Basically Canadian

[Architype]

Interesting thread, and the first thing that comes to mind would be with countries that have similarities in climate, spatial geography, religious heritage, ethnic and language similarities. With more of these things in common, you might expect remarkable social similarities.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Architype

Interesting thread, and the first thing that comes to mind would be with countries that have similarities in climate, spatial geography, religious heritage, ethnic and language similarities. With more of these things in common, you might expect remarkable social similarities.

Very good point, I'm seeing a pattern...Canada, Norway, Minnesota, Scotland!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Andy6

On my old blog, I once wrote a “Canada’s Greatest Englishman” post where I asked who Canada’s most important ethnically English historical figures were. For Scots or French-Canadians, you could rhyme off names until the cows came home, but for the English it’s actually surprisingly hard.

I had to think about it a bit, but the earliest name I came up with was John Molson. Celia Franca comes to mind in the cultural sphere. It's true when you think of explorers, military figures, Fathers of Confederation, it's more Scots than English that come to mind. Never thought of it before ...

[Centropolis]

i increasingly blooper and do not as quickly distinguish between most americans abroad and anglo canadians. i was also asked if i were canadian in welly, nz by an AMERICAN bell hop. there’s small things i guess.

i find more differences with other americans, such as my own flesh and blood in north mississippi whome i cannot understand. i also have yet to encounter the bouquet of class differences with canadians. you’re sort of pounded over the head with these things (especially with regard to north vs south and/or metro vs rural) in the u.s. so the fact that a middle class ontarian calls popcorn something else (or whatever) doesn’t register as much. the huge, hundreds of years settled rural population in the u.s. is a much more potent thing.

[hipster duck]

On vacation a few years ago I travelled from Spain to Portugal. Driving across the border kind of reminded me of crossing the US-Canada border. The Portuguese landmarks seemed much more pedestrian; the people seemed more accommodating but also a bit more distant.

I got a sense that the Portuguese knew quite a bit about their neighbours, whereas the Spanish knew little about the Portuguese. There were exhortations from the Portuguese that they were culturally different (which they certainly are - there is no doubt of this, even to a casual visitor), some of which kind of amused me. For example, a taxi driver I talked to in Lisbon listed off some of the differences between Portuguese and Spaniards, including the fact that "in Portugal we have bullfighting, but we are not barbaric; we do not kill the bull."

[Capsicum]

You guys buy this placement of Canada on "cultural" type?

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Example on the Danish burns (this exchange happens in Danish, in English Danes seem milder):

[Man walks into office wearing brightly coloured shirt]

DISTANT DANISH COLLEAGUE: 'Wow that's quite a shirt!'

NON-DANISH SHIRT GUY: 'Oh, yeah, thanks'

DDC: 'Yes, I had one just like that when I was a baby'

NDSG: Weird shy laugh

DDC: 'You must have some game... my wife would never fuck me if I wore a shirt like that!'

I'm not totally sure the baby remark wouldn't happen in a Toronto office but the last part seems a bit much for Canadian worklife. There is this quality of not letting it go, of circling back on it that I notice here...

this situation would be entirely dependent on setting, geography, field of work in the u.s. and i could see it go either way, but generally in a mixed corporate office environment it would be a deviation from the norm in the midwest, west, or (generally) u.s. south with the exception of the energy sector perhaps. in a lot of places this would be outrageous, unless alcohol were involved.

it feels like a very “wall street” setting to me.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

Very good point, I'm seeing a pattern...Canada, Norway, Minnesota, Scotland!

There are a number of boxes to be checked of course, our similarities to Russia are somewhat dubious.

Another remarkable thing is that we can't actually find any country that is just the same as us, or even very similar, certainly not the U.S.. That in itself attests to the existence of an inconspicuous cultural uniqueness, a thing that we seemingly look for but cannot easily identify.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

You guys buy this placement of Canada on "cultural" type?

Can't speak for all countries, but it does seem generally accurate, though I would put China and Korea in the same place as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Also, real Singaporeans (sorry "Crazy Rich Asians" fans), are extremely social, gregarious and direct.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

It could explain why discussing the weather is the great Canadian social opener. In a diverse society, one needs a few extra moments to establish the safe parameters of interaction since everybody experiences weather. Although in this forum, even that can be the source of tensions ....

There was a study that claimed that Americans smile so much and come across as fake to many non-smiling cultures because of it being a nation of immigrants with less shared culture. In diverse places, smiles are non-threatening, friendly and allow people to be able to bond.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/...o-much/524967/

Don't know how relevant or reasonable that explanation is though to Canada vs. US as a difference.

