Silly things heard about Canada
 

Hi there!
New thread (go away, Mike111):
FIRST, this is NOT a country/tourist bashing question. This is NOT to ridicule other nations and their citizens. This is merely for entertainment purposes only!

Given that, what are some silly things you have been asked about Canada?
I have been asked about whale watching in Lake Ontario. I have been asked if one needs to bring a winter coat to Toronto for a July visit ("I've heard that it is always FREEZING there.."). I have been asked if we could see some bears, and maybe get our pictures taken with them ("they aren't dangerous if there aren't any cubs around"),
and of course, we have our previous 159-message-long thread...
Any other stories?

Someone once looked at me with great suprise and asked , " You mean .... you have UNIVERSITIES there !!! ??? " .

On a cruise, I was asked if "you all have movies up there in Canada". I replied, that "no, we entertain ourselves by making shadow puppets on the walls of our igloos at night".
I think they half-believed me...

Similar to mitchdesj's comments about the elks in Banff, (in the other thread) while riding the tram in Jasper National Park we overheard a lady ask the guide what time they would be putting the animals away.

After telling people that we are from Edmonton, I cannot tell you how many times we have been asked if that is close to Toronto.

In November in England, I was wearing the same winter coat I wear here but two people - one a Brit, the other from the US, refused to believe that's what I wore in a Canadian winter - I'm not sure what they expected I would wear in addition to a winter coat - two coats? Bear skin? Who knows?

A friend of mine is an interpretive nauralist at Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland. The hightlight there is a huge bird colony of Northern Gannets.

TWICE she has had people ask "What to do feed them?"

I was on a tour of Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee and the tour guide asked everyone where they were from. I replied, Toronto, Ontario. The guide said, Oh that's one of our northern states isn't it?
I didn't bother to correct him.

Oops ! the quote should say "What do you feed them?"

gannet, that is SO funny!! I love Newfoundland and love to hear any stories about the area.

A guest @ Keltic Lodge in Ingonish, Nova Scotia asked one of the dining room waiters "Where do they get the salt that they put in the ocean?"

You could post a thread with the utterly stupid questions Canadians ask about the U. S., while visiting here. People say silly things everywhere. Stupid is stupid, and it resides on both sides of the Border.

So leelane, I suggest you start a thread on the US board.

leelane, this thread is for fun and certainly is not singling out Americans. By all means if you have a funny story, share it.

leelane:
As I said, this thread is NOT intended to bash anyones country. Please read the top of this thread. It is merely for entertainment purposes only. I don't think ANYONE seriously believes that silly questions are limited to certain countries of origin. It IS interesting, though, that you assume that all silly things are coming from American mouths. I certainly am not making that association...
Hmmm...
Anyways, these posts are funny! I hope to hear more of them!
I was in Jasper years ago, and had to dissuade someone from driving to Vancouver for dinner (!). This is AFTER I was asked if there was any good hiking in the area...

This will be entertaining; there's silliness everywhere but some people's perception of Canada is so archaic at times, it's almost embarassing and is so funny.
I think canadians enjoy making fun of themselves, I know I do.
Hopefully everyone here has a good sense of humor.

The ever present separatism threat in Quebec often makes people think we fist fight in the streets constantly about english versus french. I'm often asked about that. Not silly, but I usually answer that aside from during election time, most of us do not think about it. English or french alike.

One of my European relatives planning a visit assumed that we would pick them up at the airport when they landed in Montreal. Um - we live in Edmonton :-)))!!!!!

Borealis that's too funny! Please tell me you're kidding.

Borealis, that's a hoot.

>>>>>>there's silliness everywhere but some people's perception of Canada is so archaic at times, it's almost embarassing and is so funny.<<<<<<<

But there is one thing about Canada that <b>is</b> archaic, and that's the name of the Royal Canadian Mounted Polic (RCMP). Sure, there are the few specially trained RCMP officers who perform the impressive musical ride. But, beyond that, few RCMP officers ride horses.

When I first arrived in Canada in 1977 and saw a modern police squad car with RCMP painted on its door, I thought it was funny.

Someone once asked me, &quot;If &quot;poutine&quot; is the quintessential Canadian dish, why is it named after the President of Russia?&quot; ;-)

I have visited Alberta several times and enjoy that part of the world. When I tell people I went to Alberta for my trip I usually get a blank stare.

I always like to tell them it is one province farther west than Saskatchewan.
And if they persist, I inform them that Saskatchewan is one province farther west than Manitoba.

And any mention of the Gasp&eacute; usually draws an even blanker expression.

But my favorite is this: &quot;After whom is Ottowa named?

I sometimes participate in a forum called &quot;Canada Bound&quot; where people anticipating a move to Canada ask questions about immigration, work visas, student visas, the likelihood of securing a job, etc.

One poor girl was asking what Canada was really like because her father once had a friend from BC and told him many great things about it, and yet her step mother said &quot;Canada was socialist country and you can't choose your job there&quot;. Perhaps confusing Canada with Stalinist Russia perhaps? People didn't know if it was legitimate, or a hoax, but it turned out to be legitimate!

