Watching This Hour Has 22 Minutes at the moment and just saw a really good Talking to Americans on the Campus of Boston College. Below in quotes is the comment Rick Mercer (from This Hour) made and the responses given.

"Canada is considering moving dogs from legalling being 'sled animals' to being 'house pets' - is this a good idea from your experience?"
Responses were;
- Definetly, I have had two dogs and both made excellent house pets
- I think Canadians will find that dogs can be the best of house pets

"Seventy percent of Canadian grade 7 students couldn't locate their state on a map or name their congressman. Do you feel this indicates a crisis in Canada's education system?"
- That's just sad when people know that little about the world around them.
- Oh that's worse than a crisis, kids should know where at least their state is on a map. And Canada has what, like only 14 states?
(and my favourite)
mother - definetly a sad comment on the state of Canada's education plan if kids can't name what state they're in.
8 year old child - wait a minute! Canada has provinces not states!

Third section, Mercer asked citizens to sign a petition asking..
"Prime Minister Guy Lafleur in Montreal, name german sheppards as endangered species."
- Definetly.
- Sure, if they're in trouble it's time Lafleur did something about it.

Note for those who don't know; Guy Lafleur was a hockey player in the sixties, seventies and eighties and is one of the heroes of the game. Montreal is not Canada's capitol - Ottawa is. And even more confusing was that despite the obvious French last name and Rick's reading it before they signed the petition and (facing the camera) asked Prime Minister Lafleur to name sheppards as endanged everyone still pronounced it like the word guy. Not in the French form. Confusing!

How dumb can you get? :D

Here's a little info on the show:

http://www.canoe.ca/TelevisionShowsT/talkingtoamericans.html


Over the past four years, Mercer has travelled all over the United States, quizzing everyone from college students at Columbia and Princeton, to state governors and politicians as lofty as George W. Bush.

The results are always the same: For most Americans, Canada isn't even on the radar.

"Some of the stupidest are (governing) states," Mercer says.

Bush, for example, didn't even blink last fall on the presidential campaign trail when Mercer brought him greetings from "Prime Minister Poutine."

"Every time, usually at the start of every shoot, I'm saying, 'I can't say this. Somebody's going to get me,' " Mercer says. Yet, time and time again, the Yanks fall for the gag, even when Mercer asks them to salute prime minister Tim Horton, sign a petition to legalize insulin or travel across the Peter Mans Bridge.

"I was very honoured," Peter Mansbridge says.

Mercer insists the responses are never set up or faked.

"It would be a hard sell just showing up out of the blue and asking the Republican Governor of Arkansas to come on the show and make an ass of himself," Mercer points out. "Much easier just to tell him our national igloo is melting."

Mercer says the beauty of the gag is that it would never work the other way around.

"If you went to the University of Toronto and said you were bringing greetings from President Stinky MacPharlane, it wouldn't work. We all know who their president is."

Some fans of The Tonight Show might argue that Americans are just as clueless about their own politics. Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" segments are always drawing blanks from students asked to name somebody as obvious as the current Vice President.

"With Leno, they know him and they know they're having fun with a comedian," he says. "People in the United States don't know who I am; they think I'm a newsman."

More and more people are getting wise to Mercer. After he ambushed Bush last fall, the Gore team was waiting to make sure he didn't pick off their man.

Mercer also failed to goon the Governor of California. "An official asked us straight up, 'Are you the same people who asked George Bush if your prime minister was named after french fries? Get out before we have the state trooper throw you out.' "




http://www.mail-archive.com/crypto-canada@lists.cryptorights.org/msg00036.html

gags have included...

IN CHICAGO, ILL.
On national dishes: ³Congratulations Canada on making Beaver Balls your national dish.²

IN DES MOINES, IOWA.
On time keeping: ³Congratulations Canada on your new 24 hour clock.²

AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NY.
On Canadians¹ care for the elderly: ³We demand that the Government of Canada discourage the Canadian tradition of placing senior citizens on northern ice flows, leaving them to perish.²

IN PRINCETON, NJ.
On majority government in both the House of Commons and the Senate: ³Congratulations to Prime Minister Horton for his Œdouble-double¹.²

IN SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
On derogatory nick-names for residents of Hull, PQ: ³I am one American that will never use the phrase Œhullabaloo¹ because it is hurtful to Canadians.²

ummmmm. They ARE dumb

Gee, another America bashing thread. Mayhaps you could start shrieking about how Bush is going to start WW3, eh Tyler?

