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The Xenophobe's Guide
Xenophobe's Guide to Canadians
Highlights the unique character and behavior of the nation. Frank, irreverent, funny--almost guaranteed to cure Xenophobia.
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 14, 2024
The “Xenophobe’s Guide” books, with their brevity and their humourous focus, seem to be directed toward readers who will be travelling or relocating to a new country, and who may be somewhat nervous about learning the norms and lifeways of a new culture (hence the “Xenophobe” designation). For my part, I cannot understand why anyone would hesitate at the prospect of travelling or relocating to Canada; rather, I would think any sensible person should feel thankful for the opportunity to do so. Nonetheless, as an American friend of Canada, I took up with interest the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Canadians – and found it, overall, to be a reasonably fun and pleasant reading experience.
Authors Vaughn Roste and Peter Wilson both seem to represent important aspects of Canadian identity. Roste, a westerner from Alberta and British Columbia, was studying and teaching at two U.S. universities when he worked on this Xenophobe’s Guide. Wilson, an easterner from Ottawa, worked in the field of labour relations, and eventually relocated to Great Britain. Accordingly, both authors are acutely conscious of how Canada and the Canadians might be perceived abroad, and are interested in correcting misconceptions wherever they can.
Canadian readers might respond to some elements of the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Canadians with a courteous “Well, alright, I knew that” – as when the authors point out that “Newfoundland was a colony of Britain until 1949, and is thus Canada’s newest province.” More to the point, however, are those parts of the book where Roste and Wilson comment on Canadian identity generally; their assertion that “The fact of the matter is that Canadians have no identity and are keenly seeking one” matches the descriptions of anxiety regarding Canadian cultural identity that I have seen set forth in books like Andrew Malcolm’s The Canadians and Roy MacGregor’s Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People.
When it comes to Canadian character, Roste and Wilson focus on the role that an immense landscape and harsh weather have played, citing a Prairie Province truism: “In Saskatchewan, people say that you can watch your dog running away for three days.” The long cold winters, the authors suggest, have done much to foster Canadians’ renowned good manners: helping one’s neighbours, and being nice about it, can do much to ensure that one’s neighbours will return the favour when one needs help oneself.
Climatic conditions may also have helped to form Canadians’ well-known reserve: “Canadians wear an austere smile in the face of adversity, and have a ‘grin and bear it’ mentality, even if the grin is frozen on their faces by the cold.” Knowing that winter will be harsh, and preparing carefully for it, Canadians may have a hard time sympathizing “when they hear how 2 cm of snow has incapacitated New York or London (England). Citizens of London, Ontario, wouldn’t bat an eye at a snowfall of less than a metre, so news like this makes Canadians temporarily feel superior.”
From my time in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon, I found that some of Roste and Wilson’s observations about Canadian life matched my own; at other times, by contrast, I found that I was learning something new, as when the authors write that “The climate has imposed on the populace the habit of putting on a jacket when going outside, regardless of how warm or cold it is: the season merely determines the weight of the jacket, not its presence or absence.” I had not seen that before, on my prior Canadian visits, but I will look for it the next time I am in Canada.
I appreciated Roste and Wilson’s insights regarding Canadian attitudes and values. They look back to Canada’s colonial beginnings to account for the country’s tolerant live-and-let-live outlook, writing that “Early settlers quickly learned to overlook their neighbours’ personal quirks and eccentricities. It’s a mental extension of dealing with the weather: if you know you cannot change it, you might as well accept it.”
U.S. readers might take particular interest in Roste and Wilson’s exploration of the cultural differences between Canada and the United States of America. They write, for example, that “Whereas the American constitution [actually the Declaration of Independence] ensures ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ its Canadian counterpart promises ‘peace, order, and good government’ – though many Canadians see ‘good government’ as a contradiction in terms. Failing that, they’d happily settle for peace and order.”
There are plenty of other ways in which Canadian norms are refreshingly different from those that prevail in the U.S.A. In stark contrast with the “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” outlook that one sees among some Americans, Roste and Wilson assure us that Canadians with money are more likely to spend that money traveling to warmer places during the long winters: “Canadian wealth is exhibited rather discreetly – by the amount of time that one is not at home.”
