Reminds me of when I (imperfectly) learned Dutch before, and better than, I learned German. So now when I travel in Germany and try to speak German I’m frequently lapsing into Dutch instead, which is mortifying because a) I’m making mistakes and b) OMG THEY’RE GOING TO THINK I’M DUTCH SO I’M MAKING DUTCH PEOPLE LOOK STUPID.
No one ever thinks that I am American when I travel abroad - partly because I speak the languages of the countries that I visit, and I am reasonably fluent in Italian, German, Spanish, and French. I did have trouble in Brazil but was traveling with a friend who had spent his childhood in Portugal, and he did all of the talking for me.
When anyone asked me where I was from, I said “California” or “Los Angeles”, and that was enough to let them know that I was not part of the interior U.S. However, I have not been abroad in the past year, and so things might be different. Still, speaking the language is helpful. I also do not dress or walk like a typical American, and I am often mistaken for French - until I speak French.
Aren’t Canadians Americans too?North American, that is.
I think you gotta take your lumps too, as being from across the pond.
I apologize if Trumps USA has affected, you all.
If USA-ers are using your identity, target them individually and know we’re not all the same. I swear.
I’m pretty sure I would be exceptionally uncomfortable in a foreign country, outside my little bubble. My southern drawl would catch me out in a heartbeat.
All I’d need to say is “Hi”!
Comes out as “Haaay”
Heck, even in the late 60s and in the 70s I knew people who did this. It’s been going on for a loooooong time.
I usually can. Often I’ll say an actor in something I’m watching sounds Canadian, and we’ll look them up, and , yep, they’re from Candada.
Eh, I’m a good tourist. I follow the rules. I get out of the way of people walking with intent. I smile and say “thank you” a lot. I spend money.
In Canada and Denmark, i apologized for America and for being American. Here in Japan, i don’t feel the need to do that. I just avoid taking about politics.
The locals have generally been very nice to me.
It wouldn’t occur to me to have a flag patch, but I’m English, and somehow people abroad seem to recognise that before I open my mouth (clothes? haircut? I don’t know).
Anyway, just at the moment there’s an upsurge of internet-fuelled flagwaggery over here (they’re even painting St George’s crosses on zebra crossings and roundabouts). I’d like to think it’s because of the England team winning the Women’s Rugby World Cup, but realism says not.
I would always say “California” too. When I’m in Europe, especially around the Mediterranean, I’m nearly always taken for a local until I speak.
During the last month or so when the English flag-painting erupted in the news again, it made me grateful for the American flag, for once, as it is a lot harder for ignorant pseudo-patriots to spray-paint everywhere.
A friend of mine was pegged as an American, in Germany, because of his shoes.
My Hokas might give me away now come to think of it. Not sure if they’re popular outside of the US.
I dress almost always in jeans and plain colored t-shirts. Nothing I own had brand logos or team logos.
People keep saying this, but my daughter worked 8 weeks at Dunkin a couple of years ago. Fewer than 100 hours in total. There were three instances of people throwing drinks at the staff (fortunately all were cold drinks and only one made contact). There was one incident of a customer attempting to climb over the counter. None of these incidents were recorded, except on the store security cameras.
Customers screaming at employees was an almost daily occurrence.
We have many issues in our stores on a daily basis (granted we have millions of customers a day) that rise to the level of “concerning”. Most of them involve theft or suspected theft, but a good many are just horribly entitled customers meeting employees who just don’t give a fuck any more.
And this doesn’t include madness in the parking lots.
- Anybody know: Is this the same Todd Maffin who founded Anglicans Online?
- Canadians are not amused… now? I wondered why they were unbothered in the early 2000s.
While my own personal experience is not universal, in the early 2000s I enjoyed the privilege of getting to visit Singapore, and on two other different trips, Canada (YYZ then YFC). In each case, everybody we met and interacted with knew we were American and it was just fine. They were as kind as they would be at any other time. I wonder if these things are overstated. I think people generally know that individual travelers and households do not represent the worst excesses of their governments, whatever the nation.
Was about to chime in and say the same thing. It was popular in Europe in the '60s and 70s, when anti-Vietnam war sentiment was high.
A couple of other thoughts. There are several “Canadian” accents, and that’s not even counting French-Canadian accents. The only Canadians who don’t have accents, obviously, are those born and raised where I was born and raised…
Neil Young sang “Four Strong Winds,” but it was written by Ian Tyson and originally recorded by Tyson and his then wife, Sylvia, née Fricker, who were billed as (wait for it…) Ian and Sylvia.
Questions for Canadopers of a certain age: when you eat your Smarties, which ones might you eat last? Red Rose Tea–what is the pity? How do you pronounce “Gzowksi”? And why?
Not really getting away from the “of a certain age” thing with these.
I was once accosted by a native Torontonian who insisted that I must also have been raised there as I had exactly the same accent as hers. Mine is a melange of accents but none of them are Canadian.
I never do.
That is literally where I stole the joke from, and I salute you.
I usually pretend to be American when travelling abroad. This thread has got me thinking maybe I should pretend to be Canadian instead.
If you’re going to impersonate a country, how about pretending to be Swiss?