Around ~2008 I was in a Barcelona hostel and met a guy there. He started speaking and I interrupted him excitedly…“Oh you’re American!!”.
He looked down…the weight of pain curdled the air around us. You could sense deep sorrow welling beneath the surface of this man. He paused for what felt like an eternity to compose himself,
He looked up with a piercing, but harrowing, stare and said “No, I’m Canadian…”
I’ll never forget that moment. That sheer depth of emotion is something I haven’t experienced before or since.
Did I silently murder this poor Canadian soul? How do Canadians cope with the mistaken identity?
Become a devout monarchist. I’m a republican Brit but I lean into monarchy to wind up Americans. Nothing the Yanks hate more than monarchy. “The American mind can’t comprehend” monarchy.
Mount a picture of Charles on the wall then have any visitors bow before it. Any that refuse should be ejected from your home for lack of loyalty to the Canadian crown. 😉
You must have caught that schmuck on a really bad day. I’m not upset by it, because we are really hard to tell apart. Some people do take mild offence, but it’s a pretty unfair thing to expect someone to guess.
Often, it’s good to point out you’re Canadian abroad, because we’re just less hated globally. Occasionally being “American” can be handy, especially in America.
I was born and raised in England by my Canadian dad, and every time he heard the words “Is your dad American” I watched a little piece of his soul die.
If I got any angry for being mistaken for an American, I would be angry all the time. I’m living in Japan. People just assume I’m American. Makes sense right? Tons of yanks; not so many canucks.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but Canadians are Americans not just technically, but also culturally. The difference between a Canadian and an American is similar to an American in NY and another in Alaska. Very similar, but they are a little different but not as much as compared to say English person or Australian. So when people assume I am American, I am not offended as yeah…we really kinda are. We share the same culture that is nearly identical. So much so that most Americans cannot tell Canadians are Canadians until they have spoken for a bit and picked up a few key word differences.
I’ve heard it said that America and Great Britain are “divided by a common language.” I’ve had friendships with British people that consisted largely of “Hey, tell me about this snack food you have that I’ve just now heard of.”
That just doesn’t exist between America and Canada. We’re on the same page. We’re easily mistaken for each other…by each other. Talking to a Canadian about something we’re both interested in is an extremely similar experience to talking to another American.
Right. We talk about the same TV, Internet Social Media, same fast food chains, same mall stores, same big box stores, same types of houses and roads, car focused culture, same corporate culture, biggest trading partners etc etc. The differences are only as big as one state to another.
Nah its just statistics. Historically Canadas population has been less than 10% of that of the US, we’ve almost hit a record of 12% now.
I live in Germany but im from BC so i get hit more often with the “it must snow a lot there!” and i have to explain that it only snows a few days a year and that i’m a cold weather bitch.
Funny story though, i was on a pub crawl in 2018 in London (the real one) and i happen to run into a group of ~20 Canadian soldiers who had also joined it. There was 1 American on this pubcrawl and later in the night he comes up to me in a panic and says “NAME! You’re american right!?!” Haha. He had never been the minority before.
If you went with that convention, you’d have to call us “United Statesians” and people seem to hate that. That’s how we wangled the adjective form from the rest of the Western hemisphere.
I wouldn’t feel too bad for mistaking a Canadian for an American. Our accents sound so similar that I don’t think its a big deal, especially for non native, or non North American english speakers.
That’s what I tell every Canadian I know who’s travelling anyhow. Just kindly tell them you are Canadian if they ever refer to you as American. Or carry Canadian insignia if you are concerned about it.
Gah! I had the comment mostly typed out and tabbed out and it was gone. Alas, here we go.
Once I was in London (your London, not our fake one here in Canada) riding a bus. There was an empty window seat, so I asked the young lady “is this seat taken?” She looks up and me an scowls, clearing picking up what she perceived to be an American accent or turn if phrase and says: “it’s not for Americans.” I reply, “but I’m Canadian!” fully expecting it to end there. But to my surprise she says, “oh, in that case” and slides over to the window.
In Germany, I’ve gotten into vigorous arguments with Germans over the proper adjective to use to describe where I’m from. See, in German, the adjective “American” describes anyone from the continents of North or South America. So when I tell them I am not an American, they usually respond with “yes you are.” Much debate follows, usually with beer involved.
