[Motorcycleboy]

I've always been amused by the Canadian penchant for sewing the Maple Leaf on their back packs while travelling abroad.

Whenever you ask a Canadian backpacker why they do it, 8 times out of 10, you get a response like "So people don't think I'm American."

It's so typically Canadian. We define ourselves by the fact we're not American. Talk about a weak sense of culture.

When I lived in Sydney Australia for a few years, I always found this flag waving a bit silly. In my experience, Canadian tourists were without a doubt the second most obnoxious tourists abroad. Although they were a distant second to the Brits (by far the worst tourists in the world) Canucks were much ruder than their American cousins.

I lost track of how many drunk, obnoxious Canadians I ran into on Christmas Day at Bondi Beach. How many BC'ers would spend time telling me how beautiful the beaches in that Province are (this while standing on a true world renowned beach like Bondi or Manly) or how the weather in BC is so much better than the rest of Canada (this while standing in the sun on a brilliant 18 degree Sydney winter morning).

I got sick of seeing large groups of drunken Canucks hanging moons within site of families, swearing at top volume, or passing out drunk in the street because they couldn't handle the more liberal drinking laws down under.

All while reminding anyone who'd listen that "We're not Americans."

Well it seems the London Metropolitan Police have come to the same conclusion.

$1:

Maple Leaf pub's Canada Day bash now inside only


Joseph Brean, National Post
Published: Wednesday, June 28, 2006

LONDON - It's usually one of the largest gatherings of Canadians outside Canada, but police said yesterday they cancelled a pub's Canada Day street party out of fears it will be a repeat of last year's "nightmare" of drunken disorder.
More than 5,000 people gathered on Canada Day 2005 at the Maple Leaf pub on Maiden Lane, a cobblestone passage beside the touristy Covent Garden market.
During the National Hockey League season, the downmarket sports bar is famous for Canadian beer, Mountie-and-moose decor and rowdy Sunday-afternoon showings of CBC's Saturday night hockey broadcast. But on Canada Day, it becomes magnetic north for thousands of expatriate hosers.
By the time the party was over, three people were in hospital, and three were in police custody. There was no beer for many blocks around and Maiden Lane itself was a "mattress of broken glass."
"There were too many flashpoints for potential disaster," said Sergeant Philip Ryan of the Metropolitan Police Service, who directs community policing in the area. "Two guys turned up with a picnic table and an icebox at 11 o'clock in the morning and they were still there at 11 o'clock at night."
He said it was only good luck there were not more injuries, and it was only because of a lack of police manpower that there were not five times as many arrests.
This year, access to the Maple Leaf will be by ticket only and police will not tolerate loitering outside.
"We encourage people to have a good time, but they will not be having a good time in Maiden Lane," Sgt. Ryan said.
In fact, Canada Day is likely to pass with barely a whisper in London, as it coincides with England's World Cup quarter-final against Portugal and the city's gay pride parade. With few exceptions, anyone who is not watching one will be watching the other.
There will be a Canadian fair and Ron Sexsmith will play a concert in front of Canada House in Trafalgar Square on June 30, but that is Independence Day for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not Canada Day. Even in their national celebrations, Canadians are forced to be the great compromisers.
"Are they really charging for tickets this year? That's brutal," said Tom Greenberg, a Toronto investment banker who enjoyed the hospitality at the Maple Leaf last year.
He said the party was raucous but innocent, and it "reflected the very best of what it means to be Canadian," including a big pot of Kraft Dinner.
In an e-mail to members of Network Canada, a social club, president Dave Matthews warned them to stay away from Maiden Lane this year "for their own safety."

[email protected]
© National Post 2006

[ShepherdsDog]

it's embarassing that here in Taiwan, and Kaohsiung specifically, that my countrymen are the ones with the negative reputation. If you see a drunk foreigner, the Taiwanese automatically assume they are Canadian and the reputation isn't entirely undeserved. I play in a slow pitch league and usually half the guys are pissed by the end of the game. Many Taiwanese are shocked when I stop after two or three beers.

[-Mario-]

I guess our Navy docks often at your end of the world

[ShepherdsDog]

never here, it's teachers that are the problem. Though I have to admit, while serving and in foreign ports I didn't always present the best image of a Canadian, after a few pitchers of beer.

