# Hey Canada! Could you please change your countries name to Canadia? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421 "2005-08-10T08:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/1 "2005-08-10T08:56:51Z")
I was talking to some friends the other day and somehow the subject went to a friend of ours (Chris) who’s Canadian. Durring the course of the conversation I slipped and said: "You know he’s from Canadia? (Kan-naid-ia) I meant to say he’s Canadian but somehow I fucked it all up. Anyways, since then me and my friends have decided we like the name Canadia alot better. So will one of you folks up there see what you can do to have your country’s name changed? Thanks in advance. Hell you never know, Ann Coulter might like you guys better if you do… 😛 ---
**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:** [August 10, 2005, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/2 "2005-08-10T11:07:38Z")
Well, if we can get Ann on our side… done! Frankly, I was wondering if we could stick an “I” in front somewhere so that the good ol’ boys can (mis)pronounce it with a long “eye” sound, like Eye-raq and Eye-ran. Maybe Can-eye-dia. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/3 "2005-08-10T12:18:53Z")
I say Canadia all the time…I’m just hoping it will catch on, sorta like Santorum and Hi Opal! -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/4 "2005-08-10T13:21:20Z")
Please don’t do that, it would screw up the joke. What joke? This joke: How did Canada get its name? Well, there were 3 guys sitting around in a snowbank, and they had to figure out what to name this new country they were in. They happened to be playing Scrabble, and they had a bag of tiles. They decided to pick the letters out of the bag to name the country. The first guy reaches in and pulls out a tile. He looks at it, and says “C, eh.” The second guy does the same. “N, eh.” The third guy pulls out his tile. “D, eh.” And that’s how Canada got its name! ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/5 "2005-08-10T13:22:01Z")
My brother loves to mess with people who don’t know much about Canada. He went on vacation to Arizona a few years back and encountered a group of such people. He told them all about what it’s like to live in an igloo, and that he rode a caribou to work every day. They bought it, no questions asked. 😃 At a small convenience store there, he handed the cashier a Canadian Tire “bill” as a joke. Not even noticing the “this is not legal tender” note on it, the cashier admired our “currency”. My brother told him that the mustachioed guy on it with the cap and scarf was our president. Again, his words were taken as gospel. I never laughed so much. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/6 "2005-08-10T13:25:39Z")
I often refer to it as “Canadia” as well when I’m outside of its fair borders, partly as a joke and partly to see if people will start to think that’s how it’s actually pronounced. (I get far fewer funny looks than I expect. It seems that there is some uncertainty about it.) ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/7 "2005-08-10T13:38:43Z")
Canadia?! All this time I’ve been calling it Canuckistan! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/8 "2005-08-10T22:57:45Z")
About six years ago, my then-girlfriend, now-wife was talking to the new boyfriend of a friend of ours. He was from Canada. In the process of teasing him about how we were going to annex his country, she called it “Canadia”. For which I have ever since teased her. OK, it was funny if you were there. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/9 "2005-08-11T11:14:53Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Frankly, I was wondering if we could stick an “I” in front somewhere so that the good ol’ boys can (mis)pronounce it with a long “eye” sound, like Eye-raq and Eye-ran. > > Maybe Can-eye-dia. 😛 Well, you know what happens to all those Eye-countries. For some reason they tend to be considerd Evil. 😉 Shakes, maybe you could start calling Canadians Canadans instead. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/10 "2005-08-11T12:04:16Z")
Is there any language out there in which Canada is known as Kanadia? ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/11 "2005-08-11T12:09:33Z")
I’m with you guys on this one. I’ve been calling it Canadia for a long time now, and I was far from the only one. Maybe that’s because I grew up in Michigan though. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/12 "2005-08-11T14:12:14Z")
Sorry folks, but Soviet Canuckistan cannot go changing its name every time some loopy American thinks it would be a good idea. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/13 "2005-08-11T14:30:59Z")
> [@Coil](#): > > Well, you know what happens to all those Eye-countries. For some reason they tend to be considerd Evil. 😉 That’ll be a surprise to all those Eye-talians… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/14 "2005-08-11T14:50:37Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Sorry folks, but Soviet Canuckistan cannot go changing its name every time some loopy American thinks it would be a good idea. 😉 Some loopy American? I resemble that remark! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![VegemiteMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VegemiteMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegemiteMoose)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/15 "2005-08-11T15:04:48Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Sorry folks, but Soviet Canuckistan cannot go changing its name every time some loopy American thinks it would be a good idea. 😉 In Soviet Canada the name changes _you_! ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/16 "2005-08-11T15:16:18Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > That’ll be a surprise to all those Eye-talians… 😃 You remember WWII, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/17 "2005-08-11T16:39:50Z")
My brother’s been calling it Canadia for years. Won’t he be disappointed to learn that he’s not the first to do this! ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/18 "2005-08-11T16:43:41Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > That’ll be a surprise to all those Eye-talians… 😃 Whenever my dad orders Eye-talian dressing for his salad, I ask him if that’s the one that comes from Eye-taly. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/19 "2005-08-11T18:01:25Z")
From my experience, you can tell if someone is from Canada by how they pronounce Newfoundland. I and every other Canadian I know say “Newfunl’nd”. Everyone else in the world says “New-found-land”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421/20 "2005-08-11T18:19:47Z")
There’s a novelty song (I think by “Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie”) about the joys of Canadian National Identity. The chorus begins, “We’re Canadian/From Canadia…” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-canada-could-you-please-change-your-countries-name-to-canadia/316421.md?page=2)