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I'm biased, I suppose; I worked retail for a number of years and had to put up with many Americans handing me US cash and saying things like,
"Here's some real money."
"This stuff is better than yours."
"No, I don't want change in your Monopoly money."
Rudeness works both ways, and I found lot of Americans were very rude when it came to money.
LOL. I worked in retail too many moons ago, and I'd almost forgot about that. It was always a nightmare when an American wanted to pay for something in American money, and they were rude about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Regarding the money issue, I wonder if things aren't so (superficially) identical in much of Canada that many Americans get lulled into thinking that they're not really in a foreign country.
I wonder if it happens in Mexico?
I've been thinking this too, wrt the how much are Americans disliked in Canada thread. I think the superficial similarities like language (except, of course for French), the fact that we watch many of the same TV shows, have a similar history and origin lulls many into thinking that we are think the same and when we meet and discover we are not the same, I think that some people take it as a personal affront. It's not the people but our perception of what we think the other ought to act like or think like that takes a hit and we don't always react well to it. Maybe we feel, at the core of it, a little tricked or betrayed, that this person looks like my mother's brother, for example, but doesn't act in a way we would expect of our mother's brother.
And I think that this is where the majority of the friction comes from. Scratch the surface and we are very different people.
From what i'm reading and watching i get the impression the American middle class is broke with much of its manufacturing base/jobs outsourced to cheaper markets, that said maybe a certain demographic of Americans just dont have the money to travel to a place like Canadas Maritime provinces as frequently as they used to..
I have to laugh at the notion that Canadians are somehow "very different people" from Americans. Sure, there are regional differences and someone from Ontario might have a different demeanor than someone from Texas, but there are all different types of personalities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the border is not a bright-line cultural wall the way the U.S./Mexico border is. Sure, there's subtle differences but Canadians are essentially very similar to Americans.
I have to laugh at the notion that Canadians are somehow "very different people" from Americans. Sure, there are regional differences and someone from Ontario might have a different demeanor than someone from Texas, but there are all different types of personalities throughout the U.S. and Canada, and the border is not a bright-line cultural wall the way the U.S./Mexico border is. Sure, there's subtle differences but Canadians are essentially very similar to Americans.
I totally agree.
the similarity between US/Canada and Americans/Canadians are greater than that between any other two countries in the world. Pretty much the same people, same culture.
People here are trying to make Canada/Canadians sound like a completely foreign country/foreign people to Americans in an attempt to build some sort of non-existant national identity. At the end of the day, the difference is minimium, at least in general much smaller than difference between say Louisiana and Vermont.
People are different no matter what, but do Canadians as a collection differ from Americans on any significant way? Do most Americans find Canada so foreign (except for the superfical stuff like metrics system and bilingual signs?). Nope. Everything is strikingly familiar to them.
Why do Canadians say "I plead the fifth" in colloquial settings when there's no fifth amendment in Canada (and they'd want Section 13 of the Charter, which doesn't operate quite the same way)?
Why does my local Credit Union branch in Canada have the Rosie the Riveter "We Can Do It" poster on their promotional sign?
Why do most Canadians jump on the opportunity to have DirecTV instead of Bell Satellite, and why are there CanCon rules in place?
Hmm ..... maybe Canadian "culture" is really just a variety of American culture?
Don't get me wrong - I prefer living in Canada and I chose to live there. Just don't pretend Canada is this very foreign land with a completely unique culture. It's really not.
^^you can say the same thing about all of Western Europe. One head, two legs, two arms. Generally shared values. That doesn't mean they aren't different people.
^^ Reading comments above - Do you Canadians know that since past decade the color of all US bills have changed and look slightly different design. Only $1 bill is same standard green color, and now in October new $100 design will be out in public.
The money issue: I'd be shocked if Americans seriously tried to use US money in Canada, except maybe in cities right on the border. All you have to do is find an ATM, and lo and behold, you have multicolored CAD cash with little plastic holes in it. THAT SAID, both my girlfriend and I found that only 1/3 or so of the ATM's allowed us to withdraw cash using a debit card. And we have different banks, though both our debit cards are Visa. What's up with that?
What can you find in NS and PEI that's not in Massachusetts or Maine? Beautiful red beaches that we had practically to ourselves, for one (and warmer than most of New England). Even popular beaches like Brackley were nothing compared to Mass. beaches like Nantasket, crowd-wise. Oceanside cliffs for another - I don't think there's anything like the Cape Breton Highlands on the US Atlantic coast. Seafood was definitely better for the price, too.
The passport issue is very true; didn't think about that. The lack of advertising for eastern Canada is also true. Some of your suggestions address the lack of Americans, but not the significant decrease of Americans from the 1990's.
By the way, a lack of US tourists isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's hard to travel anywhere and escape them these days! I enjoyed talking to the lifelong Maritime residents.
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It's hard to travel anywhere and escape them these days! I enjoyed talking to the lifelong Maritime residents.
