# I give up . . . We Americans ARE idiots **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265 "2001-06-01T22:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/1 "2001-06-01T22:48:43Z")
[Here’s the proof.](http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/149/nation/Canadian_puts_the_joke_on_US+.shtml) Now, I can understand that ignorance about our Canadian cousins is epidemic, but this is incredible! Do we really believe they put the elderly on ice floes as part of their health program? That their parliament is covered by a giant igloo? Do we really have to Governors congratulating Canada for adopting the 24-hour day? Cecil might as well hang it up. We’re hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/2 "2001-06-02T01:02:39Z")
We know not ALL Americans are ignorant of our ways. I watched the show, and was surprised as hell to see that Rick Mercer, the host, found so many people with NO CLUE about Canada. The fact that the only person who questioned the host was a child…? That was priceless. Listen up, America! (Dopers Excluded) We’re JUST LIKE YOU. Except maybe more polite. Ginger ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/3 "2001-06-02T01:10:02Z")
From:[this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72218) Visit Quebec this summer! We love Statesians! Vacation tip: in every town/city in the province the most luxurious (and by law also the cheapest) hotel is called “Hotel de Ville”. It’s a huge state-run chain of hotels. Thank me later. Grand Prix weekend June 8-10! Giggling to myself wondering if anyone bought it. Also, in St. Petersburg, Florida bar barmaid: “You’re Canadians?” eunoia: “Yep, just yesterday we were at the spring bear hunt, now we’re kickin’ it on the beach!” barmaid: “You hunt bears? Did you shoot any?” eunoia’s friend joins in effortlessly: “We didn’t, but my mom bagged a grizzly.” _Peals of raucous laughter._ ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/4 "2001-06-02T01:21:38Z")
There’s hardly anything new in this. The tv show “Street Smarts” makes fun of how little Americans know, and Jay Leno has been doing the same thing for years asking Americans basic questions about American geography and history. It’s just a matter of selection and editing. Select enough people anywhere and you will find someone who is stupid or gullible enough, and simply edit out the smart and informed people, and then edit out the questions that the idiots got right. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2001, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/5 "2001-06-02T01:34:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by eunoia \* > \*\*From:[this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=72218) > Visit Quebec this summer! We love Statesians! Vacation tip: in every town/city in the province the most luxurious (and by law also the cheapest) hotel is called “Hotel de Ville”. It’s a huge state-run chain of hotels. Thank me later. Grand Prix weekend June 8-10! > \*\* I, personally, have always found it a fascinating fact that all of the managers of that chain are named Monsieur le Mayor. It must be a family-run business… jayjay 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mnementh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mnementh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mnementh)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/6 "2001-06-02T02:30:16Z")
_Mnementh, collapsed on the floor in fits of laughter so terrible that they appear to be bruising his ribs, stops long enough to look in the general direction of America, at which point he rolls back over and resumes laughing like a maniac_ This is one of my favourite jokes! I’ve spoken to a lot of Americans over the net, and I’ve managed to convince a great number of you people that I’m a flannel wearing lumberjack living in an igloo who does nothing but drink beer, eat moose, and wrestle polar bears in his spare time! I love you people! You’re so funny! :D:D:D:D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/7 "2001-06-02T02:43:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mnementh \* > **This is one of my favourite jokes! I’ve spoken to a lot of Americans over the net, and I’ve managed to convince a great number of you people that I’m a flannel wearing lumberjack living in an igloo who does nothing but drink beer, eat moose, and wrestle polar bears in his spare time! I love you people! You’re so funny!** But you all are like Red Green, right? 😉 Thankfully as a person who enjoys geography and other random bits of trivia I know I shall never appear on that show. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/8 "2001-06-02T02:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mnementh \* > \*\* > \I’ve managed to convince a great number of you people that I’m a flannel wearing lumberjack living in an igloo who does nothing but drink beer, eat moose, and wrestle polar bears in his spare time! > \_\* You mean you’re not? **Get the hell out of Canada!** Turn in your toque, your serviettes, votre Poutine avec fromage, and your copy of Strange Brew! God, most important,your secret Kim Campbell lapel-pin-slash-communications pin! _:shakes head sadly…Now we’ll be over-run with offers of marriage from those south of the border, thinkin’ we’re normal and all, thus diluting the gene pool…_ ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/9 "2001-06-02T02:48:15Z")
