# Do Canadians get offended if they are mistaken for Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 18, 2019, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734 "2019-04-18T18:08:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/121 "2019-04-25T12:14:44Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I have no problem with a francophone society within Canada. In fact I think it adds to our cultural richness. I **do** have a problem with an _ **anglophone-hating** _ society within Canada, the kind that bans English signs, or legislates the maximum size of English print on them, forces businesses to change names that have English connotations, tries to legislate French as the mandatory language of private businesses, forces restaurants to remove English-sounding items from menus, etc. etc. _ad nauseum_, and takes huge amounts of federal transfer payments and federal contract money all while shitting on the rest of Canada. Many years ago, long before things became as extreme as they are today, the CBS show _60 Minutes_ did a segment on the absurdity of the Quebec “language police”, first doing a mini-documentary of the whole pathetically absurd situation, and then letting Quebec officials pontificate their justifications while the American reporters could barely conceal their snickering at the stupidity of it all. And that was years ago. It’s worse today. You say that you have no problem with a francophone society within Canada. Great. But here’s a question. Do you have a problem with a majority francophone society within Canada? Would you consider it a catastrophe if this society was unable to continue as a majority francophone society? I ask this because that is the immutable, rock solid, across the board, 100% position of the Quebec people. The issues you raise: “absurdity” of the language laws, its reflection of an “_ **anglophone-hating** _ society,” etc. These are polices that any reasonable person can find arguments For or Against. I don’t want to waste time defending or rallying-against such details. Language issues are always a hot topic in Quebec, however ultimately the majority of Quebeckers feel satisfied by being [ol] [li]A majority francophone society…[/li][li]…within and wider anglophone Canada.[/li][/ol] Of course there are those who hate anglophone society, or hate Canada, or whatever (like there are anglophones who love to bash Quebec). I don’t want to get bogged down in the personal/individual grievances of some bitter people. Ultimately Quebeckers don’t want to leave Canada, and they don’t want to become a linguistic minority in their province. To continue this discussion we must accept these two premises. After accepting the above, we (as reasonable people) can start to discuss where to draw the laws that will ensure French’s place in Quebec (or in Canada as a minority language). Do you limit/encourage immigration to those who fit a linguistic profile? Do you guarantee all services in a/two particular language(s)? Do you give up on the 100% linguistic competency of immigrants but ensure that their children will grow-up fluent in the wider society’s language (avoiding the creation of isolated ghettos of non-speakers)? These are the topics that must now be debated; not just issues for Quebec, but for all of Canada. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/122 "2019-04-25T12:37:49Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Aside from the occasional asshat, Quebecois are like people everywhere, including most of the USA: namely, they are individually great, friendly, generous people, but for some reason when they get together politically, they sometimes lose their collective minds and elect ridiculously inept and stupid governments. I don’t know where you live, but I’m currently living in a province that elected Doug Ford. I know it isn’t a quality unique to Quebec. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/123 "2019-04-25T13:50:01Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Speaking of which, what’s the deal with “hoser”? I read that Thomas and Moranis made it up as an innocuous profanity, but is there something intrinsically Canadian about it? Maybe because it’s got that same rounded “o” vowel that’s characteristic of Canadian English? There’s nothing really intrinsically Canadian about it, they adopted it from popular slang in Toronto in the 70s. It worked well as an innocuous profanity as well as a term for being drunk, ripped off, etc… FTR, the story of how the Bob and Doug skits came about is quite funny in itself. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/124 "2019-04-26T16:16:56Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > So you never drive on the 401? Or any provincial highway in Ontario? > > The irony of it all is that it wasn’t all that many years ago when most Quebec highway signs were, quite appropriately, bilingual. Signs do need to be replaced after some number of years, but I’m willing to bet that millions were spent unnecessarily just to expedite the removal of the bilingual ones. Regardless, they are pretty much all unilingually French now. What exactly is this stupidity accomplishing other than inconveniencing tourists? > > My brother, who now lives in the US, recently needed a new birth certificate for official government purposes because of some fuck-up with the old one, so he ordered one from Quebec. And guess what single language it’s in? No English whatsoever, and this caused him no end of grief in the US. He had to get an official translation at his own expense in order for the document to be legal. I’m pretty sure that some poor schmuck with a Quebec driver’s license would have the same sort of issue in the US. I can just imagine a state trooper looking at it – especially in a state far removed from the border – and going “WTF is this thing?”. All from Quebec – a province in an officially _ **bilingual** _ country. You’re confusing an officially bilingual federal government with a bilingual country. The federal government is bilingual, but that doesn’t bind the provinces. They are sovereign within their own spheres and can decide for themselves whether to provide bilingual services. In my province, the only bilingual traffic signs are on military bases or national parks, both operated by the federal government. Other than that, traffic signs are unilingual English. Same for my driver’s licence and my birth certificate: unilingual. It’s English, instead of French, but the same principle as in Quebec: most government services are offered in the language of the majority. Does that mean we’re Francophone - hating? ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/125 "2019-04-26T17:41:37Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Well, we like all y’all to stay together; easier to keep an eye on you, that way. Don’t want you sneaking in your filthy foreign habits, like cheese curds and gravy on french fries, or universal healthcare. 😛 > > Seriously, though; you should get to the OBX, if you have a chance. Best beaches in the U.S., as long as you stay south of Nag’s Head. If you opt to have poutine as a national foodstuff you pretty much need the other, just sayin’… ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/126 "2019-04-26T18:11:05Z")
Seems sort of silly to get offended since it’s really not a value judgment. There are so many more Americans and the accents aren’t that distinct that it’s the obvious first guess for an English-speaking foreigner in most places. Which reminds me a of a fun bit of travel trivia. A few years ago, my wife and infant son traveled internationally, and the most common first guess for our nationality was not American, it was Russian. Where were we? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/127 "2019-04-26T18:55:31Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > …Where were we? China? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/128 "2019-04-26T19:02:16Z")
Mongolia? ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/129 "2019-04-26T19:09:10Z")
Mar-a-Lago? ---
**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:** [April 26, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/130 "2019-04-26T20:25:11Z")
Canada? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/131 "2019-04-26T20:37:22Z")
Vietnam or Cambodia? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2019, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/132 "2019-04-26T21:05:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > You’re confusing an officially bilingual federal government with a bilingual country. A distinction without a difference. The **Official Languages** Acts of 1969 and 1988 made French and English _ **official languages** _ in Canada. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Same for my driver’s licence and my birth certificate: unilingual. It’s English, instead of French, but the same principle as in Quebec: most government services are offered in the language of the majority. When has your driver’s license and birth certificate being only in English caused you any problems anywhere in North America? Any chance it ever will? Yet I cited an example where the ridiculous practice of an official government document being only in French, a language that is mainstream nowhere in North America except Quebec, _ **predictably** _ created a big problem and needless expense. Such a practice has no purpose whatsoever except as an overt act of cultural/linguistic bigotry, and arguably a malicious interest in making life more difficult for the _maudit anglais_. These people are so demented that they once tried to make all air traffic control communications French-only in Quebec, the same way they’ve legislated French-only for everything else. As most of us know, for safety reasons English is the universal language of air traffic control at international and major airports all over the world, including France. That didn’t stop the Quebecois from trying. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Does that mean we’re Francophone - hating? No, but here’s how to find out for sure. Put up a sign for your business that is in French only. Or even make it bilingual, but fail to demean the French lettering by making it a minimal size much smaller than the English. Then wait and see if jack-booted Language Police come storming onto your property, demanding that you take it all down and put up proper English signs, like God intended. If that happens, then yes, you would be a francophone-hating culture. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/133 "2019-04-28T19:09:36Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Where were we? Good guesses, all. Cuba. