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I get you. But I live in New York state about 40 Trudeau Units a/k/a kilometers from New York City. Much of New York is virtually uninhabited wilderness. In fact in 1982 after my bar exam I was taking a 21 year old bar exam taker (he graduated high school at 15 and law school at 21 so not a stupid person) hiking about 100 Trudeau Units from New York City. Not a person and barely a road in sight. He asked what state we were in and I said "New York."
But let's be honest, most people, when you say "New York" think of the city and not the state.
Might not be stupid at 21 but not worldly yet. You can be the most brilliant person in one area and a complete fool in another.
Myself, I would probably do poorly at law, since it bores me, but I love travel and geography. I always knew, even as a child, that NYC was in NY State and that state had many lovely towns and woods etc.
For the record that was my colleague. I graduated at 25.
As far as "Trudeau Units" my position is not laughable. Canada is definitely a separate country but there is no doubt about it is physically joined to the U.S. over the longest peaceful and inhabited border in the world. Having different measure system is more a recipe for chaos than anything else. Just because Old World countries do something doesn't mean that the New World countries should join.
And there was no response to my statement about winter, only about my nomenclature.
The US has been flirting with metric since the 19th century.
Oh, okay. The New York metro area does include parts of New Jersey as well as other states, so those people are not necessarily lying.
I don't live in Los Angeles, not even in the same county, but officially I am in the "greater Los Angeles metro area."
I don't expect anyone who doesn't live here to have heard of my little town. If I'm in Michigan or Idaho (or Canada) and someone asks where I'm from, I may say "Los Angeles" just because it's easier and I know it's a place they've heard of. Of course, I know I don't actually live in Los Angeles proper.
I think that's the same pretty much everywhere. I know people here when travelling and they are asked where they live, they will say Vancouver, instead of Coquitlam or wherever. Saves time.
I think he was being sarcastic but in doing so, he's being a million times more silly than Canada is silly (and therefore the object of his mockery) for using the Metric system.
If there is anything silly about Canada's approach to weights and measures, it's that we still haven't fully implemented Metric in all aspects of life, and that imperial measures still linger and dominate in so many places.
Partly because of certain imported products from down south, and partly generational.
I understand both systems, but actually prefer metric. So much easier to figure things out. People under 30 in Canada know only metric.
People who work in food shops can tell you that when American tourists ask for half a pound of something, most clerks have to look that up and convert it for two reason, they don't know how much that is, and the scales are only metric.
There is of course ignorance on both sides, but the ignorance is different in my experience.
Some Canadians might not know the inner workings of your political process, or which state borders which state, they do know a lot about you through media, and the fact that most Canadians have travelled to the US. Not too mention over generalizations about certain aspects of US society.
However, we know you have electricity, we know you have cars, roads, malls, airports etc. Having Americans
( and I can pretty much guarantee most Canadians can tell some sort of story ) ask you
" Do you have airports in Canada " "beaches? But you live in Canada?" " Canada? That's that state just above Minnesota isn't it? "
All of the above I have experienced.
Now this of course does not mean ALL Americans. I have met Americans who know more about the world and Canada than I do. It's jus the extreme stories that seem to stick around.
I do think though, that with the internet, things are getting " better ".
It seems to me that Canadians want these anecdotes to stick around. It fits what you want to believe about Americans.
It seems to me that Canadians want these anecdotes to stick around. It fits what you want to believe about Americans.
Naw, it's just that there is enough of them to stick around...besides sometimes they are quite funny and new ones pop up all the time and old ones like " You're not really free in Canada because you can't own guns " is an old time fave.
I think the less America knows the better. I think Canada is seen as a good country on a worldwide scale. I like the recognition we get currently. I do wish people knew more about Canada than just Toronto. But I can't complain because I pretty much only know the large cities or capitals in other countries too.
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