One won’t see people at a Canadian political convention chanting “Drill, baby, drill,” as “More than 90% of Canada remains undeveloped, and Canadians would like to keep it that way.” And it is accepted, as a matter of course, that “One third of children in Canada are currently born to parents who are co-habiting but unmarried, and single parent families are also very common”; the same kind of statistic, in the United States, might get some politicians bloviating about “family values” and the imminent fall of American society.
Other subjects receive their fair share of attention. Hockey’s status as the sport of Canada receives its due: Roste and Wilson serve notice that “No visitor to Canada should arrive without a minimal foreknowledge of Canadian hockey giants, such as Wayne Gretzky, Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard, and Paul Henderson.” Québec’s peculiar and sometimes precarious position within the Canadian confederation is noted; in the Canadian map that they include, the authors mark provincial boundaries with solid lines – except for Québec, where the boundaries are marked with dotted lines, as if for easy cutting-out in case Québec follows through on one of its periodic threats to secede.
And I particularly liked Roste and Wilson’s tribute to the dry, self-mocking Canadian sense of humour. Being funny, after all, is not necessarily easy in Canada, given “the genuine Canadian respect for other cultures and general level of politeness”. Accordingly, “A good deal of humour stems from the Canadian genius for compromise which results in many situations where two people, faced with a choice, rather than do either, will do something quite else that neither likes at all.”
As stated above, Canadian readers are likely to find little that would be surprising in Xenophobe’s Guide to the Canadians. But if you are from outside Canada, then this book can provide a quick, pleasant introduction to a nation that – quietly, without any fuss – has become perhaps the best single place to live on Earth.
Authors Vaughn Roste and Peter Wilson both seem to represent important aspects of Canadian identity. Roste, a westerner from Alberta and British Columbia, was studying and teaching at two U.S. universities when he worked on this Xenophobe’s Guide. Wilson, an easterner from Ottawa, worked in the field of labour relations, and eventually relocated to Great Britain. Accordingly, both authors are acutely conscious of how Canada and the Canadians might be perceived abroad, and are interested in correcting misconceptions wherever they can.
Canadian readers might respond to some elements of the Xenophobe’s Guide to the Canadians with a courteous “Well, alright, I knew that” – as when the authors point out that “Newfoundland was a colony of Britain until 1949, and is thus Canada’s newest province.” More to the point, however, are those parts of the book where Roste and Wilson comment on Canadian identity generally; their assertion that “The fact of the matter is that Canadians have no identity and are keenly seeking one” matches the descriptions of anxiety regarding Canadian cultural identity that I have seen set forth in books like Andrew Malcolm’s The Canadians and Roy MacGregor’s Canadians: A Portrait of a Country and Its People.
When it comes to Canadian character, Roste and Wilson focus on the role that an immense landscape and harsh weather have played, citing a Prairie Province truism: “In Saskatchewan, people say that you can watch your dog running away for three days.” The long cold winters, the authors suggest, have done much to foster Canadians’ renowned good manners: helping one’s neighbours, and being nice about it, can do much to ensure that one’s neighbours will return the favour when one needs help oneself.
Climatic conditions may also have helped to form Canadians’ well-known reserve: “Canadians wear an austere smile in the face of adversity, and have a ‘grin and bear it’ mentality, even if the grin is frozen on their faces by the cold.” Knowing that winter will be harsh, and preparing carefully for it, Canadians may have a hard time sympathizing “when they hear how 2 cm of snow has incapacitated New York or London (England). Citizens of London, Ontario, wouldn’t bat an eye at a snowfall of less than a metre, so news like this makes Canadians temporarily feel superior.”
From my time in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Québec, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon, I found that some of Roste and Wilson’s observations about Canadian life matched my own; at other times, by contrast, I found that I was learning something new, as when the authors write that “The climate has imposed on the populace the habit of putting on a jacket when going outside, regardless of how warm or cold it is: the season merely determines the weight of the jacket, not its presence or absence.” I had not seen that before, on my prior Canadian visits, but I will look for it the next time I am in Canada.