Speaking of beer. I was in Stuttgart for an open source hacker meeting a while back. After spending the day around a conference table and whiteboard, we head to the bar. The Germans in our group are ordering beer by the litre, in very large steins. When the server comes around, I ask for one as well, and she says: “most Americans find out beer pretty strong. Would you perhaps like to start with a half litre?” to which I naturally reply “But I’m Canadian!”. She just goes “oh, I’ll bring you a litre.”
This may be ranty, so sorry in advance. Canadians and Americans are very different. They are our brothers and we love them.That being said politically, socially and culturally we are very far apart. I would not be offended if someone thought I was American but I would correct them. I belive the equivalent would be if someone said “Oh your a Scott?” neighbour’s for over a 1000 years but not the same. I’m assuming your British sorry. Also, to add we do have a growing presence of “We should be part if America” weirdos. Who would say something like “Canada has no culture”.
Your humour is more American than British. Do you even banter?
You literally ride moose into battle.
You think it’s acceptable to tickle beavers.
You love guns.
About the only thing that seems un-American is that fox Justin Trudeau and it seems you’re planning to vote him out next election. How, why? Have you seen that face? He isn’t a man! He’s a god!
I think that everyone can make jokes about the mass shooting events, as long as it’s not about any one specific event, and at least until you guys stop having about 12 per week.
You guys are actually doing pretty good this year, only 12 in the past 15 days!
And only 54 kids killed by guns this year so far, that’s only like 1 every 8 hours. https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
The only thing you got wrong here is in tickling a beaver … riding a moose into battle is less dangerous than tickling a beaver who can snap at you like a weasel and rip your finger off in the blink of an eye.
I mean accent is such a strange thing to say is similar. You can’t compare a new York accent to Toronto. This video is a good sum https://youtu.be/9XpVHbFsLDQ?feature=shared
I mean if we support you guys, we’re dead and we gained you guys 3 hours xD. Also, politically speaking I don’t think anyone on Lemmy is deciding our international relations.
I grew up with Mr Bean on the CBC and Monty Python movies on CBC on Sundays.(Showing my age) I can’t say for sure ether way but that’s a wild assumption xD.
OMG that Newfi accent is amazing and impossible - there’s no way that’s a language!! It’s just noise! And the presenter is hilarious “aboot, abOOT ABOOT”!!! Apparently New Foundland almost became part of the USA only becoming part of Canada by 52/48 in a referendum (same as Brexit!). I was checking out videos of Newfi and the accents seem to swing between Newfi-Scots-French-Yank-Abooty. It’s great!!
I don’t think the guy I met said “aboot” so maybe he was from around the border on the Eastern coast (Ontario?)?
Jordan Peterson has a strong accent - I’m gonna guess he’s from Alberta? He’s got the “eeeh” and “aboot, eh” going on so he’s probably Northern Alberta? How close am I? Am I getting better at placing Canadian accents?
One of my friends is a newfie, best kind. He sounds almost exactly like this dude in the video but picked up some Northen slang. I don’t know to much about Peterson. Probably he’s from Ontario though. All of Ontario has radically different accents, I’m from the northern hell part and talk like the stereo type from the video… But Southren can be anything from Woodbine Posh to Toronto teeth kiss special ( https://youtube.com/shorts/Lt4PYWqBo48?feature=shared )
1 - it’s like Australia vs UK, if you aren’t around it then you can’t spot the difference. Look up Nova Scotians talking and Texans talking then play them back to back. There are some differences
2 - Weird
3 - We banter and watch British comedies. Don’t really care for American comedies
4 - how is that not different? If you were comparing us to Finland it might be a similarity
5 - ?
6 - No we don’t
How, why?
The other guy promises to favour India in immigration and give express citizenship to those people
How much traveling have you done? I’m Canadian and don’t want to join America or something, and there are meaningful differences. But as someone that’s traveled a decent amount, we are way more similar than different. Even England and Australia feel way more alien than most places I’ve been in the the US do. (I’ll admit that one time I was in super rural Tennessee that it also felt quite alien)
I do alot of traveling south, see alot of hockey and football games. I’m not saying it’s alien, it probably is the closest thing we have to a brother. That’s why I said we love them, Yada Yada Yada. But we are different and that view is becoming skewed. Also, I can almost say with certainty your from Ontario. As a Maritimer, Quebecer, Northerner, Indigenous or BC’er. Would probably say how wildly different it is. As we are both huge countries with mosaics of local cultures. But Ontario has a similar culture to Illinois, Minnesota or other northern states. Also, rural states are funny… Stopped at a roadside dinner in Minni a month ago and posters of Biden with Devil horns everywhere and no one flinched…
I don’t mind getting mistaken for American, it’s an easy enough mistake to make.
