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Your perception of Canadians is?

Your perception of Canadians is?

  • Great people

    Votes: 21 55.3%
  • Nicest people you could ever meet

    Votes: 3 7.9%
  • Down to earth

    Votes: 6 15.8%
  • Salt of the earth types.

    Votes: 2 5.3%
  • Many of the best people I ever met are Canadian.

    Votes: 6 15.8%

  • Total voters
    38
I agree. I am sure the naysayers here would have a much more favourable opinion if they played even once.

I tried it once in Scotland. Beer was involved, a lot. There was more to it than I had initially thought. Still I don't find it exciting to watch. It's probably a sport that would be more fun to watch if women played nekkid. I have it on rather good authority that that isn't going to happen anytime soon, however.
 
The folks I met from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia were some very nice people, but the French Canadians.........................................

I knew other Canadians, who couldn't stand the French Canadians and wished they would get their independence from the rest of Canada.

Why? What are the reasons you can't stand French Canadians? Where were you that you found them to be not nice people?
 
Ignoring for a second that this poll was posted purely in fun - Canada, like the United States, is such a diverse nation that one could never truly lump all "Canadians" together and talk about them as if they have one uniform personality.

Some of the best friends I've ever had have been Canadian. I've also met a few assholes from Canada. Kind of like everywhere else in the world.

That said, I think I have enough experience with Canada/Canadians to make some broader generalizations about the national character.... some of it positive, some critical:

1.) Canadians are more polite than Americans in general

2.) Nothing pisses a Canadian off more than if/when you tell them there are so few differences between Canada and the US, the countries are almost indistinguishable

3.) Point above is funny, because Canada IS very similar to the US. If you dropped me off in a random town in Canada with no map, I wouldn't be able to tell you if I were in Canada or a northern US state. They're identical. The way people behave is identical. Even the accents are closer than Canadians think.

4.) Due to points 2/3, a lot of Canadians develop a weird "little brother" complex when it comes to the US. On the one hand, we're the stick by which they measure themselves. And they compare themselves, almost obsessively, to America. On the other hand, some Canadians like to play up the minor differences between the countries and take a snobbish attitude about how those differences make them better.

5.) Canadians have a great sense of humor, and they're generally funnier than Americans. Many great comedians hail from Canada.

6.) Canadians are generally more humble than Americans

7.) Canadians are much more nationalistic than Americans

8.) Canada has better beer and cigarettes

9.) Canada used to have better weed but now that honor goes to Colorado

10.) Canadians are very good hosts and really want you to enjoy your visit to their country. The same is true for some Americans (in the south), but for the most part, Americans tend to ignore foreign visitors or just don't care very much what you think of the US.


All that said, I love Canada! Would go back, plan to go back many times.
 
Ignoring for a second that this poll was posted purely in fun - Canada, like the United States, is such a diverse nation that one could never truly lump all "Canadians" together and talk about them as if they have one uniform personality.

Some of the best friends I've ever had have been Canadian. I've also met a few assholes from Canada. Kind of like everywhere else in the world.

That said, I think I have enough experience with Canada/Canadians to make some broader generalizations about the national character.... some of it positive, some critical:

1.) Canadians are more polite than Americans in general

2.) Nothing pisses a Canadian off more than if/when you tell them there are so few differences between Canada and the US, the countries are almost indistinguishable

3.) Point above is funny, because Canada IS very similar to the US. If you dropped me off in a random town in Canada with no map, I wouldn't be able to tell you if I were in Canada or a northern US state. They're identical. The way people behave is identical. Even the accents are closer than Canadians think.

4.) Due to points 2/3, a lot of Canadians develop a weird "little brother" complex when it comes to the US. On the one hand, we're the stick by which they measure themselves. And they compare themselves, almost obsessively, to America. On the other hand, some Canadians like to play up the minor differences between the countries and take a snobbish attitude about how those differences make them better.

5.) Canadians have a great sense of humor, and they're generally funnier than Americans. Many great comedians hail from Canada.

6.) Canadians are generally more humble than Americans

7.) Canadians are much more nationalistic than Americans

8.) Canada has better beer and cigarettes

9.) Canada used to have better weed but now that honor goes to Colorado

10.) Canadians are very good hosts and really want you to enjoy your visit to their country. The same is true for some Americans (in the south), but for the most part, Americans tend to ignore foreign visitors or just don't care very much what you think of the US.


All that said, I love Canada! Would go back, plan to go back many times.

Bolded is very true.
I was on a course in Cornwall Ontario and went Xcountry skiing. Went out onto the St Lawrence, and just went up into a town to get something to drink (been skiing for a while) looking for a store I came to the post office and realized with the American flag out front I had accidentally crossed the border without knowing it. Way back was hard cause the wind was strong and against me.
 
Why? What are the reasons you can't stand French Canadians? Where were you that you found them to be not nice people?

When I got married, I took my new bride to Lake Placid, NY. Of course, we were curious, and the bride wanted to see Canada for the first time so we crossed the border into Quebec. Right at the border station, the French Canadian border agent asked me the reason for my trip. I replied that we were on our honeymoon and wanted to see Canada. He then replied, but why did you pick Quebec? He repeated it over and over like he didn't want us there. We picked it because it was there. Why did we need a reason before we would be allowed to cross into Quebec? He then waved us through.

We drove through Montreal not encountering any problems. It was only later when we got to Beloiel that we didn't feel welcome. No one would talk to us, and don't tell me that no one spoke English. We spent the night in Beloeil.