I appreciated Roste and Wilson’s insights regarding Canadian attitudes and values. They look back to Canada’s colonial beginnings to account for the country’s tolerant live-and-let-live outlook, writing that “Early settlers quickly learned to overlook their neighbours’ personal quirks and eccentricities. It’s a mental extension of dealing with the weather: if you know you cannot change it, you might as well accept it.”
U.S. readers might take particular interest in Roste and Wilson’s exploration of the cultural differences between Canada and the United States of America. They write, for example, that “Whereas the American constitution [actually the Declaration of Independence] ensures ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ its Canadian counterpart promises ‘peace, order, and good government’ – though many Canadians see ‘good government’ as a contradiction in terms. Failing that, they’d happily settle for peace and order.”
There are plenty of other ways in which Canadian norms are refreshingly different from those that prevail in the U.S.A. In stark contrast with the “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” outlook that one sees among some Americans, Roste and Wilson assure us that Canadians with money are more likely to spend that money traveling to warmer places during the long winters: “Canadian wealth is exhibited rather discreetly – by the amount of time that one is not at home.”
One won’t see people at a Canadian political convention chanting “Drill, baby, drill,” as “More than 90% of Canada remains undeveloped, and Canadians would like to keep it that way.” And it is accepted, as a matter of course, that “One third of children in Canada are currently born to parents who are co-habiting but unmarried, and single parent families are also very common”; the same kind of statistic, in the United States, might get some politicians bloviating about “family values” and the imminent fall of American society.
Other subjects receive their fair share of attention. Hockey’s status as the sport of Canada receives its due: Roste and Wilson serve notice that “No visitor to Canada should arrive without a minimal foreknowledge of Canadian hockey giants, such as Wayne Gretzky, Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard, and Paul Henderson.” Québec’s peculiar and sometimes precarious position within the Canadian confederation is noted; in the Canadian map that they include, the authors mark provincial boundaries with solid lines – except for Québec, where the boundaries are marked with dotted lines, as if for easy cutting-out in case Québec follows through on one of its periodic threats to secede.
And I particularly liked Roste and Wilson’s tribute to the dry, self-mocking Canadian sense of humour. Being funny, after all, is not necessarily easy in Canada, given “the genuine Canadian respect for other cultures and general level of politeness”. Accordingly, “A good deal of humour stems from the Canadian genius for compromise which results in many situations where two people, faced with a choice, rather than do either, will do something quite else that neither likes at all.”
As stated above, Canadian readers are likely to find little that would be surprising in Xenophobe’s Guide to the Canadians. But if you are from outside Canada, then this book can provide a quick, pleasant introduction to a nation that – quietly, without any fuss – has become perhaps the best single place to live on Earth.
October 28, 2014
My friend Melydia picked this up when we were at The Book Thing of Baltimore on Sunday and handed it to me, since she knows I am a proud demi-Canadian. I had read the title in this series on the Austrians and found it not as funny as I had hoped, but I was still intrigued by what this might have to say about Canadians. For the most part, I think it was accurate on the observations of the Canadian national psyche, the uneasy relationship with the US, and the problems of politeness, cold weather, and hockey. The tone was mildly snarky and occasionally amusing, but not too much of either one.
March 2, 2014
Dieser kleine Reiseführer wartet mit vielen Informationen auf, die jedoch nicht staubtrocken an den Leser gebracht werden, sondern amüsant und mit einem Augenzwinkern.
In vielen kleinen Kapitel erfährt man alles Wichtige über das Land mit dem Ahornblatt. Kein Thema wird in die Länge gezogen und alles bleibt übersichtlich.
Das Buch ist in einem leichten Englisch gehalten und kann so auch von Personen gelesen werden, die nicht sattelfest in der Sprache fühlen.
Mit seinen 64 Seiten ist dieses Buch ein leichter Begleiter, der alles Wichtige auf den Punkt bringt.