I have a loosely-related story which was not an easy mistake to make, though. I’m French-Canadian, and a few years back I was traveling in Vietnam with my partner at the time, speaking our accented French when talking to each other (we’re from New Brunswick). Anyway, we get to our hostel after arriving in a new city and hang out for a bit in the common area, planning the rest of our evening (in French of course). There was another couple there, who seemed to have overheard because they glanced towards us. When we glanced back, one of them excitedly said “We know where you guys are from!”
We were a bit surprised, since our accent is pretty obscure and rare; “Oh really?”
“Yeah you’re Russian!”
My ex and I both had a good laugh before explaining that we’re French-Canadian. Here’s the kicker though: they were from Toronto and both said they speak French…
I’ve also had the very unpleasant experience of Québecois or French people not believing me when I tell them in French that I’m a francophone and that French is my first language. So yeah, compared to that, you can call me American all day!
The main thing is that we need to set ourselves apart from the States and the rest of the English-speaking Commonwealth by our demeanor rather than by accent.
I thought your whole ‘thing’ was that you’re polite and friendly!? Surely you don’t need to say “friendly” and “approachable”?
With regards to your reputation for politeness/friendliness - do you think that’s compared to Americans? So for example you’re at the same level of polite as Brits? Or do you think your friendliness/politeness goes above Brits even.
Obviously this is all stereotypes/generalisations. You’re average inner-London (UK) chav with a zombie knife isn’t that polite!
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Only been outside of Canada/USA once and it never came up
I’m in Alberta. Many of the people I share this beautiful province think they’re American (or wish they were). It’s… Unfortunate
Become a devout monarchist. I’m a republican Brit but I lean into monarchy to wind up Americans. Nothing the Yanks hate more than monarchy. “The American mind can’t comprehend” monarchy.
Mount a picture of Charles on the wall then have any visitors bow before it. Any that refuse should be ejected from your home for lack of loyalty to the Canadian crown. 😉
I’d rather retain the monarchy without an actual monarch (like RL Gondor or something) than have a President.
All hail the sacred dickweed.
As an American I’d prefer they not be American. I fucking loathe the people who let American conservatives spit in their mouth and ask for more.
I don’t know what dumb fucker looks at Mississippi or West Virginia and aspires to be like that.
You must have caught that schmuck on a really bad day. I’m not upset by it, because we are really hard to tell apart. Some people do take mild offence, but it’s a pretty unfair thing to expect someone to guess.
Often, it’s good to point out you’re Canadian abroad, because we’re just less hated globally. Occasionally being “American” can be handy, especially in America.
I was born and raised in England by my Canadian dad, and every time he heard the words “Is your dad American” I watched a little piece of his soul die.
I wish I wasn’t white.
If I got any angry for being mistaken for an American, I would be angry all the time. I’m living in Japan. People just assume I’m American. Makes sense right? Tons of yanks; not so many canucks.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but Canadians are Americans not just technically, but also culturally. The difference between a Canadian and an American is similar to an American in NY and another in Alaska. Very similar, but they are a little different but not as much as compared to say English person or Australian. So when people assume I am American, I am not offended as yeah…we really kinda are. We share the same culture that is nearly identical. So much so that most Americans cannot tell Canadians are Canadians until they have spoken for a bit and picked up a few key word differences.
I’ve heard it said that America and Great Britain are “divided by a common language.” I’ve had friendships with British people that consisted largely of “Hey, tell me about this snack food you have that I’ve just now heard of.”
That just doesn’t exist between America and Canada. We’re on the same page. We’re easily mistaken for each other…by each other. Talking to a Canadian about something we’re both interested in is an extremely similar experience to talking to another American.
Right. We talk about the same TV, Internet Social Media, same fast food chains, same mall stores, same big box stores, same types of houses and roads, car focused culture, same corporate culture, biggest trading partners etc etc. The differences are only as big as one state to another.
Nah its just statistics. Historically Canadas population has been less than 10% of that of the US, we’ve almost hit a record of 12% now.
I live in Germany but im from BC so i get hit more often with the “it must snow a lot there!” and i have to explain that it only snows a few days a year and that i’m a cold weather bitch.
Funny story though, i was on a pub crawl in 2018 in London (the real one) and i happen to run into a group of ~20 Canadian soldiers who had also joined it. There was 1 American on this pubcrawl and later in the night he comes up to me in a panic and says “NAME! You’re american right!?!” Haha. He had never been the minority before.