I agree about archaic preconceptions of Canada, but this is especially so in the media, amd moreso Hollywood films and TV shows. When the rare chance that Canada is featured in a movie or film, there will always be the token RCMP in full red uniform on a horse, and whatnot. As a result, you always get people anticipating a vacation to Canada so they can finally see the police officers in red. I've had to tell one too many people that the RCMP look like regular cops - they drive squad cars, they carry guns, they don't wear red uniforms, they dont' ride horses. The red coat and the hat are only ceremonial dresses, worn in parades, at special ceremonies or at funerals.

When getting an oil change in a southern state - don't remember which, the guy taking down the plate # said &quot;Alberta . . . which state is that&quot;? Which is funny at a number of levels!

I was living in Hawaii and told someone I was from Canada- her response was &quot; Oh I used to have a friend who lived in Canada but I dont remember what street she lived on&quot;

And then my mother was visiting me, someone asked where she was from &quot;Saskatchewan she said, do you know where that is?&quot; The person thought for a minute and answered &quot;Sweden?&quot;

When I was young, we lived in Windsor but my mom worked in Detroit. She was going to fly from Windsor to Toronto for a visit and one of the women she worked with was truly puzzled. She said &quot;but isn't that in Canada too, and Canada is just across the river&quot;. NO concept of the size of Canada.

I'm sorry...I can't help myself:

A couple of travelers were in a bar in Europe, and one commented on the fact that no one was speaking English. &quot;There's a couple of folks over there that look like they come from North America,&quot; his buddy said, and went over to talk to them. When he came back, the first traveler said &quot;Where are they from?&quot; The second traveler said &quot;That's what I asked them, and they said 'Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,' so they don't speak English.&quot;

bob, as I said those words out loud, I burst out laughing....... it can't be true but it's mighty funny.

A friend went out on a tourist boat off the West Coast to see if he'd like to be a captain/tour guide with the company.

One of the guests asked what elevation they were at.

You can scroll back in time, if possible, and I am sure you can unearth on this forum some remarkable questions about Canada.

I have two favorites:
1. I will be in Toronto, can I drive to the Rockies for the weekend?

2. I want to visit Canada. What should I see?

My response was something on the order of this: Canada is wider, coast to coast, than the US. So how would you answer a similar question about the US?

I will say this much about visiting Canada. Most of my visits have been to British Columbia and Alberta, although last year we stopped over in Toronto on the way out and were treated to a very wonderful tour of Niagra Falls by our gracious and well-informed Canadian hostess. ALL of my visits have been very enjoyable. Nothing but positive experiences.

We drove down to California from Alberta one summer and were parked on the pier at Santa Barbara. As we were getting out of the car, a couple of men stopped and were staring at the front of our car. As we approached, they said &quot;Is this one of those new electric cars?&quot; We said &quot;No, why?&quot; They replied, &quot;Well, why else would you have a plug-in on your car?&quot; We explained what a block heater was, but they didn't really believe us.

cathy61, They didn't believe you because we have days in February (lie yesterday, for example) when it is 85 degrees farenheit! They cannot imagine it! :)

Not a word of a lie -- there is a current commercial running here in Italy on TV for a particular brand of coffee. The scene is clearly in a wooden shack with old-style snowshoes on the wall, and people huddled around a fire. There is a fire grill with a moka (metal espresso coffee maker) sitting on the fire. The voice over says, in effect &quot;Where is our coffee popular?&quot;, to which the camera pans out to a MOUNTIE in full, but obviously fake, scarlet uniform, who says &quot;Even in CANADA&quot;. I laughed my pie-hole off over that one!

Last February I was having breakfast in MoBay. In speaking with the waiter I mentioned that we had to battle through a 15 &quot; snowfall to make our flight and that we were really looking forward to our holiday as it had been
minus 35 degrees when we left Ottawa the previous day. He replied: Cool..you are the first Eskimo I have met.

That is hilarious!

Why thank you Bob Brown! But you forgot to mention what great guests you were when you visited Niagara Falls. You didn't even mention that it was pouring rain! Ahhh, always seeing the positive when travelling. Ain't travelling great!

2 stupid questions on Canada I've been asked:

&quot;Newfoundland, that's not in Canada. Isn't it part of Greenland?

&quot;Do you have indoor plumbing in Canada?&quot;

I am sorry to report that the absolutely most ignorant thing I have ever heard about Canada is that Canadians are actually frustrated because they aren't really &quot;Americans.&quot;

One of the BEST things I have ever heard about Canada was this:

&quot;Canadians....unarmed Americans with health care.&quot;

Trying to convince a European friend that the term &quot;Americano&quot; does NOT imply all Canadians, Americans, Central Americans, and South Americans! He seemed to think that we are &quot;all the same, over there&quot;. I doubt if someone from Chile would describe him or herself as an &quot;Americano&quot; -- rather, as a Chilean from South America...He couldn't grasp the concept of being North American, from Canada...sigh...

I had company from Australia and it was in October. It got cold and I turned on the furnace. She asked me how long we keep our furnaces on and coulnd't believe it when I said all winter. She meant how many hours.

As hard as she tried to comprehend, she coulnd't really understand how cold it gets. Finally, I asked her if she had a deep freeze at home and if she'd ever been digging for food and her hands would ache from being cold. SHe said yes, and was shocked when I told her that's what it's like here on many winter days.

Try explaining to someone from warm climates about forced-air heating...

&quot;I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff. &quot;

- Britney Spears