Not to bad mouth Dark Beaver in any way, I don't think he is representative of many Canadians (if any). He posts a lot but you may want to check out other posts by people who don't have quite as much to say.
What's the difference between Canadians' & Americans' ?
- Thread starter kiwi_NZ
- Start date
Not to bad mouth Dark Beaver in any way, I don't think he is representative of many Canadians (if any). He posts a lot but you may want to check out other posts by people who don't have quite as much to say.
Yes, I've found people from the U.K. can be opinionated, but what the hell, i've been accused of it myself.
People can be opinionated anywhere. No country has a monopoly for being opinionated. I wouldn’t consider that as a difference between Canadians and Americans. As I said before, the difference is in outlook, tolerance (Canadians tend to be much more liberal than Americans) and respect for the authority.
I suppose if we all had the same thoughts, looked the same and swallowed the same lines, your version of a world would be perfect?
This is where you don't get it. In part you are right about the person getting the treatment but the rest is wrong.
I speak from experience because as a young man upon being discharged from the Marines I did not have insurance after 6 months and I ended up being hospitalized. I was billed and it was HUGE. I did not have the money but I did have a job and providing you have a job they will get their money. Even though at the time the bills amounted to a years salary the collection agency said start paying $200 a month and all will be cool. Luckily I got a better job with a private insurance and they agreed to pick up the balance.
Now if I was poor and on welfare there would not be a problem. All of it would have been paid in full by welfare. No questions asked, no bills in the mail. I would not have been bothered.
If you have ANY source of income with no insurance you are going to get billed and you will pay or have collectors coming after you. If you are on welfare...no worries.
"I suppose if we all had the same thoughts, looked the same and swallowed the same lines, your version of a world would be perfect?"
I'll settle for people not letting their dog crap on the sidewalk for a perfect world. As for DarkBeaver, he's one step below that. I'd really like to meet him.
I'll settle for people not letting their dog crap on the sidewalk for a perfect world. As for DarkBeaver, he's one step below that. I'd really like to meet him.
Honestly? There is no freakin difference. Unless you're from Quebec, you wouldn't be able to tell one from the other. I worked for an international firm with 3 headquarters (San Jose, Vancouver BC, Paris) and so went back and forth quite a bit... Americans and Canadians are more brothers than cousins. Canadians are like the brother who studied in Europe for a semester in college while the American brother is the one who joined the army to get college tuition.
But they have the same ma and pa and eat the same food... watch the same movies... like the same kinda chicks... etc etc.
Don't try to deny it either.
If you drive across the border between Washinton State and BC, the only thing that will be different will be the speed limit signs switching from miles to kph.
The neighborhoods look exactly the same. What they cook for dinner looks exactly the same. The inside of their homes look exactly the same. For all intents and purposes from a living life day to day stand point, they are basically the same country.
Now i know i've pissed off some people with canadian inferiority complexes living somewhere in alberta as well as some American supremacists living somewhere in arkansas but let's be real. the life most middle class folks in canada live is basically the same as that of folks in the US.
that's why i don't understand why canadians and americans have to stand in the "foreigner" lines at each others airports. this is one of the things that bugged the hell outa me traveling so much back and forth. Even the cop uniforms and cars look exactly the same.
Sure the government is different and the prevailing political ideologies are a little different (with the US being more center right and canada being more center left), but live in some suburb of portland for year and then move to west vancouver bc and live there for a year. are you really going to be able to say your life has changed that much? or try living in toronto for a year and then move to some middle sized city in the north east US for a year. is your life really going to change that much? probably not.
It's not like going from the US to the UK or Canada to the UK. although there are some canadians who say that Canada is closer to the UK than the US. this is completely not the case in real every day life terms.
Having been to the big 3 "sons" of the UK (Canada, US, OZ) I would have to say that the UK seemed the most foreign while the "children of the UK" seemed more similar to each other, with OZ being a little more british than Canada and the US. but not by much.
Anyway, deny it all you want. But one day i think there will be an EU style arrangement between the US and Canada (obviously not Mexico... sorry folks, but it's the same argument thats keeping turkey out of the EU).
They are just so similar. The only way that you would even be able to tell a middle class canadian from an american is by the differences in certain vowel sounds (the "about" test) and the turning of a statement into a question with the ending "eh?"... "wow that's a great steak!... eh?"...
sure there are some regional differences such as texas and yukon... but each of these regions is vastly different even to other regions of their own countries.
look, ultimately, the main difference between the two countries is that Canada stayed with the UK in the 1700s and the US broke away from them. But the interaction between Canada and the US has been so close for 225 years that they have grown up extremely similarly.
okay bye.
But they have the same ma and pa and eat the same food... watch the same movies... like the same kinda chicks... etc etc.
Don't try to deny it either.
If you drive across the border between Washinton State and BC, the only thing that will be different will be the speed limit signs switching from miles to kph.
The neighborhoods look exactly the same. What they cook for dinner looks exactly the same. The inside of their homes look exactly the same. For all intents and purposes from a living life day to day stand point, they are basically the same country.
