American students abroad told to pretend to be Canadians

peterchen

brianwelsch wrote: I remember Canadians proudly showing their Maple Leaf so as not to be mistaken as an American. Like germans in latin america proudly showign their three stripes so as not to be mistaken for a U.S. American.. :cool:

Italian is a beautiful language. amare means to love, and amara bitter.
sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

Paul Watson

peterchen wrote: Like germans in latin america proudly showign their three stripes so as not to be mistaken for a U.S. American Probably meet a few of their old buddies too... X|

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Macbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.

Paul Watson

Even when I was waitering Canadian tourists were sure to differentiate themselves from their American tourist cousins. Seems to be quite a big hang up and rather telling of the perception worldwide of Americans.

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Macbeth muttered: I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er DavidW wrote: You are totally mad. Nice.

Chris Austin

I use to travel abroad quite a bit. I was never mis-treated or maligned for being an American while overseas. In fact, I found I received what I would call very kind treatment. I even remember when I came down with the 'flu' in France and my French counterparts insisted that they take me to the hospital. In Scotland and Ireland I was often invited to peoples homes for Dinner or just to hang out. In Japan, I was treated with the same respect anyone my age would have gotten. If I have to travel overseas tomorrow I wouldn't pretend to be anything. This whole things just seems like bullshit to me and is most likely being propagated by rednecks who have never spent any time abroad. Hey don't worry, I can handle it. I took something. I can see things no one else can see. Why are you dressed like that? - Jack Burton

peterchen

I once was greeted by a cheering "Germany? H*il H*tler!" - by a young local. Seems the Austrian whacko is one of our best export article down there... The only place where I met an "old buddy"* was Portugal, though, but that's as good as overseas.

*) at least I suspect that, maybe I was falling for clichees

Italian is a beautiful language. amare means to love, and amara bitter.
sighist | Agile Programming | doxygen

brianwelsch

Paul Watson wrote: rather telling of the perception worldwide of Americans. I was thinking it showed the insecurity of Canadians;P Seriously, this behaviour is a display of immaturity more than anything I think. Not just in wearing flags so that you aren't labelled American. Anytime you conform to(or avoid) a label just to get treated a certain way rather than relying on your character or the character of others, I think its a flaw. Now wearing a flag out of pride for your country is whole different matter, and quite acceptable in my eyes. BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security

Paul Watson

brianwelsch wrote: Seriously, this behaviour is a display of immaturity more than anything I think. Not just in wearing flags so that you aren't labelled American. Anytime you conform to(or avoid) a label just to get treated a certain way rather than relying on your character or the character of others, I think its a flaw. Being a white South African though I have had to drop that idealistic notion and rely sometimes on pure advertising to convince people that I am not a racist bastard who keeps blacks as slaves. Visiting London I was more than once met with incredibility when I said "I am from South Africa." Turns out you either have to be black or a hallucination if you meet some stuck in the past Brit who thinks all white South Africans are racists who are now cowering for their lives in SA. And that is London where there are half a million white South Africans living and working! God forbid when I venture over to France and other European countries, or America. Probably put a UK flag on my rucksack and say "What, what! No South African here!" :rolleyes: (a joke, I am not ashamed of being South African... a bit frustrated and bored at peoples reactions though :)) Anyway. I did not question the Canadians I met deeply (I was serving food, not wisdom :-D) but the majority were just happy to be Canadian and as you said nothing wrong with waving your flag (I wave mine all the time :-D.) But a couple used the "I am Canadian, not American" as a way of staving off misconceptions and bad service (plenty of Muslim waiters where I worked, openly anti-American.) The Americans we had were tough to serve, very demanding (as is their right) but also loud and arrogant. Canadians at nearby tables did not like that, they were definitley quiter. So those Canadians tried to make us understand they were not Americans so we would not think badly of them (which maybe a character flaw but also can be just frustration and anger at being continually mislabelled.) Bit of a gray issue I suppose. Am sure there are daft Canadians who do it with the wrong intentions and others who genuinely are exasperated at being labelled American (I for one can hardly tell the diff between a Canadian and an American.) And then the ones who are just happy, proud Canadians :)

Paul Watson
Bluegrass

brianwelsch

I guess I don't let other's ignorance bother me much. I've been in different situations at different times where whether it was because I was white, or of German heritage, or American, or a Yankee(northern US), or raised Catholic, or a programmer, or whatever, someone else labelled me and thereby made false assumptions about me. I view it as their shortcoming, and not my inability to make them understand. Maybe it is naive to not just accept the fact that the cover is what makes most people buy the book, but I'm comfortable with that. In any case, all this confusion makes the world a fun and amusing place, when it doesn't get out of control.;) BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security

Lost User

I've been to Toronto a couple of times and it seems that Canadians just don't want to be mistaken for Americans. Nothing to do with safety. The tigress is here :-D

Lost User

Perhaps this is because of your attitude to people you meet ? There are people from all countries who are bad ambassadors, and others who are good ones. Elaine :rose: The tigress is here :-D

brianwelsch

Trollslayer wrote: Canadians just don't want to be mistaken for Americans And that's fair enough. I don't want anyone to think I'm anything other than American. But, I would mention only the fact that I was American if it happened to be relevant to a conversation. My nationality is irrelevant to my interacting with someone 99% of the time, if not more. BW "We get general information and specific information, but none of the specific information talks about time, place or methods or means..." - Tom Ridge - US Secretary of Homeland Security

David Wulff

brianwelsch wrote: I remember Canadians proudly showing their Maple Leaf You'd get arrested for that over here. :suss: :rolleyes:

David Wulff

"Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!" - Strong Bad [^]