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What else is different in Canada? > The Arrogant Worms also see: The Foxy Beaver
I've only been to Canada twice. The last time I was driving from Bay City, Michigan, to Buffalo, late at night. All I knew was that I had to get gas in Michigan because I was worried they wouldn't sell me any across Canada because I didn't have the right money.Also, Canada sometimes seems like at least five different countries to me:
1. Vancouver, which sounds like Seattle and everyone says is beautiful. William Gibson lives there, I think.
2. Quebec, where people take French culture very seriously.
3. Newfoundland, which sounds remote and pretty,
4. Toronto, and
4. The cold, barren part.
Mod
My one trip to Canada, when I was seven, was an awesome train trek across the entire continent.
Anne lived on Prince Edward Island, one of the eastern Maritime Provinces. It's a pretty place in the summer -- cold and nasty in the winter. Lots of hummingbirds there. Charlottetown is a lovely city. My spouse has relatives there. The house that was supposedly the basis for AoGG is there, but it was built after the books were written. They used to have Anne on their license plates -- but she looked a lot like the girl from Wendy's.
What happened to Wendy's, by the way? You don't see as many as you once did.Dunkin Donuts is finally coming to Milwaukee.
I'd love to take a train across Canada. Did you have a little compartment, Sally? I want a little compartment.
Mod
We didn't have a little compartment, RA, but we had two sections of four that folded completely down and became queen size beds or somesuch (I was quite small so I might be embellishing). We slept, but it was public, drooly, train rocking sleep filled with really weird dreams.
I just had a little Good Times cheeseburger yesterday, yumtastic.
I love Montreal, especially the old city. More Canadiana for Sally:
1) They have many of the same brands, but with altered formulas. Cheerios and Grape Nuts both have far less sodium. Their Grape Nuts taste like cardboard (Zu would say ours do too, but I disagree). Also, their Pepto Bismol is a different formulation. If I remember correctly, it's kind of chunky.
2)They say "foolscap" instead of "scrap paper"
3)They say "pop" instead of "soda" - like midwesterners.
4)Poutine is cheese curds and gravy. You can have it over fries.
5)They say DRAM-a and PAST-a. I can't figure out why in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, in one of the first scenes, Michael Cera - a Canadian actor in a film actually set in Toronto - said drah-ma instead of DRAM-a.
6)Toronto plays New York in movies a lot, but it's a lot cleaner so they have to dirty it up. Once a film crew dirtied up a street and then stopped for their lunch break. When they came back it had been cleaned up and they had to start all over again.
7) They aren't a melting pot; they are a mosaic.
8) I once saw a bus sign that said "Show A New Canadian What Canadians Are Made Of." Somebody had scrawled "Beer and Bacon," which made sense to me.
Which one? Canadian Bacon, I'm guessing?
Given their population, they've given us a LOT of good comedians and musicians.
9) Most of the Canadians I know take off their shoes when they enter a house.10)Football has a bigger field, more players, and a few other differences. It still sucks compared to rugby.
11) The Canadian rugby team is marginally better than the American.
12)They use the Metric system. And celsius instead of farenheit. 13)They celebrate Boxing Day
In my Albertan experience (things can be quite diverse in the different areas across the country):We used to get milk in plastic bags back in the 60's & 70's. I haven't seen those in many years.
RA, you missed the prairies, unless that is what you were calling the cold barren part. Then there would be two cold barren parts - the prairies and the tundra.
We have foolscap which is a pad of 8-1/2 x 14 paper used for note taking, planning, writing, etc. We also have scrap paper.
Boxing Day is no longer a Stat holiday, though many employers (thanks to the unions) will observe it.
We have Smarties as well as M & M's. (When you eat your smarties, do you eat the red one last?)
Our beer is stronger than the United States.
We have universal health care. Everyone gets it regardless of whether or not they have an insurance plans. Insurance plans cover things like dental, massage therapists, medications, etc.
We have touques (knitted caps) and bannock (flat bread).
We rule when it comes to hockey!
Huh - I've never heard of bannock. Is that an Albertan thing?
Sarah Pi wrote: "Huh - I've never heard of bannock. Is that an Albertan thing?"From Wikipedia:
Bannock, also known as frybread or Indian bread,[9] is found throughout North American native cuisine, including that of the Inuit/Eskimo of Canada and Alaska, other Alaska Natives, the First Nations of the rest of Canada, the Native Americans in the United States and the Métis.[9][10]
As made by indigenous North Americans, bannock is generally prepared with white or whole wheat flour, baking powder and water, which are combined and kneaded (possibly with spices, dried fruits or other flavouring agents added) then fried in rendered fat, vegetable oil, or shortening, baked in an oven or cooked on a stick.[10]
A type of bannock, using available resources, such as flour made from roots, tree sap and leavening agents, may have been produced by indigenous North Americans prior to contact with outsiders.[10] Some sources indicate that bannock was unknown in North America until the 19th century when it was created by the Navajo who were incarcerated at Fort Sumner,[11] while others indicate that it came from a Scottish source.[9]
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Whenever we go camping, we bring a bannock mix of white flour and baking powder. We add water till it's a soft dough, wrap it around a stick and bake it over the campfire. When cooked, we slather it with butter and strawberry jam.
They have coins, loonies and toonies, instead of one and two dollar bills. The loonies have pictures of loons on them. Um, I think the dimes and pennies are the same size now. We get the occasional Canadian change mixed in, here, and it's the same sizes as ours.
The dimes are still a little light in the loafers.Janice, I've had fry bread at pow wows and the Museum of the American Indian. I just hadn't heard that word before! Also, I haven't seen it used by non-native peopels, certainly not for camping. You learn something new every day!
