[Pseudonym]

You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

[Zipperfish]

Pseudonym wrote:

I'm sorry, didn't you just say Americans don't have the global awareness to be thin-skinned? Don't you even hear the insulting condescension in your own words?

That sort of tone is pretty common when Americans meet Canadians and Europeans and make speeches like the one you just made. I said that Americans don't know when they're being parodied--well the speech you just made is exactly how you are often parodied--and yet you presumably said this in all seriousness.

I was born in the US and I've lived in different parts. It's a great country, I wouldn't ever deny that--you can't argue with success. I love their idealism and their "go big" attitude.

But there schools are nothing like ours. Completely different animals. The focus there is on punctuality, attendance and sports. Martial types of things. And the population there, including the media, go into this propaganda mode whenever there is a conflict with another country. Again, something I see as a martial characteristic. Americans see themselves as peaceful, but their history, culture and education system belie this. My conclusion anyways.

[commanderkai]

Zipperfish wrote:

That sort of tone is pretty common when Americans meet Canadians and Europeans and make speeches like the one you just made. I said that Americans don't know when they're being parodied--well the speech you just made is exactly how you are often parodied--and yet you presumably said this in all seriousness.

Parodied? Far from it I believe. Most people I've met in Europe and in Canada with "opinions" about the United States were completely serious. Like it or not, the United States is unjustly hated. No matter if they did something good or bad, they're the scapegoat (like in the Middle East) or the boogeyman (in Canada and Europe).

From what I see, and I think this Red Eye BS proves it. We don't like getting picked on by big brother America, while behind his back we laugh and smirk and joke about American "Dumbness" or "Uglyness" or its "Evilness".

Europeans are basically bitter the United States overtook Europe in importance, and the fact pre-WWII, the idea of US bases in Europe would of been a bad joke, while today, it's reality.

Americans make speeches like this once Americans get tired of being polite and hearing about all of your/our shitty opinions about America. Sooner or later, you make fun of a part of somebody's identity, they'll lash back. The only difference is, you're pretending this is America's fault. When really, they haven't done anything special compared to what we do with Americans quite often

Quote:

But there schools are nothing like ours. Completely different animals. The focus there is on punctuality, attendance and sports.

Umm. Zipper, from my experiences in both a Canadian and a US high school, I found the US education far superior. I know for a fact they were ahead at least a year in math...but even before this, comparing US and Canadian elementary schools, when I went from grade 6 in the US, to grade 7 in Canada, I was basically ahead in the Canadian school.

[Ramsey]

Saying we don't know we're being parodied is untrue in my mind. I think the reason why so many Americans behave the way they do in regards to interacting with foreigners is that we know we get made fun of/parodied.

I'm sure if you were to find out that your coworker made a comic parody that detailed some negative aspect of your personality and was mean-spirited in nature, your reaction would most likely be "go to hell a**hole". You would also probably start talking badly about them too. I'm thinking that this is the same thing, just on a larger scale.

On another note, people constantly go on about how bad the public school system is here, and how every other country has a more highly educated populace and I think that is totally untrue. The education system does have it's problems, but I know every other country with a developed educational system has the same crap to deal with. The school systems here are no worse than any other country, and are in face better in many cases. I would say the fact that Americans enact policies that are unpopluar in other countries and therefore cause people to say "hey, you're stupid for doing what you do".

[raydan]

Pseudonym wrote:

:lol: You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

On the drive home today, late afternoon, from Quebec city to Montreal on the north side of the St-Laurence river, we literally saw thousands of them. Every field flooded from the snow melt was full of them with as many in the air looking for a place to spend the night.

Note: you're from SC right? Snow is the white stuff that falls from the sky here in the winter.

[ziggy]

lily wrote:

Pseudonym wrote:

:lol: You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

Yes. One is called a Canada goose... so why would it change when using the plural?

Yet some call them shithawks.

So one moose,two meese?

[Zipperfish]

commanderkai wrote:

From what I see, and I think this Red Eye BS proves it. We don't like getting picked on by big brother America, while behind his back we laugh and smirk and joke about American "Dumbness" or "Uglyness" or its "Evilness".