Positiv:
- Amüsant geschrieben
- In übersichtliche Kapitel unterteilt
- Leichtes Englisch
- Vollgepackt mit Infos
Neutral:
Negativ:
Fazit: Wer nach Kanada reist und sich vorab ein wenig über Land und Leute informieren will, dem sei dieses Buch wärmstens empfohlen.
In vielen kleinen Kapitel erfährt man alles Wichtige über das Land mit dem Ahornblatt. Kein Thema wird in die Länge gezogen und alles bleibt übersichtlich.
Das Buch ist in einem leichten Englisch gehalten und kann so auch von Personen gelesen werden, die nicht sattelfest in der Sprache fühlen.
Mit seinen 64 Seiten ist dieses Buch ein leichter Begleiter, der alles Wichtige auf den Punkt bringt.
Positiv:
- Amüsant geschrieben
- In übersichtliche Kapitel unterteilt
- Leichtes Englisch
- Vollgepackt mit Infos
Neutral:
Negativ:
Fazit: Wer nach Kanada reist und sich vorab ein wenig über Land und Leute informieren will, dem sei dieses Buch wärmstens empfohlen.
September 23, 2015
As a Canadian myself, I wanted to read this book to have a better idea of how we are perceived abroad and in order to see if it was worth reading the other xenophobe's guides.
Well, I just loved it! I find that most of what it says is true, even though there is some exaggeration. It is also written in a very humorous way, which I've enjoyed. I would recommend this book to any of my international friends.
Well, I just loved it! I find that most of what it says is true, even though there is some exaggeration. It is also written in a very humorous way, which I've enjoyed. I would recommend this book to any of my international friends.
October 18, 2011
generally all right, some bits were interesting, other not all that special
August 3, 2015
A mildly humorous examination of some of Canada's favourite stereotypes.
August 17, 2024
“Living next door to the Americans has imbued Canadians with a natural sort of inferiority complex”
“To make the grade and be accepted into the NHL is to be deified in Canada”
“Canadians have the climate working for them: invading armies would be less likely required a military response than a search and rescue.”
“Canadians have their own version of personal space. There are those who begin to feel claustrophobic when more than for people gather together in a large room.”
These are only a few examples of the comical yet oddly accurate portrayal of what it’s like in Canada. If you have wondered what makes Canadians “Canadian”…this is the book for you!
“To make the grade and be accepted into the NHL is to be deified in Canada”
“Canadians have the climate working for them: invading armies would be less likely required a military response than a search and rescue.”
“Canadians have their own version of personal space. There are those who begin to feel claustrophobic when more than for people gather together in a large room.”
These are only a few examples of the comical yet oddly accurate portrayal of what it’s like in Canada. If you have wondered what makes Canadians “Canadian”…this is the book for you!
October 17, 2018
Informative and fun
Lets the reader in on the dry, self-deprecating humor of our northern neighbors. At the same time, some new information is imparted that i found very interesting and enlightening. Lightweight presentation of a fresh take on topics major and miniscule.
Lets the reader in on the dry, self-deprecating humor of our northern neighbors. At the same time, some new information is imparted that i found very interesting and enlightening. Lightweight presentation of a fresh take on topics major and miniscule.
April 29, 2019
Interesting, but not nearly as funny as I'd imagined.
February 26, 2024
4 tylko dlatego, że liczyłam na więcej informacji o codziennych zachowaniach.
November 2, 2019
A rather enjoyable read, but not as interesting as most other Xenophobe's Guides. That may be because Canadian culture is still relatively new and the multiculturalism makes it difficult to identify exactly what is Canadian from recently imported cultures. So most of the book is a collection of non-cultural facts about Canada, like the climate, geography, the government, or the way Canadians see their American neighbours. Reading this one may feel that Canadian culture is limited to ice hockey, maple syrup and sentences ending in "eh?".
November 15, 2015
Amusing, not laugh-out-loud funny.
I loved The Xenophobe's Guide to the Swiss and did not realize that it was a series until I was given this one as a gift.
I'd read more in the series.
I loved The Xenophobe's Guide to the Swiss and did not realize that it was a series until I was given this one as a gift.
I'd read more in the series.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews