# Canadians be proud. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145 "2000-06-30T11:53:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/1 "2000-06-30T11:53:04Z")
What Canadians have to be proud of… 1. Smarties 2. Crispy Crunch 3. Coffee Crisp 4. The size of our footballs, fields and one less Down 5. Lacrosse is Canadian 6. Hockey is Canadian 7. Basketball is Canadian 8. The biggest flags ever seen at any Olympic ceremony were Canadian…twice. The second one was smuggled in by the athletes because they made a rule against it because of the first time - LOL we are soooo funny! 9. Mr. Dress-up can kick Mr. Rogers ass 10. Much Music kicks MTV’s ass 11. Maple syrup kicks Mrs. Butterworths ass (…don’t know about Aunt Jemima though). 12. Tim Horton’s kicks Dunkin Donuts ass 13. Waaaay better beer commercials/contests and beer company give aways. Hence the Molson Canadian House Party…where you get to keep the house. Trashed or not. 14. In the war of 1812, we pushed the Americans so far back…passed their ‘White House’, we burned it…and most of Washington under the command of William Lyon McKenzie who was insane and hammered all the time. We got bored because they ran away so came home and partied. Go figure. 15. Canada has the largest french population that never surrendered to Germany 16. The largest english population that never ever surrendered or withdrew during any war 17. Our civil war was a big bar fight that lasted a little over an hour 18. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, who slept in and missed the whole thing… but showed up just in time to get caught 19. We knew plaid was cool far before Seattle caught on 20. The Hudsons Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earths surface and is still around as the worlds oldest company 21. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes 22. We still know what to do with all the parts of a buffalo 23. We don’t marry our kin-folk 24. We invented the telephone, ski-doos, jet-skis, velcro, zippers, the long distance and short wave radios that save countless lives each year. Oh ya…and the handles on beer cases big enough to fit your hands with mitts on 25. We can hum the tune to ‘Definition’ 26. We all know that a scale that measures boiling water at 212 degrees and freezes at 32 is asinine 27. We’ve ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it 28. We wear socks (black is optional) with our sandals 29. We can out drink Americans in a heart beat!! Happy Canada Day Everyone! Neil ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/2 "2000-06-30T12:11:23Z")
Hey Neil, you forgot we have the best Sambuca drinkers 😉 Happy Canada Day!! ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/3 "2000-06-30T12:18:20Z")
> [@](#): > > We’ve ALL have frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it Thats not funny. THATS NOT FUNNY AT ALL!! Happy Canada Day to all! ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/4 "2000-06-30T12:29:19Z")
Happy Canada Day, ya moose squicking, Molson sipping, Tragically Hip loving idiots 😃 And basketball derives from the ancien Dutch game of _korfbal_. So you can scratch THAT of your list 😛 ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/5 "2000-06-30T12:52:21Z")
Coldfire; I thought Basketball was invented by a Ontario College Professor in the late 1800’s, who cut the bottom out of a peach basket and placed it 10 feet high - as a game for his Phys Ed students to play indoors during inclimate weather. It must be true. I seen it on TV! Can anyone shed some light on this? ---
**Author:** ![gypsybiker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc79bd/32.png) [@gypsybiker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsybiker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/6 "2000-06-30T13:01:42Z")
We also invented insulin, g-suit and did the first jet powered aircraft landing to an aircraft carrier. Hey, Happy Canada Day! ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/7 "2000-06-30T13:15:02Z")
Ummm… Canadians are so tough we don’t even need a real military \<…he says in the hope it’s actually true…\> I’ve got nothing to add but - Happy Canada Day! ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/8 "2000-06-30T14:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Coldfire; > > I thought Basketball was invented by a Ontario College Professor in the late 1800’s, who cut the bottom out of a peach basket and placed it 10 feet high - as a game for his Phys Ed students to play indoors during inclimate weather. > > It must be true. I seen it on TV! > > Can anyone shed some light on this? > > \*\* I believe it was Joseph Naismith that was responsible for that. Aren’t Heritage Moments wonderful? ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/9 "2000-06-30T14:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > We also invented insulin, > Hey, Happy Canada Day! > \*\* Yup…Dr. Jonas Salk. My wife’s family is very distantly related to him. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/10 "2000-06-30T14:33:15Z")
Canada Day - 4 day weekend - woo-hoo! ---
**Author:** ![BeerDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@BeerDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeerDog)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/11 "2000-06-30T14:51:35Z")
To paraphrase Rick Mercer: " Canada is bigger than the United States and we are on top . . .If we were in prison, the Yanks would be our bitch." I don’t know if we are supposed to be proud of that or not, but making fun of Americans is such a part of being Canadian that I couldn’t resist. Happy Canada Day everyone! ---