Who cares. The state of California has bigger economy than entire Canada. (1 trillion vs 800 billion) We pay more attention if Canada is actually important.

Hey, Xev. Already done it. I'm always one step ahead of you. :D Look in Politics.

Anyway, I'm not calling all Americans dumb, just most. Those people were pretty dumb though, admit it

Hey Tyler, I saw that episode too :D It was so hilarious! It's the best when they go up to politicians, and they fall for it just as easily! :D

"Congratulations Canada, on getting running water!"

"Congratulations Canada, for legalizing penicillin!"

:D

"Gee, another America bashing thread. Mayhaps you could start shrieking about how Bush is going to start WW3, eh Tyler?"

Whatever you say Xev. It's funny. It's called comedy.

The difference is that there will always be American's yelling when someone outside cracks a joke at their expense. However, the Brazillians appear to be the only ones who've cried to the Americans.

"I'm from Can-a-da and they think I'm slow. Eh...."
- Simpsons

"The truth is; I'm Canadian."
"Oh I'm so sorry for you."
- Third Rock

And before you say "Americans are always attacked!"; Canadians are always made fun of. For some reason, we're viewed as slow and dumb and only obsessed with hockey and cold weather. Ah well.

For some reason, we're viewed as slow and dumb and only obsessed with hockey and cold weather. Ah well.

Gee! I wonder why?:D

Anyway, I'm not calling all Americans dumb, just most.

Ya, okay! Like, ummm, do you, like, think that, umm, like, anyone is like, smart? Howz about dem southerners? Or is like if your only from a certain area of the US? LIke, ummm San Francisco or something? Or just like, if a person is from a certain area, like they are like automatically dumb? Like, Im just curious, ya know?:D

Did you hear me, I said most. Not all, most. But thats the US media for you

I agree with Tyler, Canadians can take a joke....

An American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

"Well, " said the American, "I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and that for a donation of $50, we could return to the earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here."

"That's amazing!" said one of the doctors, "But what happened to the other two?"

"Last I saw them," replied the American, "the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay for his."

:D

lol, good one

Yes. It is true, and cannot be denied. There are a great many dumb Americans.

However, it is from amongst the remaining smart Americans that can be found those who together already own more than half of Canada's sources of GDP. :D

Haha

Here instead of Polish jokes we have Newfie jokes. Basically substitute whatever two otehr nationalities besides Polish for Canadian and American and Poland for Newfoundland!

LOL! @ static76's joke! :D

See, Canadians can take a good joke just as well as any other person...well, with the exception of Jewish people and Holocaust jokes. BAD combination. :eek:

Here instead of Polish jokes we have Newfie jokes. Basically substitute whatever two otehr nationalities besides Polish for Canadian and American and Poland for Newfoundland!

I've never really understood the "Newfie" joking...I mean, they're just isolated and have Irish/Scottish accents, so why should we make fun of them? :)

And before you say "Americans are always attacked!"; Canadians are always made fun of. For some reason, we're viewed as slow and dumb and only obsessed with hockey and cold weather. Ah well.

Don't forget the curling, lumberjacking, beavers, maple leaves, and pronouncing "zed" instead of "zee". (Thank you so much, beer commercials) :D

It's because of the fact that people only see Canada as full of immigrants, ones that don't understand English that well. They find it strange that Canada, originally British colonies, would have citizens unable to even speak the tongue. So they label Canadians as "slow and dumb".
The hockey thing comes from the fact that we improved it (ah HA!), and when it's cold, there's not a lot to do, so it's hockey we go to.
---- ----- ----- ------
Marge: "I didn't know Canadians drove on the right side of the road."
Driver: "No ma'am. I'm drunk." :D

....curling....
Actually, I once was in a curling league here in the States for three years, along with various expatriate Canadian friends and co-workers.

A heady & fun sport that gets too little respect because it doesn't require personal protection equipment, but does require a working understanding of physics.