I had fry bread in the badlands, at that little restaurant there, and it was kind of bad. But I don't think the restaurant is good in general.
RandomAnthony wrote: "I had fry bread in the badlands, at that little restaurant there, and it was kind of bad. But I don't think the restaurant is good in general."You need a campfire, RA. And slather it with enough butter and strawberry jam to run down your hands. Left overs don't work, either. We tried that this summer. We thought it would make a good breakfast. NOT!
How could I forget Tim Horton's? It's a phenomenon! People will line up for a half hour just to get a cup of coffee. Anytime, you drive by a Tim Horton's, there are line ups right out into the street.
Oops. I lied. Tim Hortons has now expanded into the States. We like to share. :)
Not very far in the States. At least not far enough for me.
One thing I noticed in my trips up north is that Canadian Mars bars aren't the same as US Mars bars. The Canadian ones don't have almonds and are more like Milky Ways. And what's with those Aero Bars?
Barb wrote: "Larry wrote: "I love Tim Horton's."It's tastes like ass, and I think they lace their cups with herione."
Um, herione? Heroin? Heroine? Hermione? I'll just have a donut.
Mint Aero bars are good!
Sarah Pi wrote: "Barb wrote: "Larry wrote: "I love Tim Horton's."It's tastes like ass, and I think they lace their cups with herione."
Um, herione? Heroin? Heroine? Hermione? I'll just have a donut.
Mint Aero b..."
I never had a mint one. It's weird when a chocolate bar's main feature is air bubbles.
Mod
Canadian, do you have sugar babies and/or sugar daddies?
Heheheheh, pogo. I went to the carnival and had a pogo.
sounds like you had a nice sesh on the bouncing stick. (shaddup ClarkPhilLarryJimRA)
What else is different up there? How about gas stations? Do they pump it for you?
Did anyone mention beer and liquor only being available through government owned liquor stores yet?
Dan wrote: "Did anyone mention beer and liquor only being available through government owned liquor stores yet?"Yes, but in a different thread. I think Gail the Australian was surprised that beer was available in supermarkets in the US, and I said not everywhere in the US, and then I said the Canada thing. Maybe in the beer thread?
Mod
Sally wrote: "That happens in Portland too. Portland: a Canadian island?"What happens in Portland?
Sally wrote: "That happens in Portland too. Portland: a Canadian island?"Maybe Portland is secretly a community of Canadian spies planning an invasion.
Dan wrote: "Did anyone mention beer and liquor only being available through government owned liquor stores yet?"Not any more. There are no more government owned liquor stores. They are all privately owned. We still do not sell liquor in grocery stores though.
I love The Arrogant Worms. And Moxy Fruvous.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asqWMK...
also see: We are the Beaver
Moxy Fruvous!!!!!!!!Hey Barb, do you remember treblecharger (they later changed their name to NC-17)? Or the Ghandarvas? Or the Leslie Spit Tree-O? Or the Lowest of the Low?
Barb wrote: "I loved Moxie Fruvous. I got to go see them when I was 16 or so. They were playing at a bar, but they did it on an "all ages" night so I was able to go with some friends ... Jann Arden opened for them, and I loved her instantly. They didn't last long. "..."
They lasted for years! Thirteen years, to be exact. I saw them a bunch times, once at a club and then at the Falcon Ridge Festival a few years in a row. They were hilarious live. So good at improvising songs and lyrics.
The bands I listed were the ones I loved that were playing in Toronto while I was in high school.
Barb wrote: "It differs by province. Quebec is a free for all, but Ontario only sells through the LCBO ... with the exception of some wine stores (not sure why they're so special). "Thanks for the correction, Barb. I forgot that each province does have its own liquor laws. It was the Albertan government, not the Canadian government, that decided it was a governing body and not in business, so handed the liquor sales to the private sector.
Before ALCB handed the reigns over, we had a wine store in our small city too. They must be special. :)
Another story of provincial differences. We had a family friend who grew up in Quebec. In Quebec there are three years of high school, followed by a sort of junior-college ish thing or university.
The summer between his second and third years of high school, they moved to Manitoba, where there are four years of high school.
The summer between his third and fourth years of high school they moved to Ontario, where at the time (when I was in school) there were five years of high school.
His mother came home one day to find him on the phone with the library helpline. She asked him what he was trying to find out.
"Are there any provinces with six years of high school? Cause wherever that is, that's where my parents will want to move next."
Really? No love for Arrogant Worms? Canada is Really Big
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
I am not American
Carol wrote: "Really? No love for Arrogant Worms? Canada is Really Big
The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
I am not American"
My sister loves the Arrogant Worms.
It was the Albertan government, not the Canadian government, that decided it was a governing body and not in business, so handed the liquor sales to the private sector.Utah legislators, are you listening??
Oh, good one! I hated those and boys would always have them on the bus and then their fingers would turn red and then they'd get it on everything they touched. Yuck.
I love Canada but the border guards at the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge are d'bags.
I love Canadians. On a trip in Costa Rica, six Canadians regaled my husband and me with a million questions about the differences between Caucuses (since we are from Iowa) and Primaries. They also had a million questions about Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama and were extremely aware of U.S. politics and elections.
87% of the population is within 200 KM of the US border. I think they're getting ready to invade.
I now know that milk comes in bags and are popped into a blue pitcher everyone gets when they turn 16 from the president of Canada.
Canadians say "eh" to signify they are asking a question instead of raising their voice at the end of a phrase.
What else is different way up north?