I don't find them dumb, ugly or evil. I often find them a lot like Pseudonym, actually. I remember my cousin's boyfriend in Santa Barbara (mind you he was on the wingnut end) telling me I should go to church to pray and thank God for the United States when I met him. Again, this is behaviour that is parodied outside the US and yet this guy was serious. He was a more extreme case, but I found that attitude pretty common.

Quote:

Europeans are basically bitter the United States overtook Europe in importance, and the fact pre-WWII, the idea of US bases in Europe would of been a bad joke, while today, it's reality.

Maybe. Or maybe they resent stuff like changing the name of French Fries to Freedom Fires because France didn't go to a war that was just based on a bunch of American and British lies anyways.

Quote:

Americans make speeches like this once Americans get tired of being polite and hearing about all of your/our shitty opinions about America. Sooner or later, you make fun of a part of somebody's identity, they'll lash back.

I don't have shitty opinions about America as a whole. I like them better than most countries, actually. There's good things and bad things about it. If I point out what I see as a bad thing, that's not my entire opinion of the whole country.

Quote:

Umm. Zipper, from my experiences in both a Canadian and a US high school, I found the US education far superior. I know for a fact they were ahead at least a year in math...but even before this, comparing US and Canadian elementary schools, when I went from grade 6 in the US, to grade 7 in Canada, I was basically ahead in the Canadian school.

Your experience was far different than mine. I went to a large California inner city high school. It was about one quarter each white, black Vietnamese and Mexican. Quite a culture shock from Winnipeg, I can tell you. The thing that struck me was the obsession with the sports teams, and the level of control over punctuality and attendance. You weren't even allowed to leave the school grounds during school hours, except for one hour at lunch--and they'd have cops circling the school to make sure you wouldn't leave. That just blew my mind. You'd fail a course if you were late a certain amount of times, regardless of your marks on tests and assignments. Academically, I found that the honours courses were better than Canada's, and the standard courses wqere worse.

My wife went to high school in the US too. She told me that if she hadn't taken all honours courses in high school she would have been behind when attending university in Canada.

[RUEZ]

Pseudonym wrote:

:lol: You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

They don't belong to Canada.

[Thanos]

Americans rule.

[KrytenKoro]

Doesn't the left do this thing ''all the time''? Didn't Murtha in fact do this kind of thing IN CONGRESS? And yet, when bloggers on the right got pissed at him for saying far more vile crap in an ''official venue'', they were the ones being "thin-skinned".

It's a damn comedy show. This kind of stuff has been par for the course for decades, and it's happened against the US military WAY more often. Canada, instead of hyperventilating at some midnight yuckster show, why not stop being hypocrites and actually complain about the people saying it in the government?

[mishu]

Quote:

But there schools are nothing like ours.

That's true. For example, American schools teach students how to spell third person, plural possessive.

[mishu]

Quote:

Your experience was far different than mine. I went to a large California inner city high school. It was about one quarter each white, black Vietnamese and Mexican. Quite a culture shock from Winnipeg, I can tell you. The thing that struck me was the obsession with the sports teams, and the level of control over punctuality and attendance. You weren't even allowed to leave the school grounds during school hours, except for one hour at lunch--and they'd have cops circling the school to make sure you wouldn't leave. That just blew my mind. You'd fail a course if you were late a certain amount of times, regardless of your marks on tests and assignments. Academically, I found that the honours courses were better than Canada's, and the standard courses wqere worse.

That culture shock blew away your naiveté didn't it? The reason an inner city schools stress punctuality and attendance is for the students health and safety. You do realize that inner cities have problems with gangs and drugs don't you? Inner city schools are a unique subset of American education. It's not reflective of all schools in America. It's just a sad product of failed policies to alleviate poverty.

[roger-roger]

mishu wrote:

Quote:

But there schools are nothing like ours.

That's true. For example, American schools teach students how to spell third person, plural possessive.

To bad they dont tell them how to spell Colour or Doughnut.

[jason700]

ziggy wrote:

lily wrote:

Pseudonym wrote:

:lol: You call them Canada geese, and not Canadian Geese?

Yes. One is called a Canada goose... so why would it change when using the plural?

Yet some call them shithawks.

So one moose,two meese?

If the plural for "mouse" is "mice", then wouldn't the plural for "spouse" be "spice"?

[mishu]

Well, at least they teach how to make use of the letter Z.