Happy Fourth! And now....a question...

[tabaqui]

Hello. Yes, another ficless update! Aren't i cool.

Anyway - Cat and i were talking and Cat was wondering something and now i'm wondering it so...

If you are from the UK, is there some lingering...national sentiment that sure, they've got James Marsters and Supernatural and 31 Flavors but...that should all be *ours! ours!!* those rat bastards?

I personally cannot conceive of such a thing but...does such a sentiment exist anywhere? When Bollywood tosses out hottie singing guys in eyeliner and chicks who are just so curvey and perfect is there a smoldering *grrrrr* anywhere?

Idle curiousity, folks. I think the answers are gonna be fun. If i get any.

And hey - now's your chance to tell me *every tiny thing* about America that bugs the crap out of you!

*just for the record, i despise The Shrub*
*so you'll be preachin' to the choir on *that* subject*

In other news? Deadwood!!!
OMFGILUFFIT!!!
*smoooches killerweasel*

Comments

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

As a Canadian, I'm just pleased that the 54'40 or bust sentiment seems to have mostly passed for the time being. I don't care if they belong to the UK or not, what I care about is whether they think we belong to them.

I've got your Manifest Destiny right here buddy.

However I have seen American pundits on TV making jokes about just taking over Canada and making it the 51st state, which is beyond ridiculous from a simple practical standpoint. (Go on, I dare ya, try to morph all the provincial governments into one. I'll be sitting by with popcorn.)

The thing that makes me nervous is that the sentiment seems to be that there is no point because we are basically the same culture anyway.

As someone who used to work at a call centre that was entirely American incoming calls, take it from me:

Americans and Canadians:

Are. Not. The. Same.

If you want some reasons how this is the case, check out my Canada day post here.

Hey look, there's a streetsign, I'm on tangent boulevard. How nice;-D

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Yiss!!!

And if you really want to piss off the English, you can pretend you think they're Welsh. Or Scottish. And then say, "Well, it's all the same, really, isn't it?"

(Ditto Germany/Austria. Ditto France/Belgium. Ditto practically any neighbouring countries in this intensely feudal community of Europe. :)

Oh God. I'd like to see the Americans try and invade Quebec. No, really, I would. Or PEI. "Uh, sir, we've occupied Green Gables, but the enemy keep hiding in the lupins." Or Winnipeg in January. "We tried to fire on them, sir, but the triggers froze, and then my tongue got stuck..."

Um. It's really hot and we've been drinking Finnish currant wine in the backyard, and I'm in a crazy mood but have no wish to offend anybody, American, Canadian, or otherwise. :)

[tabaqui]

*snerk*

That's all i've got.
:)

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

ROTFLMFAOWCSBBQ

Or Victoria in the summer, "We could invade or we could go whale watching...ooh, look, Butchard Gardens."

Or Toronto in the summer. "Okay Corporal, give that to me again. Where are our tanks?" "Stuck in traffic on the QEW, sir."

Or Edmonton in the summer. "Private bring down those enemy helicopters." "Uh, sir? Those are mosquitos."

When I was in a karaoke bar in Inverness the MC thanked my friend and I as, "These two lovely American girls." We reacted predictably.

MC: "Yes they're a bit touchy about being called American."

Me: How do you like being called English?

Audience boos and hisses

MC wincing: The lady has point.

Ditto Germany/Austria. Ditto France/Belgium.

Don't forget Australia/New Zealand. They get *nasty*.

[tabaqui]

*snerk*

Touch foreign *freaks*
*twirls you*

[tabaqui]

Manifest Destiny makes me cringe, to be honest.

And i loved your Canada Day post. It was fun *and telling*.
:)

Yeah, i think people think - oh, Canadians! Just like us only they say 'eh' and play hockey!

Weird we don't think of Mexicans that way. It's like Mexico is some third-world place with half-savage freaks or something. Totally bizzare.

I wouldn't mind if Canada just slipped down and invaded. Free health care for all!!
:)

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

Free health care for all!!

Oh we pay for it, make no mistake. Taxes up here are pretty nuts. It's just that *everyone* pays into it and the wealth gets evened out.

*high fives a re-animated Tommy Douglas*

Glad you liked the post. I do my best writing at 3am on sleep deprivation.