Hey Mr. G! (I just realized that your screename is so cool! it rolls so easily off the tongue :D ) Is curling anything like lawn bowling? Because they both use large heavy things that roll around and both young and old people can play it. I'm not sure how to lawn bowl, but I've seen curling on TV, and they look similiar.

Not similar. Lawn Bowling is closer to Boules (if you know w hat that is).

Curling is not exceptionally physically demanding and takes practice more than anything. And a bit of intelligence.

"Canada is thinking of using jet planes instead of propeller planes"
- It's a good idea. They're faster, bigger and definetly quieter. I say go for it.
- Are they (propeller) even safe anymore?
- It's a good idea.


"Canada is thinking of changing from our traditional 20 hour clock to meet American time systems with a 24 hour clock. Our hours are 65 'American' minutes currently."
- I didn't even know Canada had a 20 hour clock.
- Oh for the love of god of course they should, it'll make business so much simpler.
- Well you would think they'd want to do it to make things simpler.
- Congragulations Canada on your movement to instate a 24 hour clock! (Mercer went in and Iowa governor Thomas Vilsack said this one, so I think it's set-up)

That was today's episode.

The two-hour edition of Talking To Americans was on today. Here's a few (as many as I could write down while still watching) of the topics posed.....


Canadians are, by genetics, about 80% dumber than Americans on average.

Canada is thinking of adapting the American-style 24 hour clock. We currently have a 20 hour clock with longer minutes.

Canada recently built the Peter Manns bridge and protestors are climbing in unsfe areas. Should the government ban people from climbing all of Peter Manns bridge? (Peter Mansbridge is a Canadian journalist)

Despite having no access to an ocean, Canada wants to build a navy in order to support the U.S. in times of war.

Canadian government wants to allow the continuation of the Great Saskatchewan Seal Hunt.

Canadian government wants to allow the continuation of the Great Toronto Polar Bear Slaugher.

Canada has named Beaver Balls (ball-shaped beaver meat dish) it's national dish.

Our parliament is basically an igloo in the shape of your White House. Now, due to Global Warming Canada is worrying that our National Igloo could melt. We've decided to put a protective dome around the National Igloo. Is this a good idea?

Canada's President Tim Horton (Horton was a hockey player, and we have a Prime Minister) recently received a double-double (a special at Tim Horton's restaurant).

In Canada the word Hullabaloo reffers to people from Hull. It's basically worse than the N-word, we will beep it on Canadian television. I can only say it because I'm from Hull. So we ask Americans not to use the word Hullabaloo.

Do you think Al Gore would know Toronto is the capital of Canada?

Would you congragulate Canada on legalizing....daily newspapers/staplers/electric lights in parliament/1,000,000th citizen (all done at a Gore rally).

To Mr. Gore himself!!!!!!
Mr. Gore it is tradition for American Presidents to visit Canada's capital immediatly after their election. Will you come to Toronto Mr. Gore?
reply; Well right now I'm focused on the election but I will definetly visit Toronto.

(to Bush aids)
How do you feel about Canadian Prime Minister Jean Poutine's backing of George Bush?
(most kind of replied as if they were in a hurry. One stopped and said "Yes that's fantastic I know George Bush thinks very highly of Mr. Poutine and will love this")
(Bush replied; "Well that's just great, I want him and Canadians to know that if elected I will indeed work hard on the relations with our most important neighboor to the north.")

Canadian government wants to ban French doctor's from smoking while operating. Is this an infringment on French culture?



Haha! The end of the show with the credits running had all the people who looked at Mercer (the host) and either laughed or said "oh come on, this is a joke" or just walked away with an odd look on their face. Most of them just looked at him and said "Are you kidding?" in a very serious way and then said they didn't know enough about the situation to comment.

I realize there's no way for Yanks to know about Peter Mansbridge but that had to be the funniest one to hear replies to. "Oh I'm afraid of heights so there's no way I'd climb on top of Peter Mansbridge!" "If it's dangerous keep people off the Peter Mansbridge".... Haha!

hahahahahahahaha

you know what's weird?
I'm aprox 7000km further from Canada than Americans, and I know more about it than some Americans which have a border with it
lmao

Does Canada use the Metric system? Ive always found the metric system easy to use.

