# Some American tourists are flagjacking; Canadians are not amused **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 23, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323 "2025-09-23T02:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/81 "2025-09-24T19:10:12Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > The only eaves I know of are part of a building’s roof. Or do you have a different definition? That’s where eavestroughs are found: on the eaves. Gutters are found on the streets and in bowling alleys. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/82 "2025-09-24T19:25:02Z")
There’s a local business in my town: Adam and Eavestroughs. Their logo is Adam and Eve, wearing loin cloths (both) and a chest cloth (her) made from greenery, and both wearing tool belts. Their motto: “Removing original tin.” ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/83 "2025-09-24T21:06:48Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > That’s where eavestroughs are found: on the eaves. Gutters are found on the streets and in bowling alleys. Which brings us back to where we started: > [@Spoons](#): > > 1. Not including bowling alleys, what is a gutter? > … > 2. An eavestrough. > [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/84 "2025-09-24T21:09:23Z")
Yes, I guess I got a little confused with that one. Put it down to fatigue—it’s been a stressful week. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/85 "2025-09-24T21:12:32Z")
Are you sure you’re really Canadian? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/86 "2025-09-24T21:51:16Z")
Maybe we can make it simple. Pronounce the name of this letter: Z ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/87 "2025-09-24T22:19:11Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I think you’ve got this one backwards. “Eavestrough” is the more typically Canadian term, while “gutter” is more typically American. I’ve always heard them called ‘rain gutters’ (California). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/88 "2025-09-24T22:41:02Z")
I’d like to have a jacket with flag patches of the countries I’ve been to on the back. U.S. flag top-centre, and the other flags in order of the visits. Canada’s flag would be (I think) in position 10. I have the flag patches rubber-banded together in my Big Box O’ Patches. I don’t know if I should count Puerto Rico, since it’s a U.S. territory. ---
**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:** [September 24, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/89 "2025-09-24T22:46:19Z")
I’ve always thought Americans hiding their national origin with Canadian flags were behaving rather cowardly. Even during the Trump years, I still think it’s cowardly. I don’t blame Canadians who are not amused. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/90 "2025-09-24T22:56:53Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I don’t blame Canadians who are not amused. Yep. This isn’t a new thing. Americans were doing it in the early-'80s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/91 "2025-09-25T01:14:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Are you sure you’re really Canadian? He’s as Canadian as possible under the circumstances ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/92 "2025-09-25T08:43:33Z")
The whole idea of Americans putting Canadian flags on their clothes/bags belies the unsaid thing of Canadians being the one group who absolutely HAVE to tell people their Canadian at all times, maybe most shown by the time a Canadian called a dead person just to remind them they were Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/93 "2025-09-25T09:05:23Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > He’s Ha! But yes, you are correct. Born in Toronto, lived in four Canadian cities and one town, never lived outside of Canada, only carry a Canadian passport. Love butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, and Kraft Dinner, a.k.a. “KD.” Graduate of two Canadian universities. Helped out in a maple sugar bush in Ontario, have driven the all-Canadian route from St. John’s to Victoria and back again. _Flocons de mais_ are a perfectly good breakfast cereal, if the box shows that side when I have breakfast. Well-acquainted with CBC, CTV, and Global; and the _Globe and Mail_, _National Post_, and the _Toronto Star_. Owner of hundreds of thousands of miles on Air Canada. Well-acquainted with Molson beers and Labatt beers; and to the dismay of our American cigar-smoking friends, owner of many perfectly-legal Cuban cigars in my humidors. Yeah, I can establish my Canadian credentials. Can our American friends who try flagjacking do the same? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/94 "2025-09-25T10:02:13Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But when i apologize to foreigners, i think I’m more likely to say i didn’t vote for Trump, fwiw. Good on you … but if you have done the hard yards for Harris why would you down play your contribution? I would think the majority of the Americans who have expressed that phrase to me ( not a great number but probably more than a dozen out here vacation) either actually, eventually, did 'fess up to voting 45/47 or at most charitable were lifelong GOP who decided not to vote at all. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/95 "2025-09-25T10:11:06Z")
Because i don’t think foreigners care all that much about the details. Because the most important thing i want to convey is that i don’t support our current president, or his policies. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/96 "2025-09-25T10:15:22Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I imagine a bunch of Danes live there. Maybe your friend was a transplant. It wasn’t a friend, it was an indigenous Greenlander interviewed on NPR about the issues around Greenland independence. It’s not shocking, i suppose most greenlanders learn English from Danes, or from someone who learned it from Danes. But i was surprised. Especially given the topic, it was a little disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/97 "2025-09-25T10:22:48Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Yeah, I can establish my Canadian credentials. Can our American friends who try flagjacking do the same? To a Canadian? Of course not. I’ve visited dozens of times. I’ve watched the great Canadian baking show, rooting for the brother of a friend. I have the CBC app on my phone i enjoy a good butter tart, and Tim Hortons makes a fine breakfast sandwich. But I’m sure any actual Canadian could tell I’m from the US. If i wanted to pass myself off as Canadian here in Japan, i bet i could, though. (Not that i will. But i think i could pull it off if i tried.) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/98 "2025-09-25T10:57:50Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > _Flocons de mais_ I always thought that sounded like a good bit of swearing. Hit your thumb with a hammer? _Flocons de mais!!_ ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2025, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/99 "2025-09-25T13:22:50Z")
I watched very little TV when I was young and read like a fiend. The result is that I have a very amorphous accent and am often asked if I’m originally from Canada. Not to say that I think I sound Canadian, but that most people can’t place my accent. And I grew up near Boston, generally known for its accent. From the “I like stories” department. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323/100 "2025-09-25T13:42:06Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The whole idea of Americans putting Canadian flags on their clothes/bags belies the unsaid thing of Canadians being the one group who absolutely HAVE to tell people their Canadian at all times Well, it would be somewhat odd if there were other, non-Canadian groups who absolutely HAD to tell people they’re Canadian. 😉 But more seriously, if Canadians don’t say they are, they’ll usually be assumed to be American based on accent, which can be annoying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-american-tourists-are-flagjacking-canadians-are-not-amused/1023323.md?page=6)