You know the funny thing? I'm from the west coast. I don't say "eh"much. Seriously, it's mostly an eastern and middle thing. Although it does slip in occasionally.

Hell, I have trouble *understanding* a Cape Bretoner, let alone talking like one. (To clarify, Cape Breton is in Nova Scotia, on the far eastern side. But not as far as Newfoundland and Labrador. They have their own *time zone*.) Linguists figure that the eastern Canadian accents are the closest thing to an extant Shakespearean English accent there is.

That's another thing. Americans seem to have trouble grasping just how big Canada is. Take the States and tack on another four provinces and a couple of Territories. Big ones. Like easily four to five times as big as Texas. BC, our third largest province is roughly the size of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California and Arizona combined, with possibly enough space left over for Utah.

Big.

Actually, the Americans are not nearly as guilty of this one as the British. I have had to explain to people that it is not actually possible to do a day trip from Victoria to Banff. (No I'm not joking. We're talking nearly 600 miles here.) Hey, it's just one province over.

*facepalm*

Um. Ranting. Ranting. More Ranting. And a little shutting up:-D

[tabaqui]

Heeee!
I know Cape Breton from reading 'Captains Courageous'. :)

Yeah, 'Merica is big, but not *as* big. I like that, personally, about Canada - all that trackless wilderness. So cool!

*pet pet pet*
Rants are fun.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

On the Canada/US thing: some Americans think Canada is very different.
My boss had to go to a conference from the UK to Canada, and some US citizens on the mailing list, who were also going, posted to ask whether anyone knew if credit card machines were available anywhere in Canada ...

[tabaqui]

*snerk*
OMG, some people are *morons*.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

... and these were probably people with science degrees.

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

That's especially funny since we went electronic way before the Yankees. I once went to a fast food joint and tried to pay with my debit card. The girl looked at me like I'd grown another head.

Even now I don't think that the US have caught up with the sheer level of saturation. It's gotten to the point up here that stores put up signs if they *don't* have the Interac system.

They tend to either think that we're identical or barely the same species. I'm not sure which is worse. For reference I don't live in an igloo and I have no idea where I'd even put a team of sled dogs. I barely have room for my cat!

[tabaqui]

I never notice much, since i don't actually have a debit card *or a credit card*...

And i usually associate igloos and sled dogs with Alaska... Canada is all about *beer*!!
:)

And Toques.

[realtsunamigirl.livejournal.com]

Well yes. There is the beer. Alchohol in general is better up here but also quite a bit more expensive. On the other hand "malt beverages" are unheard of. Up here, Mike's Hard Lemonade is made with vodka.

And you can decide between Macintosh, Spartan and Granny Smith if you want some apple cider. Or if you're feeling really wild, try some Apple-Lime (all one company.)

Never forget the toques. What do people call them besides toques? I've heard balaclava but I thought that was mostly UK usage.

My favorite "Great White North" story is a couple who came up to an Ontario border crossing with skis strapped to the roof of their car. The border guard asked them where they thought they would use them. They replied that the forecast for the southern province had been for very cold weather. Summer weather in Southern Ontario generally hovers in the mid 90s Farenheit.

After much confusion it was revealed that the local TV station had been putting up their weather map without bothering to convert Celcius to Farenheit. To make matters worse it gave the American numbers alongside it in Farenheir It had the forecast for 35 degrees with no accompanying explanation.

I'm still not sure if they didn't bother or simply didn't *know*.
(Reply to this)(Parent)

[tabaqui]

Most people around here would call them a knit cap or a ski cap.

And yeah - the scary thing is if they really *didn't know*.
Yeeesh.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_beetle_/]

Man, oh man are Canadians different from American. I work at a call center now, and we get a bunch of Canadian calls and, except for one woman, who wasn't so much rude as very curt, and for good reason--they're insanely polite and good-natured. Even when they haven't been helped, or we can't do shit for them.

I think that's eery, and that there's something wrong with you people. Or right, depending on which side of the border you're on =D

Goddamn your fucked up postal codes, though. Goddamn them to hell.
*hugs Canada*

[tabaqui]

Heeeeeeeeeee!!!
*they're *weird*!! totally weird, i tell you!!*