I went to Michigan one time, Cold Water to be more specific, lots of Canadians up there, at least they sound Canadian... I was called a hillbilly:( .

A friend of mine was raised by religious nutters. One of his mother's friends thinks a pound of iron is heavier than a pound of feathers. He couldn't get it through her head. Go Australia!

Ya, Canada uses the Metric system.

The Talking to Americans thing was two hours? Dang! I only caught like the last half-hour. But it was hilarious nonethless. The Hulabaloo thing was hilarious, but a lot of Canadians probably think htat Toronto is the capitla of Canada.

Back to Bush:

Does everyone realize that he just cancelled a peace treaty with Russia that stated that neither country could have a missile defense system? This is a vary hostile act, and the system may not work anyway. Bush is seriously going to lead America to shit. COMPLETE SHIT!

You mean the Anti-ballistic missile treaty? He did that a while ago. Or are those two different things? Ya they are. I'm losing my mind...

Bush is gonna lead the WORLD to shit, not just America.

I agree.. He's gonna ruin everything.. Im a canadian and am in da middle east right now for an internship.. u shud check out da anti US sentiment here... da whole iraq thing is just gonna spill over.. for y'all bush haters.. check dis out...

www.bushcalendar.com

apparently this product is banned in da US... not a huge surprise..

sample quotes from the calendar:

"there is a lot of speculation and I guess there is going to continue to be a lot of speculation until the speculation ends."

"What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas. Quotas, they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate; quotas, I think, vulcanize society. So, I dont know how that fits into what everybody else is saying - their relative positions - but that's my position."

"The california crunch really is the result of not enough power to power the power of generating plants."


and the americans are proud of such a president... someone teach him english first..

The only important thing to know about Canada, is we love a Good Joke, even if it is about us!

We are a fun loving nation, whom believes that everyone should have health care, schooling, live in peace while drinking beer and watching Hockey…who can argue with that! :D

Our parliament is basically an igloo in the shape of your White House. Now, due to Global Warming Canada is worrying that our National Igloo could melt. We've decided to put a protective dome around the National Igloo. Is this a good idea?

That is still one of the most ingenious ones!

I do educate Americans, who I run into when I travel, about my area of Canada I live in. I do not mind educating people that were not given the right to be educated properly about Canada. One cannot blame the people for being ignorant, just the system they were educated in!

Here is some info, if you so feel like reading:

Most Americans do not realize that Canada is a massive landmass with many different climates. Anyone that lives in Vancouver knows that it almost never snows on the southern west coast of Canada. If it snows, it melts the next day there. Not to far north, there is an Old Growth Rain forest, yes a rain forest in Canada!

I am only approx 5 hrs east of Vancouver, about 4 hours west of the Rocky Mountains and the Boarder of Alberta, which are days and days of travel (by road) away from Toronto.

The Okanagan Valley, in which I live, from June to September, will be 30-40 (85-100+ Yankee temperature scale). The landscape here consists of large mountains covered with Pine trees, with very little undergrowth. That is because, once the snow finally melts in this area, it becomes so hot that nothing really has time to grow. However, in the winter the valley snowfall is sparse. It gets fairly cold, but nowhere near as cold as the prairies! If one drives only 1 hour out of Kelowna there is access to some of the biggest ski mountains in the world.

I guess what I am trying to point out is: would anyone with common sense, attribute the same weather patterns to the whole area of Europe. People’s common sense would immediately realize that there are multiple numbers of climates there. So a message to people who do not know much about Canada, look at a map, Canada is huge, how could it have only one stereotypical climate?

Here is a link of a map, if you feel like learning more. It has more links for information too: http://www.arctic-council.org/canada.html

One way to kill off American ignorance is Educate them, yes I know this might seem impossible if it does not involve consumption of Oil…!!! :D

Canada, USA. Dogs, Cats. Palestine and Israel. Raquel Welch and...well, anybody.

Only in America is teh work "Peacemaker" applied to a gun.

Only in America can a pizza get to you faster than an ambulance.