What’s this Canada you all speak of? ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/10 "2001-06-02T03:09:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \* > Turn in your toque, your serviettes, votre Poutine avec fromage, and your copy of Strange Brew! That’s **poitrine** , not poutrine;) And you neglected to mention the eau de Bie-verre for which Canadia is so famous. woodstockbirdybird, the word is Canadia, not Canada. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/11 "2001-06-02T03:17:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > **That’s poitrine, not poutrine;)** Heheh… ifn I didn’t know better, I’d say you were lookin’ at me! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/12 "2001-06-02T03:23:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \* > Heheh… ifn I didn’t know better, I’d say you were lookin’ at me! \*\* If’n I didn’t know YOU better, I’d think that was a typo:) The sad thing is at the moment I had forgotten that toilet, not poitrine, means toilet in french. It has been a long day, and furthermore an impossibly long week. [sub]And I still have no idea what you meant by that . . . [/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/13 "2001-06-02T03:28:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \* > \*\*W > > Listen up, America! (Dopers Excluded) We’re JUST LIKE YOU. Except maybe more polite. > > Ginger \*\* Except you’re not armed. 🙂 Marc ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/14 "2001-06-02T03:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > \*\* > It’s just a matter of selection and editing. Select enough people anywhere and you will find someone who is stupid or gullible enough, and simply edit out the smart and informed people, and then edit out the questions that the idiots got right. \*\* I think it is also a matter of putting people on the spot in front of a television camera. I can imagine freezing up if Jay Leno comes up to me and asks me questions while the camera rolls on. Marc ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/15 "2001-06-02T03:41:18Z")
**iampunha** , dollface and one of the elusive third-choicers, “Poitrine” means “chest” en Francais. And **MGibson**?I got arms. I just don’t give 'em to bears. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/16 "2001-06-02T05:45:29Z")
votre Poutine avec fromage means Your Poutine with cheese. Which I would be the first person to say, I LOVE. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/17 "2001-06-02T05:59:29Z")
Mmmmm poutine… It used to be only in Quebec, but it started popping up in the western provinces due to Quebecois young people coming west to work in the mountain parks. First time I saw it I was nearly sick, now I love it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/18 "2001-06-02T17:13:10Z")
Hm. I would think that knowing that your large, powerful neighbor to the south tends to ignore you would be bad for the national ego, not something to exploit for laughs. Guess that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/19 "2001-06-02T17:34:20Z")
So many of my friends have managed to convince an American something silly about our country. It seems easy to do, as most Americans don’t seem to know much about Canada unless they travel here frequently, or have relatives here. Americans, as a whole, come across as ignorant of other countries, and for a certain percentage of the population, it seems to be true. Great stuff to mine comedic material from, anyway. **Max Torque** , we have rather self deprecating sense of humour here, in general. Plus, the purpose is more making fun of ignorant Americans than making fun of ourselves anyway. Last year I saw a comic at Yuk Yuk’s, and half of his material was based on ignorant Americans. Should we be making fun of Americans? Maybe not, yet Canadians seem to take so much joy from it, it seems wrong to take that away. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lucki\_Chaarms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lucki\_Chaarms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucki_Chaarms)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2001, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265/20 "2001-06-02T18:25:05Z")
I lived as a semi-forced resident of Canada for three years (boarding school) and about the only thing I miss is Poutine. God that stuff is wonderful on a cold day. Heart cloggin’ good! Yeeha! Lucky Charms (Formerly MarxBoy) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-give-up-we-americans-are-idiots/67265.md?page=2)