Zoomerang96
ONE love, blood, life
i've ranted and raved about how i jokingly demanded proper spelling on this message board, at least from my fellow canadian posters. if americans want to use their special version of the language, fine. i really couldn't care less.
but today i'm writing this thread to express my genuine belief that canada really is little more than america junior. if you disagree with me, my fellow canadians, have at it and let me know. i want to provoke something in you that will make me change my mind.
every single canadian i've ever talked to would be upset if they were referred to as an american. they're proud of their canadian status. and so they should be, fair enough.
but what exactly is a canadian?
is it who we are as a nation? what ARE we as a nation?
culturally, if it weren't for hockey, there'd probably be absolutely no difference between canada and the united states. and it's not like hockey's totally unknown in the states either, as many american posters here will attest to.
how many canadians know who are head of state is? according to a survey in 2005 i believe by the strategic council, less than 10 per cent of canadians answered correctly.
but what kind of music do we listen to? what kind of music do we export?
save for maybe one or two asian countries, only america uses month/day/year in dating. canada can't really make up its mind on this, as my drivers license is proof. on the same fucking document, the print date of validation is month/day/year while the stamp that made it official is day/month/year.
but other than government documents, and if it's in english, you can bet everything is month/day/year. not that there's anything wrong with that, but i'm merely bringing this up to serve my original point.
spelling. judging by my facebook friends, i'm sure well over half the time words that are up for canadian/uk spelling are instead spelled in their american form. i've been to a number of weddings in the last number of years, and i don't think one of them spellt "honour" correctly in their programs (both programme and program are used in canadian english). i've already informed my other friends who are about to get married that i'm not attending if they can't write that "the reception to honour the bride and groom will take place at the neighbourhood meeting centre" correctly.
what about television shows? american idol, the nfl, oprah, csi, CNN, etc., etc. does anyone watch canadian programming that's NOT called hockey night in canada (i love hockey night in canada, and i love hockey... don't for a second think i'm having a go at that)?
what else makes us different? erm... not exactly.
what about during the recent american election, and the flood of canadians who travelled to the south to campaign for their favoured candidate?
do you think ireland ever gets confused with england? not. fucking. likely. if cameron wins the next general election, will there be people cheering and waving in dublin? obviously not, and though that's not necessarily a fair comparison my point stands. why? when you get people putting barack obama signs on their front lawns, and they don't even live in the same country, you have a culture that doesn't know itself from its southern neighbour.
at the end of the day, it appears to me that canada and the majority of her citizens appear to be unwitting flag wavers of the united states.
please, by all means argue with me. tell me i'm wrong. i realise this entire thread was emotionally based, and written in 10 minutes which easily betray its simplistic nature and poor structure.
i want to believe differently, so help me if you feel strongly otherwise.
but today i'm writing this thread to express my genuine belief that canada really is little more than america junior. if you disagree with me, my fellow canadians, have at it and let me know. i want to provoke something in you that will make me change my mind.
every single canadian i've ever talked to would be upset if they were referred to as an american. they're proud of their canadian status. and so they should be, fair enough.
but what exactly is a canadian?
is it who we are as a nation? what ARE we as a nation?
culturally, if it weren't for hockey, there'd probably be absolutely no difference between canada and the united states. and it's not like hockey's totally unknown in the states either, as many american posters here will attest to.
how many canadians know who are head of state is? according to a survey in 2005 i believe by the strategic council, less than 10 per cent of canadians answered correctly.
but what kind of music do we listen to? what kind of music do we export?
save for maybe one or two asian countries, only america uses month/day/year in dating. canada can't really make up its mind on this, as my drivers license is proof. on the same fucking document, the print date of validation is month/day/year while the stamp that made it official is day/month/year.
but other than government documents, and if it's in english, you can bet everything is month/day/year. not that there's anything wrong with that, but i'm merely bringing this up to serve my original point.
spelling. judging by my facebook friends, i'm sure well over half the time words that are up for canadian/uk spelling are instead spelled in their american form. i've been to a number of weddings in the last number of years, and i don't think one of them spellt "honour" correctly in their programs (both programme and program are used in canadian english). i've already informed my other friends who are about to get married that i'm not attending if they can't write that "the reception to honour the bride and groom will take place at the neighbourhood meeting centre" correctly.
what about television shows? american idol, the nfl, oprah, csi, CNN, etc., etc. does anyone watch canadian programming that's NOT called hockey night in canada (i love hockey night in canada, and i love hockey... don't for a second think i'm having a go at that)?
what else makes us different? erm... not exactly.
what about during the recent american election, and the flood of canadians who travelled to the south to campaign for their favoured candidate?
do you think ireland ever gets confused with england? not. fucking. likely. if cameron wins the next general election, will there be people cheering and waving in dublin? obviously not, and though that's not necessarily a fair comparison my point stands. why? when you get people putting barack obama signs on their front lawns, and they don't even live in the same country, you have a culture that doesn't know itself from its southern neighbour.
at the end of the day, it appears to me that canada and the majority of her citizens appear to be unwitting flag wavers of the united states.
please, by all means argue with me. tell me i'm wrong. i realise this entire thread was emotionally based, and written in 10 minutes which easily betray its simplistic nature and poor structure.
i want to believe differently, so help me if you feel strongly otherwise.