What makes people Canadian?

[ScepticalScotty]

When I was a kid I loved The Beachcombers....

[ITSec]

When I was a kid I loved The Beachcombers....

Of course, one of the most Canadian things was to adopt television programmes (spelling from Britain!) from other Commonwealth countries. Our down-under readers will no doubt recall this famous theme song:

"Skippy, Skippy - Skippy, the bush kangaroo!
Skippy, Skippy - Skippy, the friend ever true!"

Think of an Aussie clone of "Flipper' - except there was no ocean, the marine biologist was a bush ranger, and substitute a junior boomer for a finny friend. Somebody tell me - how many different times has Lassie been remade? 

[garbln]

I'm not Canadian but being from Minnesooota we feel some kinship with our close northern neighbors, by the way we don't have a accent either.   I have been noticing lately a Canadian import creeping over the border and I'm not sure what to think about it.  Some of our restaurants have began to serve Poutine!     

[ScepticalScotty]

"Whats that Skip? There's a girl and a baby stuck down a mineshaft 6 miles past the juction of 3 Mile and 4 Mile Creek?"

As an Aussie, I grew up right next to Brisbane Waters National Park which has very similar, really identical scenery to where Skippy was filmed....it was great. 

[smdl]

When I was a kid I loved The Beachcombers....

Yep, hard to believe Bruno Gerussi has been dead 21 years, now.  I've been up to Molly's reach a few times, and have enjoyed it.

Cheers,
Shaun

[trippah]

One advantage of growing up in the 50-60's were the telephone operators.  As a weirdo in 8-9 grade, I used to call long distance operators late at night 11-2amish around the country.  Most were bored and I could chat with them for 5-10 minutes. Between regional accents and local colloquialisms (like cabinet (R.I.) for milkshake for frappe) I could usually locate a person to at least his state, often his local city.  E.g. in central Mass especially west of Worcester(around Leicester), a double t (butter) is a glottal stop t, rather a rare pronunciation. Can't hear crap now that I'm 70.  Some of those operators had incredible voices,  Like gently flowing honey.   Could even distinguish a Quebecois from a Alberterian.

[ITSec]

 Could even distinguish a Quebecois from a Alberterian.

Ummm - you could probably do that even with your current hearing! Un Quebecois parle avec la tonalite de la nez, where an Albertan sounds sort of like somebody from Montana, or Texas without the drawl. Et aussi, le Quebecois parle en francais while the Albertan most likely speak English (unless he's from Girouxville or Fahler!).

[smdl]

Ummm - you could probably do that even with your current hearing! Un Quebecois parle avec la tonalite de la nez, where an Albertan sounds sort of like somebody from Montana, or Texas without the drawl. Et aussi, le Quebecois parle en francais while the Albertan most likely speak English (unless he's from Girouxville or Fahler!).

Or one of the many Acadian transplants from the maritime provinces.   I know some folks who tried to move a call center from Montreal to Calgary and staff it with Acadians, mostly from New Brunswick, to handle the calls for Quebec.  Apparently, this was not well-received by the customers in Quebec!

Cheers,
Shaun

[sturgeon]

Or one of the many Acadian transplants from the maritime provinces.   I know some folks who tried to move a call center from Montreal to Calgary and staff it with Acadians, mostly from New Brunswick, to handle the calls for Quebec.  Apparently, this was not well-received by the customers in Quebec!

Funny! A local Bell Telephone repair guy here in Ontario once told me that when calling the Bell call centre for service, it was better to select French as your language of choice from the automated menu. Selecting English got you an off-shore call centre whose staff spoke an English so heavily accented it was almost impossible to understand, whereas the Francophone call centre staff based in Quebec spoke perfect English. He was right. We agreed that it was a sorry state of affairs that Canada's "communications company" couldn't communicate with its English-speaking customers.

[dlapierre]

That's so interesting!  I'd be interested in your ideas of what the distinguishing characteristics are.  If they are too charged, feel free to PM.

Slight language use differences are obvious: Phrases like "tell ya wut", "zip" (instead of postal code), "y'all", and clear straightforward phrases like "you know what your problem is", which is a phrase you'd rarely hear come from anyone Canadian are dead giveaways. Regional accents, too, are clues.

Americans go to college. Canadians to university.

Manners, as others have already noted, are different. Canadians seem more apologetic in many circumstances. When I was in Arizona once visiting my sister, an elderly lady on the airport shuttle kept calling me "sir". So did many young people in stores. You don't hear that much in Canada. It made me think Americans might be more respectful of their seniors than are Canadians.

In my experience, food portions in restaurants are larger in the US, so a comment about small portions sometimes is a clue.

And while news about what goes on in the US often scares the hell out of me, I've found individual Americans to be generally more personally open and friendly upon first meeting. That view goes all the way back to my childhood, as I think about it. When we holidayed (sp?) in the US at various campgrounds, it was easy to find a kid to play with. Not so much when holidaying in Canada. Even now, whenever I go south, most American folks are open, friendly and more inviting initially than is commonly Canadian. It takes a few minutes longer, with Canadians, to dance about and feel whether a conversation is worth continuing or whether one wishes to be a bit more personally revealing. I like testing this theory a lot by just plunking myself down beside a stranger and saying hello.


So, those are just a few thought off the top of my head.

[smdl]

Slight language use differences are obvious: Phrases like "tell ya wut", "zip" (instead of postal code), "y'all", and clear straightforward phrases like "you know what your problem is", which is a phrase you'd rarely hear come from anyone Canadian are dead giveaways. Regional accents, too, are clues.

Americans go to college. Canadians to university.