Now i know i've pissed off some people with canadian inferiority complexes living somewhere in alberta as well as some American supremacists living somewhere in arkansas but let's be real. the life most middle class folks in canada live is basically the same as that of folks in the US.
that's why i don't understand why canadians and americans have to stand in the "foreigner" lines at each others airports. this is one of the things that bugged the hell outa me traveling so much back and forth. Even the cop uniforms and cars look exactly the same.
Sure the government is different and the prevailing political ideologies are a little different (with the US being more center right and canada being more center left), but live in some suburb of portland for year and then move to west vancouver bc and live there for a year. are you really going to be able to say your life has changed that much? or try living in toronto for a year and then move to some middle sized city in the north east US for a year. is your life really going to change that much? probably not.
It's not like going from the US to the UK or Canada to the UK. although there are some canadians who say that Canada is closer to the UK than the US. this is completely not the case in real every day life terms.
Having been to the big 3 "sons" of the UK (Canada, US, OZ) I would have to say that the UK seemed the most foreign while the "children of the UK" seemed more similar to each other, with OZ being a little more british than Canada and the US. but not by much.
Anyway, deny it all you want. But one day i think there will be an EU style arrangement between the US and Canada (obviously not Mexico... sorry folks, but it's the same argument thats keeping turkey out of the EU).
They are just so similar. The only way that you would even be able to tell a middle class canadian from an american is by the differences in certain vowel sounds (the "about" test) and the turning of a statement into a question with the ending "eh?"... "wow that's a great steak!... eh?"...
sure there are some regional differences such as texas and yukon... but each of these regions is vastly different even to other regions of their own countries.
look, ultimately, the main difference between the two countries is that Canada stayed with the UK in the 1700s and the US broke away from them. But the interaction between Canada and the US has been so close for 225 years that they have grown up extremely similarly.
okay bye.
i disagree with your assessment. The core belief of the right in the US and Canada is: Less Government! The fact that the right in Canada want things to be like the US is the biproduct of the belief in less government. The US has "less government control" than Canada currently.
Ancillary issues such as abortion, gay marriage, etc is secondary.
Culturally, there is a different undertone. The Left in the US believe that patriotism is bad and that America is the source of much of the worlds ills. therefore, america should let down it's guard in order to make amends (quite a naive view in my opinion. would only work if the other countries acted in kind... which they would never do). They also believe that capitalism is greed and that the purveyors of capitalism are the true devils of the world. The right believes that there is nothing wrong with having a love of country. They believe that the United States is a force for good in the world (sometimes also naively... since the US does indeed screw people over... but no more than other countries do when they act in their own self interest). They believe that capitalism is really freedom. If anyone chooses to work hard, he and/or she can start a business or become a CEO or whatever. They believe that no one should be punished for their hard work in the form of higher taxes or income redistribution.
But if you boil all of these issues down. except for the patriotism bit, everything boils down to people wanting more freedom or more social harmony. the left wants social harmony. everyone should be the same... have the same... no one should have too much, and no one should have too little. this can be accomplished by the government enforcing this sort of societal order. The right wants complete individual freedom. People are in charge of their own destinies. If you fail, it's your responsibility to get back up. if you succeed than you did it based on your own hard work and smarts. what you gain or lose should not be dictated by the government in anyway.
that's my 2cents
Ancillary issues such as abortion, gay marriage, etc is secondary.
Culturally, there is a different undertone. The Left in the US believe that patriotism is bad and that America is the source of much of the worlds ills. therefore, america should let down it's guard in order to make amends (quite a naive view in my opinion. would only work if the other countries acted in kind... which they would never do). They also believe that capitalism is greed and that the purveyors of capitalism are the true devils of the world. The right believes that there is nothing wrong with having a love of country. They believe that the United States is a force for good in the world (sometimes also naively... since the US does indeed screw people over... but no more than other countries do when they act in their own self interest). They believe that capitalism is really freedom. If anyone chooses to work hard, he and/or she can start a business or become a CEO or whatever. They believe that no one should be punished for their hard work in the form of higher taxes or income redistribution.
But if you boil all of these issues down. except for the patriotism bit, everything boils down to people wanting more freedom or more social harmony. the left wants social harmony. everyone should be the same... have the same... no one should have too much, and no one should have too little. this can be accomplished by the government enforcing this sort of societal order. The right wants complete individual freedom. People are in charge of their own destinies. If you fail, it's your responsibility to get back up. if you succeed than you did it based on your own hard work and smarts. what you gain or lose should not be dictated by the government in anyway.
that's my 2cents
Are you saying that Albertans are American because we don't sat "aboot" or "De-troy-it"?
Or do you assume that all Canadians talk like that because they do in Ontario? Maybe you are implying that there is no "middle class" in Alberta.
lol Do you say "ruff" instead of "roof", "crick" instead of creek", "rowt" instead of "route"?
I would say we are not that different as a people. Yes there are some differences in politics and degree of liberalism. On the comments about americans having less respect for authority I can only speak for myself. I am very respectful of authority and obeying the laws here. As far as the contact that you have made with american travelers there in New Zealand, it may just come down circumstance. Most americans are friendly as well as Canadians that I have met. I have some very good friends that are Canadian and have been invited up for visits as well as them reciprocating visiting and staying in my home.I'm a Kiwi aka New Zealander and I'm not familiar with either culture or country as most Kiwis' are not.
