No, I don’t believe it matters which country you choose to say you’re from. The only reason you would choose to be something other than American would be to avoid an unpleasant encounter with a belligerent person or some terrorist group.
Your business associates and competitors would know you are American. It’s partially their intention to do business with you because you represent an American supplier or an American market for their products.
As a tourist, you are there to enjoy the culture, art, food, activities, weather, leather bars, etc… Your choice, and the locals welcome the money. It’s a win-win.
Your friends are your friends, even if you are American.
Unfortunately, there are people who are looking for an argument, or a fight. You can leave, you can stand your ground, participate in the argument, or participate in a fight. What’s the point?
I’ve managed to confuse anti-American individuals many times. I’ve passed as Irish or some-kind-of-English while in England, and as Canadian or English while in Germany. My phony accents were passable but wouldn’t pass inquiry by a truly knowledgeable person. Most truly knowledgeable persons aren’t the ones looking for a confrontation. IMHO, of course.
Wouldn’t you run the risk of then encountering someone very familiar with Canada and suddenly asking you some embarrassing questions?
“Do you think Rob Nicholson will be better in the Foreign Affairs portfolio than John Baird?”
“Will Justin Trudeau really be the next Prime Minister?”
“When is the election anyway?”
Yes, there was always that possibility but a “friendly” and I would just laugh off my bad attempt to practice proper English. The object was to avoid someone looking for an argument or a fight. Those types were not what I would call “deep thinkers”.
I’m happy to prove to people that there are kind, considerate US citizens. Anyone that doesn’t represent is a coward in my book. The exception is for “dangerous” countries, whatever those are deemed to be (but I probably wouldn’t visit any, anyway).
It’s true I’d probably say California. The US is too giant to be a useful identifier, I guess, in my head. But then they’d say “Oh, what city?” and I’d have to say “Uh, north of Sacramento, in that part nobody remembers exists…”
I don’t get why anyone who doesn’t choose to “represent” is a coward. Someone avoiding possible hassle. Someone choosing some amount of privacy. If asked, its really sort of an impertinent and ill mannered question - like “what do you do for a living” or “how old are you,” but I assume people don’t know that personal questions are not to be asked by strangers and answer - vaguely or specifically as I chose - politely. I have no reason to prove Americans are anything at all - my experience is that there are kind considerate U.S. citizens and ill mannered selfish ones - just like anywhere else in the world. I don’t really see it as my job to do anything but enjoy my travels and or complete my business when I travel. It isn’t my responsibility to clarify assumptions about Americans or where I am from.
Put me in the camp that says it’s ethically wrong to lie. Period.
Now, in the grand scheme of lies, this is a pretty minor one. Still…
At the very least, what happens when you lie about being from Canada and someone says “Oh me too!” I was once vacationing in Las Vegas and met someone who lived about a mile from my house. We’ve been shopping at all the same stores for years and only met 1000 miles from home. These kinds of coincidences happen all the time and won’t you look like double the asshole when it turns out you’re American and lying about it?
I tend to think it’s a fairly sissified thing to pretend you’re from somewhere else when overseas, unless there’s a deliberate threat to life and limb, like several posters visiting S. America have mentioned.
But pretending you’re Canadian because you’re worried that Europeans will disapprove? Screw that, and screw them. Really all you have to do is just not be a huge ugly American doofus, and you’ll get along fine. The only really obnoxious exchange I ever had in Europe was with some guy trying to sell my wife some shit to feed the pigeons, and who wouldn’t take no for an answer, …and this guy thought we were Germans!
I don’t know if its “ethically” wrong for an American to say they are Canadian (other than to whatever extent any white lie is ethically wrong), but I tend to look down on Americans who do it, and would not do it myself.* For one thing, though many Canadians are great, in my experience on the whole they tend to be disproportionately obnoxious and nationalistic, and I don’t know why people would want to associate with that. For another, you are what you are, and if you’re a decent person and you think the US has a bad reputation, you’re going to help that reputation by letting people know that you’re American if it happens to come up.
I will admit, though, that it’s not always easy. I disagree with people who say it never comes up, because as an American in Europe you hear comments very frequently (though, it must be said, way less frequently than when I was over here ~10 years ago).
*Exception granted if you’re lying to protect your personal safety.
I hope a Yank who does this is immediately thrown in jail as a political hostage.
Seriously, Canadians traveling abroad should be jailed for crimes against humanity, given that Canada repeatedly puts Steve Harper in power, and Steve Harper is deliberately trying to accelerate global climate change in the delusional belief that an open Northwest Passage will be a boon to Canada.
If Canada doesn’t pay their ransom, send their corpses to the Seychelles to build up land height against rising sea levels.
Since there are 10x as many Yanks as Canucks, that’s more landfill for the drowning island nations. So I strongly encourage Yanks to say they’re Canucks. From Tronna. Who voted for Rob Ford fnord.
Yes, I am going to be *at least this much a shit about this from now on, *until it sinks in.
