM ROLL.......

.......What does seal blubber taste like?

I answered, "Chicken."

 

[Cdn Gal]

American's lack of knowledge about Canada is hilarious!! OK TRUE STORY!!! No kidding!! Growing up I used to sell corn off the highway near Lakefield Ont. One day in the heat of July this station wagon pulls up at our corn stand, with skiis attached to the roof, mom and dad in the front and 3 kids in the back seat. They asked us where Canada was. No kidding!! (and it was no joke with no hidden cameras or anything like that) Being teenagers we started to laugh and asked them how they got through the border. They looked at us dumbfounded and asked where all of the snow was. We told them to come back in 6 months and then there would be snow. ANOTHER TRUE STORY!! Same corn stand- it's not only Americans- we had this guy from Toronto convinced that brown cows gave chocolate milk and white cows white milk. He also belived us when we told him that you only eat Black cows hence the name Black Angus. Good times down on the farm!

 

[mousy_in_canada]

I was in a walmart on my way back from WDW in South Carolina and the cashier said "you can't a Canadian you speak in english" ... she also said that she heard skiing is not a sport it is a mode of transportation and a way of life... I said nooo we have cars.. I mean really what was she thinking ???

 

[jseuss]

had an american ask me if our money was made by monopoly, so i asked him if his beer was made by cool aid . He was not impressed

 

[cslittle999]

Our company's head office is in Wisconsin. We joke back and forth all of the time about stereotypes.

 

[Sheribo]

had an american ask me if our money was made by monopoly, so i asked him if his beer was made by cool aid . He was not impressed

Too funny! I had someone laugh at the way I said roof. I asked them to say it and it sounded more like 'rewf' - kinda like what we'd say a dog sounded like.

Then again, when we were in France they said we couldn't be Canadian because we spoke French. We must be Quebecois. The first couple of times this happened we explained that French is spoken in several areas of the country. After that we gave up and pretended to not know where Quebec was. We had a lot of fun with that.

 

[drag n' fly]

We have encountered all kinds. A lot of people do not even know where Alberta is or what country it is in! On every trip though some family pegs us from Alberta! Apparently Albertans have a certain dialect that is easily distinguishable from other provinces. We even had a family at POR in 2007 peg us from Calgary just because of our "Calgary" accent!

 

[bababear_50]

I was in Epcot in Dec --Yes in the "Canadian Pavillion",,side note my adult sons were very disappointed by the whole Canadian Theme,,anyhow this young boy looking at Sports T-shirts says "Hey mom what are "Canucks"? and she says they are Canadians,,
Oh mY

Hugs Mel

 

[Echie]

Ha ha! I was in Miami a few years back at a hotel and had one of the pool guys ask me what it's like to always have snow 365 days a year in Canada and how I like living in an igloo. He couldn't believe it when I cleared those two stereotypes up for him!

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

Being a dual citizen I get the comments both ways - by Canadians about Americans as well as vice versa. It gets old. They're both amazing countries - sure there are some people that are ignorant but only b/c they don't know any better.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

American's lack of knowledge about Canada is hilarious!! OK TRUE STORY!!! No kidding!! Growing up I used to sell corn off the highway near Lakefield Ont. One day in the heat of July this station wagon pulls up at our corn stand, with skiis attached to the roof, mom and dad in the front and 3 kids in the back seat. They asked us where Canada was. No kidding!! (and it was no joke with no hidden cameras or anything like that) Being teenagers we started to laugh and asked them how they got through the border. They looked at us dumbfounded and asked where all of the snow was. We told them to come back in 6 months and then there would be snow. ANOTHER TRUE STORY!! Same corn stand- it's not only Americans- we had this guy from Toronto convinced that brown cows gave chocolate milk and white cows white milk. He also belived us when we told him that you only eat Black cows hence the name Black Angus. Good times down on the farm!

 

[bdoyledimou]

I am the only Canadian on a American account. I had to learn how to speak "American" as part of the contract.
Yes, they do speak differently than Canadians.
It's been 7 years and they still make fun of my inflection and some of the things i say.

 

[Northern_Julie]

A man from Texas took the Keys to the Kingdom tour with me. He figured I was Canadian and asked me where from. He was really into maps. When I told him Yellowknife he almost fell over and asked if i travel by dog sled part of the way. After the tour he came back to me and asked me about how I lived. I think he was a little disappointed I live in a town home with plumbing and there wasn't enough snow to travel by dog sled in October so I used an commercial airplane (and had to convince him we had an airport)

 

[PixieDustTink]

Being a dual citizen I get the comments both ways - by Canadians about Americans as well as vice versa. It gets old. They're both amazing countries - sure there are some people that are ignorant but only b/c they don't know any better.

I get them both ways too! My son and husband are Canadian and I grew up in the southern states and I'm American. We live in Ontario.... If you want stereotypes you should hear what people say when you are from the south! I think sometimes people truly believe it's all like in the Fox Fire Books, people don't wear shoes, or go to college *never mind getting out of grade school* It's been interesting. By the same token, I hear some of the things about Canadians that you have pointed out in this thread. Not so much anymore but, a few years ago I used to. Although in all my years here I've yet to see the skis on tourist cars in the summer thing that my husband SWEARS happened. lol...Even I knew before I moved here that Canada had summer for heavens sakes and that it didn't snow every single month of the year.

As it turns out it appears everybody has their misconceptions I suppose!

 

[barkley]

you mean the depictions of canadians we get from our primary sources (old sctv 'great white north' re-runs, 'the red green show', and all the incarnations of the degrassi series) are'nt accurate????

it goes both ways-i grew up in 'the napa valley' and for years people based their ideas on what they saw on 'falcon crest' then i just switched to saying i was originaly from 'northern california' but with the advent of shows like 'wife swap' and 'trading spouses' and their choices of participants from the region everyone asks if i grew up in a commune, wore shoes, am a homeschooling vegan and plan on keeping my kids (teens ) in a 'communal family bed' until they leave home