Manners, as others have already noted, are different. Canadians seem more apologetic in many circumstances. When I was in Arizona once visiting my sister, an elderly lady on the airport shuttle kept calling me "sir". So did many young people in stores. You don't hear that much in Canada. It made me think Americans might be more respectful of their seniors than are Canadians.

In my experience, food portions in restaurants are larger in the US, so a comment about small portions sometimes is a clue.

And while news about what goes on in the US often scares the hell out of me, I've found individual Americans to be generally more personally open and friendly upon first meeting. That view goes all the way back to my childhood, as I think about it. When we holidayed (sp?) in the US at various campgrounds, it was easy to find a kid to play with. Not so much when holidaying in Canada. Even now, whenever I go south, most American folks are open, friendly and more inviting initially than is commonly Canadian. It takes a few minutes longer, with Canadians, to dance about and feel whether a conversation is worth continuing or whether one wishes to be a bit more personally revealing. I like testing this theory a lot by just plunking myself down beside a stranger and saying hello.


So, those are just a few thought off the top of my head.

Insightful.  Your post also highlights another subtle difference in language.  'Holiday' vs. 'Vacation'.  Generally, when I mention that I have holidays coming up, my American friends think I am referring to a special statutory holiday  (similar to US Thanksgiving), rather than that I am 'going on holiday' in the British sense.  In my experience, people south of the border generally use the word 'vacation' to describe taking time off work, rather than 'holidays'.  Our British influence showing, likely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE9Fucqe_w

Cheers,
Shaun

[SaskMick]

Slight language use differences are obvious:

What like the slight difference between English and French ?

[Aaron D.]

There are differences in language between say, PEI and Ontario. But that is only to be expected.

And the open/friendliness thing is something I've observed, my area of PEI was quite tribal back in the '60s though much less so now.

[motoguzziman]

 I know nothing of the French Canadians.
However, other Canadians, do have a semi Scotts inflection, mainly when they mention the  words : Out  &  House .

[ScepticalScotty]

Scots the noo!! Fit like? 

[SaskMick]

I know nothing of the French Canadians.
However, other Canadians, do have a semi Scotts inflection, mainly when they mention the  words : Out  &  House .

  Scots inflection my arse.    I don't know where you come from but Canadians can not tell the difference between a Jock and a Cockney.

[smdl]

Folks, please keep politics out of this, or the thread will be gone.

[oldbike54]

Folks, please keep politics out of this, or the thread will be gone.

 Yep , no matter how many times we say "no politics" some folks seem to have a compulsion and just can't resist . Great thread , don't ruin it please .

 Dusty

[canuck750]

Edmonton Oiler fans singing...."O Canada" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meLpuF9UMvk

I was in the old Edmonton Northlands Coliseum when Paul Laurio was alive and singing the Canadian Anthem raising the microphone up to record the fans singing, a very proud moment. The guy belting out the Anthem at the one minute mark is Joey Moss the team equipment man since Gretzky first joined the Oilers. When Wayne first arrived here he dated Vicky Moss and Wayne being the great guy he is got Joey a job with the Oilers, Joey has Downs Syndrome. Joey is still with the Oilers and he still proudly belts out O Canada at each game. The Oilers moved into a new barn this year and I was lucky enough to be at the season opener to see Wayne Gretzky and Joey Moss at the opener reunited some 30 years latter.

[analog kid]

Yep , no matter how many times we say "no politics" some folks seem to have a compulsion and just can't resist . Great thread , don't ruin it please .

 Dusty

Dusty,
Just tell 'em ta shaddap and eat a poutine on the Chesterfield while waiting on the pogey.

[oldbike54]

Dusty,
Just tell 'em ta shaddap and eat a poutine on the Chesterfield while waiting on the pogey.

 Oddly enough I understand all of that 

 Dusty

[SaskMick]

Yep , no matter how many times we say "no politics" some folks seem to have a compulsion and just can't resist . Great thread , don't ruin it please .

 Dusty

That's a bit of a difficult rule to adhere to in a thread discussing what makes people of a certain country different from others. 

[oldbike54]

That's a bit of a difficult rule to adhere to in a thread discussing what makes people of a certain country different from others.

 We had 90 some odd posts that successfully avoided politics and insults , doesn't seem so hard to do .

 Dusty

[ITSec]

Yep , no matter how many times we say "no politics" some folks seem to have a compulsion and just can't resist . Great thread , don't ruin it please .

 Dusty

Thanks for that thought, Dusty - I started this by framing the discussion in a way that I hoped would allow discussion of the ways people are and how they live, without having to get into positives and negatives. It's very Canadian to say that different doesn't mean 'better' - or 'worse' for that matter. It's also a rather Guzzi way of thinking, I believe - or at least, I hope!

[smdl]

I was in the old Edmonton Northlands Coliseum when Paul Laurio was alive and singing the Canadian Anthem raising the microphone up to record the fans singing, a very proud moment. The guy belting out the Anthem at the one minute mark is Joey Moss the team equipment man since Gretzky first joined the Oilers. When Wayne first arrived here he dated Vicky Moss and Wayne being the great guy he is got Joey a job with the Oilers, Joey has Downs Syndrome. Joey is still with the Oilers and he still proudly belts out O Canada at each game. The Oilers moved into a new barn this year and I was lucky enough to be at the season opener to see Wayne Gretzky and Joey Moss at the opener reunited some 30 years latter.

Great story!

[cruzziguzzi]

What a load o' Hoser hoo-ha... It's all aboot the Molson, Moosehead, Maple syrup and Mounties.


Todd.