[Centropolis]

i’d offer that theres swaths of the u.s. *just as populous* that would fit the (above) mold. a potent example of this is that when i’m in seattle, i cannot distinguish between visitors from bc, and americans. prairie-canadians quickly read as northern rockies, nw plains americans.

then there's the texan or whatever.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

Can't speak for all countries, but it does seem generally accurate, though I would put China and Korea in the same place as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Also, real Singaporeans (sorry "Crazy Rich Asians" fans), are extremely social, gregarious and direct.

I find it a bit interesting that the model places Canada a bit more far away from other Anglo countries towards cultures that are not linguistically or historically that close (between the Nordics and East Asia).

I'm curious as to how Canada became more "Asian and Nordic/Scandinavian" than other Anglo countries (if not for large-scale non-French, non-British Isles immigration, which only became a factor much later to the countries' founding and is not demographically that influential).

Stuff like valuing harmony more, being less confrontational etc. saving face etc.

[SignalHillHiker]

It feels wrong to me. I don't believe these three lines are mutually exclusive. Reading the descriptions, for example, I'd agree NL belongs equally where Canada, India and Ireland are. It feels a bit nonsense, like a horoscope - you can fit yourself anywhere.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

This makes sense, and it explains why it doesn't come across when interacting with Danes in English nearly as much.

It is similar to the difference in how you behave when only with family or in the presence of company.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by Architype

There are a number of boxes to be checked of course, our similarities to Russia are somewhat dubious.

Another remarkable thing is that we can't actually find any country that is just the same as us, or even very similar, certainly not the U.S.. That in itself attests to the existence of an inconspicuous cultural uniqueness, a thing that we seemingly look for but cannot easily identify.

I'm continually amazed as how so many people think Canadians and Americans are pretty much exactly the same in every facet. Sure, there are some superficial similarities, such as portion of our lexicon, some similarities in accents (but I'm becoming more well-versed in distinguishing your plain-Jane Mid-West American accent from most Canadian accents), retail shops (thanks mostly to NAFTA ), and geography (that we simply cannot help).

After having lived in other Commonwealth countries, I can say with utmost confidence that Canadians are far more similar to other Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth countries, overall, than with the US in terms of cultural heritage, social mannerisms, morality, politics, legal systems, etc. It really opened my eyes to just how many differences there are between Canadians and Americans, far more than there are similarities. And I am very thankful for that.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Pinus

I'm continually amazed as how so many people think Canadians and Americans are pretty much exactly the same in every facet. Sure, there are some superficial similarities, such as portion of our lexicon, some similarities in accents (but I'm becoming more well-versed in distinguishing your plain-Jane Mid-West American accent from most Canadian accents), retail shops (thanks mostly to NAFTA ), and geography (that we simply cannot help).

After having lived in other Commonwealth countries, I can say with utmost confidence that Canadian are far more similar to other Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth countries, overall, than with the US in terms of cultural heritage, social mannerisms, morality, politically, etc. It really opened my eyes to just how many differences there are between Canadians and Americans, far more than there are similarities. And I am very thankful for that.

the population of the u.s. is 325+ million, so its hard for me to see how any kind of direct comparison to canada is instructive. an example: more americans speak fluent spanish than there are canadians.

i do think there are some hefty, blatently obvious overlaps, so much so that its weird to me that it would be ignored.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It feels wrong to me. I don't believe these three lines are mutually exclusive. Reading the descriptions, for example, I'd agree NL belongs equally where Canada, India and Ireland are. It feels a bit nonsense, like a horoscope - you can fit yourself anywhere.

Well I'm not taking it super seriously, although I can see some points in it. There are other cultural models that attempt to "categorize countries in types".

You often see people make various rankings on culture dimensions like high-context culture vs. low, individualism vs. collectivism, emotional or not, and claim that understanding cultures in terms of their "type" is a huge deal (eg. doing business, negotiating with them etc.).

[Centropolis]

when i watched the tom green show as a kid, it didn’t register that i was watching someone from another country.

[Pinus]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

when i watched the tom green show as a kid, it didn’t register that i was watching someone from another country.

Most foreign actors and actresses will integrate and assimilate into US culture quickly to gain the respect and attention from US citizens to launch and solidify their careers, and understandably so. Do most people know Charlize Theron is South African with a first language of Afrikaans? Do most people know Nicole Kidman is from Australia? I bet not simply because they made it a point to assimilate as quick as they could, and they've done it well enough that most people would think they are as American as apple pie and baseball.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Pinus

Most foreign actors and actresses will integrate and assimilate into US culture quickly to gain the respect and attention from US citizens to launch and solidify their careers, and understandably so. Do most people know Charlize Theron is South African with a first language of Afrikaans? Do most people know Nicole Kidman is from Australia? I bet not simply because they made it a point to assimilate as quick as they could, and they've done it well enough that most people would think they are as American as apple pie and baseball.

but i mean when it was a purely canadian show.