We had an American guy here whom my friend assumed was Canadian and she asked what part of Canada was he from and he made it very clear that Americans' and Canadians' are nothing alike and he was insulted.
Are Canadians and American's vastly different as people? Are the two cultures also vastly different?
I haven't met many Canadians' or Americans' in person but I must confess the Canadians that I have met in comparison to Americans have been a little more friendly and hospitable but that has been my own personal opinion.
So as a Kiwi / New Zealander who knows no different, please tell me what differs between the two people/s and their countries...
I do respectfully have a question for my Canadian neighbors though. We all live in North America, why is it that only people living in the States, consider themselves Americans. (I ask this partly because a Mexican friend of mine stated he was as American as I was!)
On health care: It is not an easy solution. Health care in the US is far from perfect and I don't believe its the best it can be in Canada. I have a business customer that lives here in Michigan (The couple are Canadian citizens)He explained to me that he just couldn't get the proper treatment for his wife in Canada, so they live here so she can get the proper care for her ailment.
After the Clinton administration was pushing health care so high on there agenda, I tried the best I could to provide health care for my employees. Back then costs were around 80 dollars a month for individuals and 250 for family. Now it went up to over 350 for individual and around 900 for the family it nearly broke me and I had to stop providing health insurance. The costs were terrible. Like I said its far from perfect here.
I do respectfully have a question for my Canadian neighbors though. We all live in North America, why is it that only people living in the States, consider themselves Americans. (I ask this partly because a Mexican friend of mine stated he was as American as I was!)
The answer is simple, nitrox. Canadians like to think of themselves as different from Americans, as better than Americans. We do have an element of snobbishness in Canada, especially towards the Americans. So of course we cannot call ourselves Americans. If you know a Canadian quite well, you know that he is a Canadian (and he knows that you know), and still refer to him as an American, he may very well take offense.
Many Canadians, when they travel abroad, make sure to wear the maple leaf pin. Partly that is because Canadians are treated better abroad that Americans, but partly it is also because they don’t like to be considered American.
Indeed, you will find the same thing everywhere, where a small country lies next to a huge big country, e.g. Russia and Finland, Pakistan and India, India and Sri Lanka etc.
I remember when I was living in UK I was watching a game show. One contestant introduced himself as a Goan. What the Hell is a Goan? They guy plainly looked Indian or Pakistani. Later I asked one of my Indians friends if he knew what a ‘Goan’ was. He told me that Goa is a small island off the coast of India, it is part of India, but it used to be ruled by Portugal, and many people there still don’t consider themselves to be Indians.
The answer is simple, nitrox. Canadians like to think of themselves as different from Americans, as better than Americans. We do have an element of snobbishness in Canada, especially towards the Americans. So of course we cannot call ourselves Americans. If you know a Canadian quite well, you know that he is a Canadian (and he knows that you know), and still refer to him as an American, he may very well take offense.
Many Canadians, when they travel abroad, make sure to wear the maple leaf pin. Partly that is because Canadians are treated better abroad that Americans, but partly it is also because they don’t like to be considered American.
Indeed, you will find the same thing everywhere, where a small country lies next to a huge big country, e.g. Russia and Finland, Pakistan and India, India and Sri Lanka etc.
I remember when I was living in UK I was watching a game show. One contestant introduced himself as a Goan. What the Hell is a Goan? They guy plainly looked Indian or Pakistani. Later I asked one of my Indians friends if he knew what a ‘Goan’ was. He told me that Goa is a small island off the coast of India, it is part of India, but it used to be ruled by Portugal, and many people there still don’t consider themselves to be Indians.
It's nothing as complicated as what Joey indicates. I think Canadians consider themselves more as North Americans than just Americans.
A Paraguayan and a Brazilian are also Americans.
It is true that some Canucks are snobs, though.
It's also true that Canucks consider themselves different from US citizens.
You might no5tice that some Canucks are adamantly against being considered American by other nationalities, but then they do an awful lot of self-comparison with Americans.
A Paraguayan and a Brazilian are also Americans.
It is true that some Canucks are snobs, though.
It's also true that Canucks consider themselves different from US citizens.
You might no5tice that some Canucks are adamantly against being considered American by other nationalities, but then they do an awful lot of self-comparison with Americans.
Last edited:
Don't put too much stock in Joey nitrox. Only the left fringes in Canada are snobbish to Americans and feel they are better. Most Canadians don't really give it any thought. As for calling ourselves Americans, it's really not that important. The Yanks have used the term to define their nationality. Calling ourselves Americans would just be confusing so we generally refer to ourselves as Canadians or North Americans. Once you guys start calling yourselves United Statesmen or something else, we can use the term American without people thinking we are from the US.
That sounds dreadful, I hope that there is a cure for that! Actually my very best friends that I have in Canada I consider as brothers and I would lay down my life for them, just like I would do for my good friends here.