**Author:** ![drollman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@drollman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drollman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/12 "2000-06-30T15:05:13Z")
What unites the Canadian “Boomer” generation? Knowing that none of us ever, ever, ever turned off the closing credits of “The Friendly Giant” until the cow jumped over the moon. 133 Years old…and we don’t feel a day over 19! I’m proud to be Canadian! We’re awfully nice to strangers, Our manners be our curse. It’s cool in many ways to be Canadian. It isn’t that we’re better, It’s just that we’re less worse. “Proud Tp Be Canadian” by The Arrogant Worms. ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/13 "2000-06-30T15:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Happy Canada Day, ya moose squicking, Molson sipping, Tragically Hip loving idiots 😃 > > \*\* Jeez…you squick one moose and it sticks with you forever!!! Happy Canada Day!!! ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/14 "2000-06-30T15:09:12Z")
Happy Birthday Canada! And I have been looking forward to this long weekend for the last month… ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/15 "2000-06-30T15:14:53Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Basketball is Canadian Basketball, though losely based on a few other sports, is entirely the invention of Massachusetts native Dr. James Naismith, a professor at the YMCA Training School in Springfield Mass. At the turn of the century, this school was a surprising collegiate sports powerhouse. Naismith also played football at the school under Coach Amos Alanzo Stagg, one of the men that can be credited with shaping the modern game of American football. However, you could claim that American Football is Canadian, as the very first “rugby style” football game played on U.S. soil was between Harvard and McGill. Before this game, colleges played “Association Style” football (soccer) Harvard liked the game so much they pushed for its adoption over Association Football. Thus, McGill introduced a game that evolved directly into American football; the changes which made American Football different from rugby were not all instituted at once, and resulted from a slow and gradual change. Read David Nelson’s \* The Anatomy of a Game \* which covers football’s early years quite in depth. ---
**Author:** ![tradesilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@tradesilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tradesilicon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/16 "2000-06-30T15:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > " Canada is bigger than the United States and we are on top . . .If we were in prison, the Yanks would be our bitch." The last country that tried anything even remotely resembling this type of thing is still trying to get it’s dick out of it’s left nostril, eh. 😉 Happy Canada Day, all you Moose Squickers!! Sili ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/17 "2000-06-30T16:44:02Z")
Sorry, **Jayron 32** , but Naismith was born on November 6, 1861 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada. He got his BA from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and got his theology diploma from the Presbyterian College of Montreal in 1887. He didn’t go to the States (Springfield College, Mass.) until 1890! This website notes that someone suggested calling the new game [“Naismith Ball”](http://collections.ic.gc.ca/naismith/james/naismith/jamesbio.htm), but wiser heads prevailed, thank God. Just one more [“undercover Canuck”](http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/Canadians/), who had to go south to make it big (well, _reasonably_ big), like Jack Warner of Warner Brothers, Louis B. Mayer (moved to Canada from Russia at age 3), Mary Pickford, John Kenneth Galbraith, James “King of the World” Cameron, Lorne Michaels, Mack Sennet, Mort Sahl, Glenn Ford, Robert Goulet, Phil Hartman, Walter Pigeon, Jay “Tonto” Silverheels, Raymond Massey, Yvonne DeCarlo, Marie Dressler, Ruby Keeler, Diana Durban and Fay Wray, to name a few. You can keep Rich Little, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/18 "2000-06-30T17:08:18Z")
I remember a few years back on NPR’s “This American Life”, Ira Glass did a program called “Canadians: The Aliens Among Us.” It was a hilarious investigation into that unusual hybrid, the Canadian-American. One fool-proof way to spot a Canadian–name a famous person of Canadian birth, and the Canadian will always point out that this person is Canadian. William Shatner? Canadian Martin Short? Canadian Michael J. Fox? Canadian Peter Jennings? Canadian Rush? Canadian band Loverboy? from Canada Happy Canada Day, you hosers! (Rick Moranis? Canadian) ---
**Author:** ![Nika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Nika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/19 "2000-06-30T17:16:55Z")
It is true that Canada has contributed A LOT to society, and this board, over the years, but why aren’t we more proud of who we are? I mean we are proud of our beer, why not our nationality. I think that we need to remember how awesome Canada is and how awesome all the things we stand for are. So Canadians, lets celebrate our Birthday with pride! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GREATEST COUNTRY AROUND!!! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2000, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145/20 "2000-06-30T17:23:32Z")
Happy Dominion Day! Look [here](http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000629/hl/canada_3.html) for proof that we should be happy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadians-be-proud/24145.md?page=2)