ONly in America can the president get in a world-wide grudge match while wearing a 10-gallon hat and have 300 million people holler "YEE-HAW"in his support.

I have to get back to work now, which is too bad, because there's just so much more.

This is what I think talking to the US is about...sorry 2 friends from there but u have the vote!
USA - Action Against Turning US into WAR CRIMINALS (http://www.geocities.com/jojolingus/home.html)

I guess the moral of the story is that if you ask an American what he really thinks about Canada, don't be surprised when he answers that he doesn't :p

The last time I asked the average Canadian on the street these questions, guess the answers I got...


- What is the capital of New York State?
(most common answer: New York City. WRONG. It is Albany.)


- Name three provinces of our neighboring country Russia.
(most common answer: I don't know)


- Who owns Greenland?
(most common answer: I don't know)




Ignorance is abundant everywhere, not just the United States.

Jerrek, I didn't know that Russia counted as one of our neighbouring countries since the two landmasses are seperated by a very significant body of water. But let's give it a try anyways: Ukraine, China, Japan (or does Japan count?).

It's been a while since I knew FOR SURE who owned Greenland, but about 8 years ago it was Denmark. Maybe it has changed since then.

The New York question was trickery though. I bet half of Americans don't know that. That's like asking what Canada's 19th Leader of the Opposition was. Hell, NOBODY knows that. New York is TRICKERY!

Jerrek, I didn't know that Russia counted as one of our neighbouring countries since the two landmasses are seperated by a very significant body of water. Not quite. Elismere Island is pretty close to Russia. Regardless of whether you consider it a neighboring country or not, the fact stand that:


But let's give it a try anyways: Ukraine, China, Japan (or does Japan count?). Wrong. Those are countries, not provinces of Russia. Chechnya, Komi, and Tyva are three provinces (oblasts) of Russia.

It's been a while since I knew FOR SURE who owned Greenland, but about 8 years ago it was Denmark. Maybe it has changed since then. Correct.

The New York question was trickery though. I bet half of Americans don't know that. I bet different.


You're asking Americans to know an awful lot of geography. Europeans can brag about knowing their neighboring countries because if they piss sideways they pee in a neighboring country.


And here is more questions Canadians fail on:

- Who was the first American president? (correct answer is Washington, but you'd be surprised how many Canadians don't know the answer)

- Which state is the biggest, land area wise? (correct answer is Alaska, but you get Texas pretty often)

- What is Florida's capital? (no it is not Miama, and it is not Orlando)



Ignorance is everywhere.

You really think that believing Canada's parliament is an igloo is ignorance though? I mean those people deserve a slap in the face for being so idiotic. Yeah sure, I misunderstood your question (COMPLETELY), but I think completely incorrectly answering a question about a country half a world away isn't quite as bad as thinking the parliament of Canada, a country DIRECTLY north of the US, is an igloo. VERY ODD! :D

How much do you want to bet that if I go into Toronto right now, I won't be able to sell a story that in Texas, all politicians are required to fire two shotgun shells into the air before entering the state Congress?

Yeah, you probably could. That brings us to a good point that may have already been mentioned: How many people do they have to go to before they get a response that they can televise? AND Would Jean Chretien be so gullable to believe that "in Texas, all politicians are required to fire two shotgun shells into the air before entering the state Congress?"? It would be nice which of our two leaders knew more about the others country.

No, but I bet you can ask him about the King Christian IX of Greenland and he would give some stupid reply. (FYI, King Christian IX died in 1908.)

LOL, I watched this hour has 22 minutes every week when they had Rick Mercer on the show. I almost fell over backwards laughing t the responses people gave. My favorites are when the get the Heads of State to congradulate Canada on getting a second area code, legalizing staplers, or something like that. Other good ones are when that talk to Harvard students, and profs, I think I have the hour long special on tape, I'l try and find it.

The State questions That are being asked are geography-related. But when you can convince an american that we send elderly people on ice flows... now that's funny.

See This (http://members.cox.net/lornic/Nonfixed/ViewVideo_IAmNotCanadian.htm)

earlier, people quoted the "I am Canadian" Molson beer ad. I'm sure many Canadians have heard it, but here is the spoof of it dubbed in video format. Enjoy!