If you were ever going to rank oxymorons in terms of relevance, “Canadian summer” would be at the top of your list. Everyone knows that Canadian winters are cold. It’s not uncommon to see your breath turn into ice the moment it leaves your mouth. Cold and Canada are synonymous, everyone knows that. However, what you …
They Like Beavers
You can tell a lot about a country by its national animal. The United States uses the bald eagle: a large bird of prey. The United Kingdom has a lion: an imposing carnivore. China has a dragon, Germany has an eagle, India has a Bengal tiger, Italy has a wolf. All of these animals are …
They Spent Childhood Watching a Giant Talk to a Rooster in a Sack
The following tip only works on Canadians of a certain age, but it will definitely help you weed some Canadians out of the pack. As always, spotting even one Canadian is preferred to letting them run wild. The Friendly Giant was a children’s television show that aired on the CBC for almost thirty years. Much like …
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Tim Horton is known more for Coffee than Hockey
Canadians love hockey. This isn’t an insider tip that will help you spot a Canadian, it’s a well-known fact. To a Canadian, hockey is a way of life. It’s what tea is to the British, what a kilt is to the Scottish or television violence is to the Americans. It’s part of their society. So …
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Their Milk Comes in Bags
One of the most puzzling aspects of Canadian culture is bagged milk. Bags of milk appear in a few other nations (India, Scandinavia, Poland, Israel, Hungary, Argentina and Uruguay, according to Wikipedia) but Canada is the largest nation where bagged milk is a common sight. It’s one of the few truly Canadian images. Maple leaves, Canada …
A Beer Commercial is a Source of National Pride
In the United States, beer commercials showcase parties, girls and talking frogs. In Canada they play a completely different role. Canadian beer commercials are filled with hockey, beavers, snow and everything else stereotypically Canadian. Canadians aren’t a very openly patriotic people. They typically wear their Canadian pride underneath a snowsuit, rather than hang it from a …
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