Canadian Myths Debunked
I love Canada dearly, but, like all countries, we have our stereotypes and myths that just aren't true.
1) Canada is cold. All. The. Time. And I suppose Australia is hot all the time, is it? And the U.S. is summer all year round except in December and January? (Which it seems to be in the movies for some reason.) No! It's not cold all the time! Of course, Canada is cold in the winter (just like most places on earth). Yes, it can get to -40 or -50 degrees Celsius if you're really unlucky (and live in Northern Alberta). But hey! We get summer too! And we get beautiful summers. We used to go down to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia every summer, and it has gorgeous weather. It's actually a desert, which isn't what you think of when you think of Canada.
2) We say "eh" all the time. I hate this stereotype, mostly because sometimes it's true. My dad says it, but he's said it a lot less since we moved (but I noticed it came back again once we visited Canada). My mom doesn't say it, and none of us kids do. Some people say it a lot, and some don't say it at all, and it depends on where you go in Canada. But the thing that I hate the most is when someone's mocking Canadians. They'll usually say something about beer with an "eh" tacked on the end in a stupid, uneducated voice. *sighs*
3) We don't lock our doors. I found this stereotype out when watching Bowling for Columbine in English. Apparently, Canada is so safe that no one locks their doors. Yeah, no. We lock our doors. Maybe some people don't, but everyone I know does. After all, there's all kinds of crazy people out there with lightsabers and ancient swords and weapons of mass destruction. Granted, it's not as dangerous as the U.S., (they always seem to have aliens landing or uprisings or terrorist attacks, or again, maybe that's just in movies) but still. Life's dangerous. We lock our doors.
4) Everyone in Canada speaks French. Not even remotely true. We have to take French from grade four to six (in Alberta, at least) so everyone knows the very basics, but not nearly as many people graduate from grade 12 French, and even fewer go on to actually learn to speak it fluently. Using my parents again here as an example, Dad can say maybe three things in French if it's a good day, while Mom recognizes the odd word here and there. There's pretty much always a French school, though, and I have a friend who's been in French immersion forever. However, because we're a bilingual country, everything is in French (at least in writing) and some people do learn French as their first language (like in Québec).
5) We hide our hockey jerseys under our shirts like Superman. I know that everyone thinks that we all play/watch/eat/breathe hockey all the time, but we really don't. I, for one, will only voluntarily watch three different types of games. One, if someone I personally know is playing. Two, the Stanley Cup finals, and if I'm being honest I'll only watch if the Flames or the Oilers are in it. Three, the Olympic finals, which are usually awesome. That's about it. I've never played it, and I'm not particularly interested in playing. My dad used to play, but he obviously doesn't anymore. Yes, lots and lots of people love hockey, but not everyone.
What are some stereotypes (of you or other people) that you can't stand? Are there any that are true? Comment away, my jabberwockies!
1) Canada is cold. All. The. Time. And I suppose Australia is hot all the time, is it? And the U.S. is summer all year round except in December and January? (Which it seems to be in the movies for some reason.) No! It's not cold all the time! Of course, Canada is cold in the winter (just like most places on earth). Yes, it can get to -40 or -50 degrees Celsius if you're really unlucky (and live in Northern Alberta). But hey! We get summer too! And we get beautiful summers. We used to go down to the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia every summer, and it has gorgeous weather. It's actually a desert, which isn't what you think of when you think of Canada.
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| Proof that we have something other than snow. Sorry if I seem a bit bitter about this one but I hear it all the time. |
2) We say "eh" all the time. I hate this stereotype, mostly because sometimes it's true. My dad says it, but he's said it a lot less since we moved (but I noticed it came back again once we visited Canada). My mom doesn't say it, and none of us kids do. Some people say it a lot, and some don't say it at all, and it depends on where you go in Canada. But the thing that I hate the most is when someone's mocking Canadians. They'll usually say something about beer with an "eh" tacked on the end in a stupid, uneducated voice. *sighs*
3) We don't lock our doors. I found this stereotype out when watching Bowling for Columbine in English. Apparently, Canada is so safe that no one locks their doors. Yeah, no. We lock our doors. Maybe some people don't, but everyone I know does. After all, there's all kinds of crazy people out there with lightsabers and ancient swords and weapons of mass destruction. Granted, it's not as dangerous as the U.S., (they always seem to have aliens landing or uprisings or terrorist attacks, or again, maybe that's just in movies) but still. Life's dangerous. We lock our doors.