The next morning, we proceeded on. It got worse in Quebec City. We sat down at a restaurant and no one would even bring us a menu. I grabbed a menu from another table, but still no one came to take our order. We then left and went to a delicatessen next door. We went in separately. I was using my wife as bait. I did have Canadian money so bought oranges and apples. My wife played the poor little lost American girl and found quite a few Frenchmen able to speak fluent English. She bought enough sandwiches to sustain us for a little longer. As we left, we waved at the French Canadian sitting on the picnic table, who just knew he would score with this naive young American girl. Later as we crossed into New Brunswick, we couldn't help but notice a large contingent of French Canadian businesses and French signs all about. We decided not to stop, considering the reception we had encountered previously. We went farther into NB and found a small motel with English signs. We spent the night, and the next morning went to breakfast at the small restaurant. It was there we met the owner of the small motel and related our earlier experiences. She nodded in agreement, telling us that she couldn't even get a job in town because she didn't speak French. That is why she opened up her own motel to make a living. She told us how much she hated French Canadians and what they had done to the provinces so close to Quebec. It was the same as we went farther into NB, everyone was very friendly, but when you mentioned Quebec, they would sneer in disgust, citing how that province had ruined Canada's reputation.

Whenever I would go to Virginia Beach, once in awhile, I would encounter French Canadians, who would try to push you aside as they walked through the crowds, shouting at you, unintelligibly. Now, maybe I just met some asshole, and that wasn't an indication of all French Canadians, but remember, I visited the country, and mostly everyone, I encountered was rude and when other non French Canadians share your same views, it starts you wondering. We all can't be bigots. As a result, I don't have very good memories of French Canadians. My cousin and his wife used to go to Quebec to hunt elk, and both of them agreed with me in saying that the FC's were not very nice people.
 
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Bolded is very true.
I was on a course in Cornwall Ontario and went Xcountry skiing. Went out onto the St Lawrence, and just went up into a town to get something to drink (been skiing for a while) looking for a store I came to the post office and realized with the American flag out front I had accidentally crossed the border without knowing it. Way back was hard cause the wind was strong and against me.

The one way I can tell I'm in Canada-
When I see everyone wearing what was popular the year before.

seriously!
 
When I got married, I took my new bride to Lake Placid, NY. Of course, we were curious, and the bride wanted to see Canada for the first time so we crossed the border into Quebec. Right at the border station, the French Canadian border agent asked me the reason for my trip. I replied that we were on our honeymoon and wanted to see Canada. He then replied, but why did you pick Quebec? He repeated it over and over like he didn't want us there. We picked it because it was there. Why did we need a reason before we would be allowed to cross into Quebec? He then waved us through.

We drove through Montreal not encountering any problems. It was only later when we got to Beloiel that we didn't feel welcome. No one would talk to us, and don't tell me that no one spoke English. We spent the night in Beloeil.

The next morning, we proceeded on. It got worse in Quebec City. We sat down at a restaurant and no one would even bring us a menu. I grabbed a menu from another table, but still no one came to take our order. We then left and went to a delicatessen next door. We went in separately. I was using my wife as bait. I did have Canadian money so bought oranges and apples. My wife played the poor little lost American girl and found quite a few Frenchmen able to speak fluent English. She bought enough sandwiches to sustain us for a little longer. As we left, we waved at the French Canadian sitting on the picnic table, who just knew he would score with this naive young American girl. Later as we crossed into New Brunswick, we couldn't help but notice a large contingent of French Canadian businesses and French signs all about. We decided not to stop, considering the reception we had encountered previously. We went farther into NB and found a small motel with English signs. We spent the night, and the next morning went to breakfast at the small restaurant. It was there we met the owner of the small motel and related our earlier experiences. She nodded in agreement, telling us that she couldn't even get a job in town because she didn't speak French. That is why she opened up her own motel to make a living. She told us how much she hated French Canadians and what they had done to the provinces so close to Quebec. It was the same as we went farther into NB, everyone was very friendly, but when you mentioned Quebec, they would sneer in disgust, citing how that province had ruined Canada's reputation.

Whenever I would go to Virginia Beach, once in awhile, I would encounter French Canadians, who would try to push you aside as they walked through the crowds, shouting at you, unintelligibly. Now, maybe I just met some asshole, and that wasn't an indication of all French Canadians, but remember, I visited the country, and mostly everyone, I encountered was rude and when other non French Canadians share your same views, it starts you wondering. We all can't be bigots. As a result, I don't have very good memories of French Canadians. My cousin and his wife used to go to Quebec to hunt elk, and both of them agreed with me in saying that the FC's were not very nice people.

Quebec city tends to be quite friendly to non French speakers as tourism is a big part of the economy there. The smaller towns less so. Montreal is far more cosmopolitan, though you will notice much more English west of St Laurent st and French east of it. (General experience is in the greater Montreal area people are mostly bilingual, you will often hear conversations in Franglais (a mix French and English) or one person speaking English and the other in French.
As to friendliness I have to disagree. In general I find French Canadians pretty rude but very friendly as opposed to say Greater Toronto area where I find the people tend to be polite but much less friendly.
Perhaps you mistook the impoliteness as unfriendliness.
But You have to remember that Canada, like the USA is physically a huge country (2nd largest in the world) and different parts have different cultural peculiarities. Even within provinces there can be pretty noticeable differences. Remember there are only 10 provinces and 3 territories for a country larger than the USA (ok not by a huge amount) but it means there are some HUGE provinces.
 
I think somebody did mention poutine briefly. I had to look it up... sounds interesting, I'd give it try sometime though I have no idea what cheese curds taste like.

I forgot to post this the other day.

The Sly Fox Pub. Of course I have no idea what their poutine tastes like and you'd have to drive to Columbia. But, hell, the next time you are in Columbia and drooling for some Canadian food, there you go. Maybe.

On the other hand I probably can't count as high as the number of times I've been to Columbia. But whenever I've been there I can't remember ever thinking Canadian Food. The Sly Fox could be "broke out" with Quebecois truck drivers for all I know.
 
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