Isn’t everyone in our hemisphere American?
If you went with that convention, you’d have to call us “United Statesians” and people seem to hate that. That’s how we wangled the adjective form from the rest of the Western hemisphere.
Nope. Too close to Asians. We’ll have to go with cowboy wannabes.
I wouldn’t feel too bad for mistaking a Canadian for an American. Our accents sound so similar that I don’t think its a big deal, especially for non native, or non North American english speakers.
That’s what I tell every Canadian I know who’s travelling anyhow. Just kindly tell them you are Canadian if they ever refer to you as American. Or carry Canadian insignia if you are concerned about it.
Gah! I had the comment mostly typed out and tabbed out and it was gone. Alas, here we go.
Once I was in London (your London, not our fake one here in Canada) riding a bus. There was an empty window seat, so I asked the young lady “is this seat taken?” She looks up and me an scowls, clearing picking up what she perceived to be an American accent or turn if phrase and says: “it’s not for Americans.” I reply, “but I’m Canadian!” fully expecting it to end there. But to my surprise she says, “oh, in that case” and slides over to the window.
In Germany, I’ve gotten into vigorous arguments with Germans over the proper adjective to use to describe where I’m from. See, in German, the adjective “American” describes anyone from the continents of North or South America. So when I tell them I am not an American, they usually respond with “yes you are.” Much debate follows, usually with beer involved.
Speaking of beer. I was in Stuttgart for an open source hacker meeting a while back. After spending the day around a conference table and whiteboard, we head to the bar. The Germans in our group are ordering beer by the litre, in very large steins. When the server comes around, I ask for one as well, and she says: “most Americans find out beer pretty strong. Would you perhaps like to start with a half litre?” to which I naturally reply “But I’m Canadian!”. She just goes “oh, I’ll bring you a litre.”
There are many more such examples. :)
This may be ranty, so sorry in advance. Canadians and Americans are very different. They are our brothers and we love them.That being said politically, socially and culturally we are very far apart. I would not be offended if someone thought I was American but I would correct them. I belive the equivalent would be if someone said “Oh your a Scott?” neighbour’s for over a 1000 years but not the same. I’m assuming your British sorry. Also, to add we do have a growing presence of “We should be part if America” weirdos. Who would say something like “Canada has no culture”.
This may be ranty, so sorry in advance. But Scots are British. They’re not English but they are British. Haha. :p
I respectfully disagree…
About the only thing that seems un-American is that fox Justin Trudeau and it seems you’re planning to vote him out next election. How, why? Have you seen that face? He isn’t a man! He’s a god!
So Canadian == American.
6a - Canadians go shooting in forests
6b - Americans go shooting in schools, shopping malls, or other public places
I’m American. I’m allowed to make dark jokes about how screwed up our society is.
I think that everyone can make jokes about the mass shooting events, as long as it’s not about any one specific event, and at least until you guys stop having about 12 per week.
You guys are actually doing pretty good this year, only 12 in the past 15 days!
And only 54 kids killed by guns this year so far, that’s only like 1 every 8 hours.
https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/
The only thing you got wrong here is in tickling a beaver … riding a moose into battle is less dangerous than tickling a beaver who can snap at you like a weasel and rip your finger off in the blink of an eye.
The UK had no beavers for hundreds of years, so it makes sense that its denizens wouldn’t know that beavers aren’t ticklish. 🫠
Trudeau looks great, gives decent speeches.
Absolutely spineless and rudderless when it comes to actual decisions.
So now we’re on track to get a guy that makes Mike fucking Johnson seem like a upright and well adjusted individual.
I mean accent is such a strange thing to say is similar. You can’t compare a new York accent to Toronto. This video is a good sum https://youtu.be/9XpVHbFsLDQ?feature=shared
I mean if we support you guys, we’re dead and we gained you guys 3 hours xD. Also, politically speaking I don’t think anyone on Lemmy is deciding our international relations.
I grew up with Mr Bean on the CBC and Monty Python movies on CBC on Sundays.(Showing my age) I can’t say for sure ether way but that’s a wild assumption xD.
4.??
5.??