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| Lightsabers are dangerous (hence why we lock our doors) and also incredibly awesome. |
4) Everyone in Canada speaks French. Not even remotely true. We have to take French from grade four to six (in Alberta, at least) so everyone knows the very basics, but not nearly as many people graduate from grade 12 French, and even fewer go on to actually learn to speak it fluently. Using my parents again here as an example, Dad can say maybe three things in French if it's a good day, while Mom recognizes the odd word here and there. There's pretty much always a French school, though, and I have a friend who's been in French immersion forever. However, because we're a bilingual country, everything is in French (at least in writing) and some people do learn French as their first language (like in Québec).
5) We hide our hockey jerseys under our shirts like Superman. I know that everyone thinks that we all play/watch/eat/breathe hockey all the time, but we really don't. I, for one, will only voluntarily watch three different types of games. One, if someone I personally know is playing. Two, the Stanley Cup finals, and if I'm being honest I'll only watch if the Flames or the Oilers are in it. Three, the Olympic finals, which are usually awesome. That's about it. I've never played it, and I'm not particularly interested in playing. My dad used to play, but he obviously doesn't anymore. Yes, lots and lots of people love hockey, but not everyone.
What are some stereotypes (of you or other people) that you can't stand? Are there any that are true? Comment away, my jabberwockies!
When people think all Australian's do is spend their day on the beach swimming and surfing, some do, but majority don't. The majority spend their days at school or work :) Awesome blog!
ReplyDeleteYeah :) Aussies are like most other people. (Although it would certainly be fun to spend all day on the beach.) Thanks :)
DeleteYeah, I'm thinking a locked door wouldn't do much against a lightsaber. Just sayin'. But yeah, I've heard some of these (but not all, surprisingly--like, the locking door stereotype was new to me, as was the secretly wearing hockey jersey). I guess, since I live right on the edge of Canada, I've never bought into any of these stereotypes (that, and the fact that I have a Canadian friend who likes to debunk these stereotypes, and two of my cousins attend college in Canada, so they like to talk about it as well).
ReplyDeleteClearly, we Americans have a lot of alien landings. I guess that's why we made aliens illegal?
I actually didn't know Canada has a desert(s), but that doesn't surprise me. I'm just not hugely clued into geography in general. Some stereotypes for where I live in America is that we don't know how to read, clam/lobster fish for a living, and don't have electricity/running water. Also, people tend to think we're a part of Canada, which we aren't. And, while it's true that the literacy rate in my area is rather low, and we have quite a few clam/lobsterfishermen, we have plenty of people who can read and who do all sorts of different jobs. Also, we have electricity and running water. This is the twenty-first century, and we're part of America. I think the only places where you might find dead zones in America would be in Alaska, or maybe some of the desert regions. *rant over*
Anyway, cool post! And thanks for sharing. :)
Ok, fair enough. It might buy you a few seconds while you throw yourself out the window? Hahaha, no, wearing hockey jerseys wasn't the stereotype, just loving hockey was. Hmmm. Maybe should have made that one a bit clearer.
DeleteI'm super glad that there are people like you who don't buy into different stereotypes. It lowers my blood pressure a little :) My sister once convinced a bunch of people that Just Beiber's igloo was next to ours... That was probably the inspiration for this post.
Aaah, I hate it when people think Canada and the US of A are the same places. Seriously, it drives me insane. WE ARE TWO TOTALLY SEPARATE COUNTRIES!!!
I didn't know that illiteracy was a problem or a stereotype. And it's great to remember that while a certain group of people do conform to different stereotypes (I'm sure there's an illiterate fisherman somewhere) there are also tons of people who don't and that's what people seem to always forget. Thanks for commenting!