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/134 "2019-04-28T19:48:31Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > A distinction without a difference. The **Official Languages** Acts of 1969 and 1988 made French and English _ **official languages** _ in Canada. > > When has your driver’s license and birth certificate being only in English caused you any problems anywhere in North America? Any chance it ever will? Yet I cited an example where the ridiculous practice of an official government document being only in French, a language that is mainstream nowhere in North America except Quebec, _ **predictably** _ created a big problem and needless expense. Such a practice has no purpose whatsoever except as an overt act of cultural/linguistic bigotry, and arguably a malicious interest in making life more difficult for the _maudit anglais_. > > These people are so demented that they once tried to make all air traffic control communications French-only in Quebec, the same way they’ve legislated French-only for everything else. As most of us know, for safety reasons English is the universal language of air traffic control at international and major airports all over the world, including France. That didn’t stop the Quebecois from trying. > No, but here’s how to find out for sure. Put up a sign for your business that is in French only. Or even make it bilingual, but fail to demean the French lettering by making it a minimal size much smaller than the English. Then wait and see if jack-booted Language Police come storming onto your property, demanding that you take it all down and put up proper English signs, like God intended. If that happens, then yes, you would be a francophone-hating culture. Wow, Wolfpup, switch to decaf. Quebekers are just trying to preserve their culture. I totally get it. There’s no reason why English-speaking people can’t learn to read highway signs, store fronts, menus, etc. As you can imagine, it’s quite bilingual here in the Ottawa region. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/135 "2019-04-29T00:32:43Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Wow, Wolfpup, switch to decaf. > Quebekers are just trying to preserve their culture. I totally get it. There’s no reason why English-speaking people can’t learn to read highway signs, store fronts, menus, etc. As you can imagine, it’s quite bilingual here in the Ottawa region. I do like my coffee strong. 😉 But I don’t think that’s the issue here. I don’t mean to hijack the thread and perhaps we should start a different one on this subject, but I just want to respond to that comment. I get it that Quebec wants to protect its culture. I agree with that. So does Canada as a whole, and we do it through reasonable things like promoting Canadian content. The problem is that a noble principle is being used here to disguise extremes of anglophobia and xenophobia, like the infamous Language Police. Know who else embraced intolerance in the pursuit of ethnic purity? Germany in the 1930s. It’s a perilous path to go down. And if you think I’m exaggerating, consider the [right-wing bigot currently Premier of Quebec](https://nowtoronto.com/news/quebec-election-racism-islamophobia/), and the ban on religious symbols (that is to say, a ban on all religious symbols except their own, of course; the Quebec legislature – excuse me, the _ **National** _ Assembly – is still famously adorned by a gigantic crucifix!). Not just Muslims, but [Jews in Quebec are worried, too](https://www.timesofisrael.com/jews-worried-as-quebec-moves-to-ban-religious-items-on-public-workers/). And that’s how these things evolve beyond just anglophobia to generalized xenophobia and the pursuit of cultural “purity”. A little Quebec town [became infamous a while ago for explicit Islamophobia](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/herouxville-quebec-reasonable-accommodation-1.3950390). Another one [refused to allow a Muslim cemetery](https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/st-apollinaire-mayor-wont-reopen-debate-over-muslim-cemetery); apparently Muslims aren’t welcome even when they’re dead. Presumably neither are Jews. Or Englishmen. Remember Bernard Landry, after losing the secession referendum, blaming it all on “money and the ethnic vote”? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/136 "2019-04-29T00:38:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > …Remember Bernard Landry, after losing the secession referendum, blaming it all on “money and the ethnic vote”? That was Jacques Parizeau. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/137 "2019-04-29T01:11:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > That was Jacques Parizeau. Yes, thank you, your memory is better than my increasingly decrepit one! 😃 ---
**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:** [April 29, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/138 "2019-04-29T02:19:27Z")
Landry had the freak-out the next day when he was checking out of his hotel. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/139 "2019-04-30T15:56:26Z")
According to a very narrow study, [Canadians are the top of the heap](https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/04/which-students-talk-the-most-bs-researchers-say-canadians/) of the world’s bullshitters. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734/140 "2019-05-01T03:13:36Z")
Why am I not surprised that a thread about _whether English-speaking Canadians abroad get offended if they are mistaken for Americans_ turned into a discussion of us awful Quebecers and our horrible racism and anti-English laws? Eh, that’s Canada for you. And some people wonder why I mostly post on the Quebec subReddit and not on the English-language internet these days. I’ve never been mistaken for an American, as you can imagine, but my English is good enough (I even spent last year teaching in that language) that people often can’t point out exactly where I’m from from my accent. I’ve had someone in a youth hostel in Prague guess I was from Argentina, which was pretty funny. If I ever get mistaken for American, I’d just take it as a compliment on my spoken English. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-canadians-get-offended-if-they-are-mistaken-for-americans/832734.md?page=8)