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country#/media/File%3AWorld_map_of_civilian_gun_ownership_-_2nd_color_scheme.svg
OMG that Newfi accent is amazing and impossible - there’s no way that’s a language!! It’s just noise! And the presenter is hilarious “aboot, abOOT ABOOT”!!! Apparently New Foundland almost became part of the USA only becoming part of Canada by 52/48 in a referendum (same as Brexit!). I was checking out videos of Newfi and the accents seem to swing between Newfi-Scots-French-Yank-Abooty. It’s great!!
I don’t think the guy I met said “aboot” so maybe he was from around the border on the Eastern coast (Ontario?)?
Jordan Peterson has a strong accent - I’m gonna guess he’s from Alberta? He’s got the “eeeh” and “aboot, eh” going on so he’s probably Northern Alberta? How close am I? Am I getting better at placing Canadian accents?
One of my friends is a newfie, best kind. He sounds almost exactly like this dude in the video but picked up some Northen slang. I don’t know to much about Peterson. Probably he’s from Ontario though. All of Ontario has radically different accents, I’m from the northern hell part and talk like the stereo type from the video… But Southren can be anything from Woodbine Posh to Toronto teeth kiss special ( https://youtube.com/shorts/Lt4PYWqBo48?feature=shared )
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
videos of Newfi and the accents seem to swing between Newfi-Scots-French-Yank-Abooty
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/9XpVHbFsLDQ?feature=shared
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
1 - it’s like Australia vs UK, if you aren’t around it then you can’t spot the difference. Look up Nova Scotians talking and Texans talking then play them back to back. There are some differences
2 - Weird
3 - We banter and watch British comedies. Don’t really care for American comedies
4 - how is that not different? If you were comparing us to Finland it might be a similarity
5 - ?
6 - No we don’t
The other guy promises to favour India in immigration and give express citizenship to those people
How much traveling have you done? I’m Canadian and don’t want to join America or something, and there are meaningful differences. But as someone that’s traveled a decent amount, we are way more similar than different. Even England and Australia feel way more alien than most places I’ve been in the the US do. (I’ll admit that one time I was in super rural Tennessee that it also felt quite alien)
I do alot of traveling south, see alot of hockey and football games. I’m not saying it’s alien, it probably is the closest thing we have to a brother. That’s why I said we love them, Yada Yada Yada. But we are different and that view is becoming skewed. Also, I can almost say with certainty your from Ontario. As a Maritimer, Quebecer, Northerner, Indigenous or BC’er. Would probably say how wildly different it is. As we are both huge countries with mosaics of local cultures. But Ontario has a similar culture to Illinois, Minnesota or other northern states. Also, rural states are funny… Stopped at a roadside dinner in Minni a month ago and posters of Biden with Devil horns everywhere and no one flinched…
I don’t mind getting mistaken for American, it’s an easy enough mistake to make.
I have a loosely-related story which was not an easy mistake to make, though. I’m French-Canadian, and a few years back I was traveling in Vietnam with my partner at the time, speaking our accented French when talking to each other (we’re from New Brunswick). Anyway, we get to our hostel after arriving in a new city and hang out for a bit in the common area, planning the rest of our evening (in French of course). There was another couple there, who seemed to have overheard because they glanced towards us. When we glanced back, one of them excitedly said “We know where you guys are from!”
We were a bit surprised, since our accent is pretty obscure and rare; “Oh really?”
“Yeah you’re Russian!”
My ex and I both had a good laugh before explaining that we’re French-Canadian. Here’s the kicker though: they were from Toronto and both said they speak French…
I’ve also had the very unpleasant experience of Québecois or French people not believing me when I tell them in French that I’m a francophone and that French is my first language. So yeah, compared to that, you can call me American all day!
Woo New Brunswick! I feel you…as a proud Acadian NBer it’s tough out there.
Born in Canuckistan, I’ve lived in NY + WA and I work remotely with LA+GA people.
Yanks pick out the Canada right away, and Canucks spot the dialect mods at similar pace. Neither country is confused about my origins, though.
When I’m abroad, I remember to be polite as my mom taught me, and no one’s surprised to learn I’m Canadian :-D
The main thing is that we need to set ourselves apart from the States and the rest of the English-speaking Commonwealth by our demeanor rather than by accent.
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I thought your whole ‘thing’ was that you’re polite and friendly!? Surely you don’t need to say “friendly” and “approachable”?
With regards to your reputation for politeness/friendliness - do you think that’s compared to Americans? So for example you’re at the same level of polite as Brits? Or do you think your friendliness/politeness goes above Brits even.
Obviously this is all stereotypes/generalisations. You’re average inner-London (UK) chav with a zombie knife isn’t that polite!
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