Ever Notice how many seem to think Canada is a town?

Question

Ok.. I'm being a little sarcastic.

but I have noticed through experience that foreigners seem to talk about Canada like it's all the same thing... like "I don't know French, will I be ok if I go to Canada? " or "I have a week, what is there to do in Canada? Where should I go?" Or people that want to take road trips across the country when they're only here for a week or so.

Not that it really affects my life or anything, but is it that hard to look at a map?

This question is more jerk-like and rhetorical than anything else, I just thought I'd share my observations.

Answer 1

People have a lot of misconceptions. My favorite is if you mention you're from Canada or a specific country and someone says Hey, I have a friend who lives in (insert country) do you know him?



yeah....

Answer 2

For 3 years, ( 2004 to 2007 ) during the summer "tourist season " I worked as a tour bus guide in Toronto, on double decker English style buses.



Five days a week, for 10 hours a day, I TRIED to give a interesting and informative commentary, as the bus did a 3 hour tour of central Toronto. I say that I "tried " as it was just about impossible to make myself heard, over the non stop talking of the Americans on the bus. On more than a couple of occasions I had other passengers stand up and say " for gods sake be quiet " at the Yanks. Dumb silence followed, as they were totally unaware of just how "loud " they were.



As a part of my job, I encouraged my passengers to ask me questions about Toronto, or Ontario, or all of Canada, for fun. YIKES the level of ignorance was astounding.



How about these TRUE questions from American tourists in Toronto....



Where can we see the polar bears? At the Toronto Zoo......



How come you don't have any churches here ? As we are passing St James Cathedral, with its 300 foot tall spire ......



Why are so many of the cops women ? We think that is just a great idea, as the general population is also half women, right ?



How come you don't speak French ? I'm unilingual , like most Americans, right ?



And my favourite as we are driving down lakeshore boulevard......, and remember this is in Toronto........



Is that the Pacific Ocean ?



The only saving grace was that I worked hard for tips and it was a bad day if I didin't go home with over 400 in my pocket, in Loonies .



My last 2 minutes of the tour consisted of my pitch about being so poorly paid. In fact I was getting 12 an hour, cash, but I wasn't telling them that...(grin )



I would still be doing that job but my knees couldn't take the constant up and down the stairs, every time that people got on or off the bus, as I had to be at the bottom of the stairs, in case some body fell down. I was there to break their fall. groan.........



Jim b. Toronto.

Answer 3

I think some people play dumb just to get a reaction. I think Canadians get too easily offended that Americans don't know much about the country. Canadian history isn't taught in US schools like US history is taught in Canadian schools. I have heard of Kamloops and Medicine Hat, but couldn't tell you how to get there. I think the bilingual road signs should only be in Quebec. I worked in Canada a lot and asked if it was a law that you had to play hockey. I was obviously joking around. It goes both ways: I knew a Canadian girl that was driving from Toronto to Quebec. She ended up in Windsor. Care to quiz this stupid American?

Answer 4

What amazes me is how little citizens of the US seem to know about Canada. They have no idea how large it is, they aren't even sure WHERE it is, except 'up north, somewhere' and they seem to think it's under a perpetual layer of snow and ice.

As for looking at maps - have you read some of the questions in the homework section?I don't think some of them have ever SEEN a map, much less learned how to read one.

Answer 5

I think part of that is that they don't know any place names here...maybe Toronto, but there are a whole lot of Americans who think that's part of their country...just ask Rick Mercer. Talking to Americans would be nothing without it...Mel Lastman's Polar Bear Hunt cracked me right up.



And on what the first answerer said - a teacher of mine from years ago was in Israel, and when someone found out he was from Canada (Winnipeg, to be specific), he asked if my teacher knew this woman from Toronto...the freaky thing is that he actually did.

Answer 6

Same as all above, and I'd like to add my favorite from Americans:



"Oh, you're from Canada?? Hey...um....is it true you guys don't have cities or anything, you live in igloos?"



WOW.



(Also, I had a friend who taught at a fancy-schmancy private school in the US, and in one of his classes of 30 students, more than half couldn't find the US on a map of the world.)

Answer 7

I know like "how much is rent in Canada ?" and they act like Canadians are a race of people...just really stupid people, it's mostly americans too..



Edit: Jim B..that's an awesome story..thanks....