Ask a Canuck

[DarkHelios]

Inspired by Mitchymo's "Ask a Brit." thead (and liberally stealing his wording):

In an effort to expand this US centric forum, and knowledge in general, a forum to ask a Canadian. I, or any other Canadian, will be readily available to answer your questions.

So ask away.

P.S. By "readily" I mean whatever random time I happen to check the thread

 

[EddMarkStarr]

It is with some embarrassment that I have to admit that whenever I think of Canada I go immediately to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Even after all of these years Pierre Trudeau remains "Mr. Canada" to me, and I suspect the same of many US citizens of a certain age.

I've always wondered if even his political enemies admired Trudeau's force of personality and sharp instincts.

 

[NotHardUp1]

How's Quebec? Has the separatist movement truly subsided?

 

[jensu846]

why do you guys say "eh" after everything. And when you say the word "about" it sounds like "aboot" ..whats with that?
""
"

 

[Cormac135]

Does the shame ever subside ?

 

[otters]

Do you like Emmental?

 

[star-warrior]

My cousin lives in the middle of Canada someplace and the snow during winter buries everything at least a storey deep. How do you cope with so much white stuff?

 

[gsdx]

I've always wondered if even his political enemies admired Trudeau's force of personality and sharp instincts.

Trudeau was one of our most powerful, influencial, and history-changing prime ministers. He gave us a Constitution, he gave us equality, and, through his efforts, he gave us same-sex marriage (amongst many other things). A lot of Canadians didn't like him, but most of us did. That's why he kept getting elected. Was he admired? I think he was, even by his political enemies, and I think a lot of them were wishing they could have been like him. He's still making the news today, especially during the election in which his son is in the running for prime minister.

How's Quebec? Has the separatist movement truly subsided?

No. It is alive and well. I don't think it will ever go away. There will always be some Quebecers who don't want to be part of Canada.

why do you guys say "eh" after everything. And when you say the word "about" it sounds like "aboot" ..whats with that?
""
"

Not all Canadians say 'eh?' after everything. In fact, I don't believe many people outside Ontario say it. Just as many people say 'right?' instead of 'eh?'. It began in the Armed Forces way back in the 50s and still lingers in places. Still, it's an easily-recognised stereotype.

The 'about/aboot' thing is a bit harder to explain. Very few of us actually say 'aboot'. In all my life, I've only heard one person say it, and he was from Nova Scotia. It was a dialect for some of the Maritime fishermen, mainly. The majority of us do say 'about'. It just doesn't sound like it to most Americans. Most Americans pronounce words like 'about' and 'route' with an 'ah' sound at the beginning: 'aa-BAHouwt' and 'RAH-ouwt'. We don't. We go right from the 'aa' and 'R' into the 'ouwt'. To you, it sounds like 'aboot', I suppose. (By the way, we pronounce 'route' as 'root'.)

 

[gsdx]

Does the shame ever subside ?

Does yours?

Do you like Emmental?

Isn't he some rapper?

My cousin lives in the middle of Canada someplace and the snow during winter buries everything at least a storey deep. How do you cope with so much white stuff?

As long as it doesn't all come down at once, we can usually deal with it. Only a severe blizzard or ice storm will slow us down enough to make it appear that everything has stopped. But, for the most part, we are prepared for the snow and are in motion almost before it gets here.

 

[rareboy]

Does yours?

....and....BOOM...mic drop.

 

[otters]

Isn't he some rapper?

Yes, and Emmerdale's his sister

 

[otters]

But, for the most part, we are prepared for the snow and are in motion almost before it gets here.

Yes, in contrast to, let's say, the Oregonians

 

[bankside]

How's Quebec? Has the separatist movement truly subsided?

Yes. They were on track to pick up approximately zero seats in the current elections for parliament. They may do a bit better because none of the federalist parties are quite willing to rip niqabs off random muslim women in public, so the separatists will pick up a share of the xenophobic vote. There will always be a few miserable separatists kicking around but we've learnt to live with it. Canadians prefer the vision of a bilingual and multicultural country. It's just more dignified.

 

[bankside]

why do you guys say "eh" after everything. And when you say the word "about" it sounds like "aboot" ..whats with that?
""
"

No one says "a boot" unless they are referring to something that goes on their feet. When we do say about, though, it is a proper "out" sound. Americans and Brits say the "ou" as though it rhymes with "cow" or "bough."

 

[bankside]

It is with some embarrassment that I have to admit that whenever I think of Canada I go immediately to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Even after all of these years Pierre Trudeau remains "Mr. Canada" to me, and I suspect the same of many US citizens of a certain age.

I've always wondered if even his political enemies admired Trudeau's force of personality and sharp instincts.

Admire it? They still campaign against it when they want to rile up their bitter supporters.

He was the best prime minister we've had in a couple of generations.

 

[bankside]

My cousin lives in the middle of Canada someplace and the snow during winter buries everything at least a storey deep. How do you cope with so much white stuff?

We love the white stuff. Catching it on our tongues, landing on our cheeks and then tricking down, glistening in our hair. Can't get enough of that white stuff all over us. Well, maybe when you have to start shovelling it off the driveway...

 

[JohnnyAnger]

We love the white stuff. Catching it on our tongues, landing on our cheeks and then tricking down, glistening in our hair. Can't get enough of that white stuff all over us. Well, maybe when you have to start shovelling it off the driveway...

Damn son, you might want to get help for that coke problem.

 

[Mitchymo]

Inspired by Mitchymo's "Ask a Brit." thead (and liberally stealing his wording):

In an effort to expand this US centric forum, and knowledge in general, a forum to ask a Canadian. I, or any other Canadian, will be readily available to answer your questions.

You plagiarist!!!

My question is 'What is a canuck exactly?' I've always called you lot canadians.

Oh, and how offended do you guys get when mistaken for Americans?

 

[Vannie]

Do you secretly listen to Snowbird by Anne Murray on your earbuds?

 

[gsdx]

My question is 'What is a canuck exactly?' I've always called you lot canadians.

Oh, and how offended do you guys get when mistaken for Americans?

'Canuck' ('nuck' rhymes with 'fuck', not 'took' or 'spook') has been around for almost 140 years. It comes from a political cartoon character created in the 1860s, Johnny Canuck. It became really popular (and the first time that the name 'Canuck' was used to refer to Canadians) during World War II when Johnny was resurrected and turned into a war hero. We are not insulted at all to be called 'Canucks' - except when the name is mispronounced, and then we say, "Sorry. It's pronounced 'cah-NUHK'. (We even have a hockey team named the 'Canucks'.)

As to being referred to as Americans, it is something of an insult, and the argument has been presented in this forum many times that, since we live in North America, we are also Americans. We are North Americans, but the term 'Americans' has been commandeered by the United States, and we are so different from Americans that we don't particularly like the comparison.

Besides, that argument could be expanded to refer to everybody in the western hemisphere as 'Americans', but when the word is used, only one country comes to mind, and it isn't Canada.