[Arctic_Menace]

I usually sew a maple flag on my back pack, so what? I identify myself as a Canadian, and I, unlike the poeple you have described, respect my surroundings. I don't need to say I'm not American to descrie myself or where I come from. I am damn proud of my country and what it has done. Which is why I wear the Maple leaf; not to show people that I am not American, but that I am damn proud to be Canadian, and I want everyone to know it.




And I usually find British tourists to be quite lovely. Sure, I've met one or two bad apples, but in General, they are quite nice to be around...So are the Argentinians. I also find that Canadians abroad are usually very sociable and nice...I'd have to say that the most obnoxious tourists would be the French(either French or Quebecois) followed by Northern Americans and then the Japanese....Nearly all the Americans I have met that have come from the south, have been the nicest, fairly knowledgeable, warm-hearted people. From the North, they've been very arrogant, rude, and just plain insulting to the locals...


The Japanese I find are relatively nice people once you get to know them, but they seem to have a bit of a superiority complex and are quite plain about things, and sometimes stare and point with wide eyes, making them look rather rude....(P.S. If you ever hear them pointing and whispering the word gaijin, it means outsider/foreigner...)

Germans are very nice people, but not always talkative.....


But yeah, I'd have to say that the most obnoxious tourists would be the French and Quebecois, followed by Americans, followed by the Japanese......

[Arctic_Menace]

Man, I love drinking with the Brits, Scots and Irish.....Sooooo many good times and memories....



Playa Coco! March of 2006!!!!

[jazzman]

Nice to hear that Arctic_Menace.

[Arctic_Menace]

You're welcome.

[Evan]

So why do American tourists put maple leaves on their backpacks?
Are they trying to tell the world they arent Amerian too?

I think tourists are patriotic. I have a canadian flag on my backpack
and I'm not even a tourist!!

I hope my patriotism doesnt offend you.
I'd rather be known as a country who gets drunk and has a good time
then one that blows you up to have a good time.

Never seen Canada go to a foreign country and drink them to death.

[bootlegga]

Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:

The Japanese I find are relatively nice people once you get to know them, but they seem to have a bit of a superiority complex and are quite plain about things, and sometimes stare and point with wide eyes, making them look rather rude....(P.S. If you ever hear them pointing and whispering the word gaijin, it means outsider/foreigner...)

AM, the one thing you are forgetting here is that you are Canadian and view the world very differently than about 90% of humanity.

In many countries, it's a case of "us" and "them" (everyone else). To Japanese people, you are either Japanese (pure blood, not just born there BTW), or you are gaikoukujin (gaijin for short), which roughly translated means outside country person. So even when you are in Banff and travelling in your own country, Japanese tourists will call you gaijin, even though technically (by their own definition) they are gaijin themselves.

In most countries, you are not considered "insert nationality here" unless at least one, if not both of your parents were also born there. Despite being born in Germany while my father was helping protect them from the Big Red Machine, I am not (and never will be) considered German. Same goes for Koreans born in Japan (some families have been there for 5 generations already), and so on.

Canada, Australia, South Africa, the US and the UK are the most visible exceptions to this rule. I'm sure there might be other countries, but I'll admit I don't know of them off hand. So count yourself very lucky that you come from one of the greatest, most open countries on the planet!

Oh, one thing you can do (I've been known to do it sometimes too after a beer or three) when you see a group of Japanese tourists is to point at them and shout "Gaijin da!" and then point and stare. I think it keeps them grounded...LMAO

BTW, one of my favourite episodes of the Simpsons is when they visit Japan, because I swear I experienced almost everything the Simpsons did while I lived there myself.

[GreatBriton]

Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:

Man, I love drinking with the Brits, Scots and Irish.....Sooooo many good times and memories....

:

Surely the Scots and Irish are British too.

[IcedCap]

Come 6pm on Saturday if England lose the Met are gonna wish they only had 5,000 rowdy Canadians to deal with

[bootlegga]

Motorcycleboy Motorcycleboy:

I've always been amused by the Canadian penchant for sewing the Maple Leaf on their back packs while travelling abroad.

Whenever you ask a Canadian backpacker why they do it, 8 times out of 10, you get a response like "So people don't think I'm American."

It's so typically Canadian. We define ourselves by the fact we're not American. Talk about a weak sense of culture.

When I lived in Sydney Australia for a few years, I always found this flag waving a bit silly. In my experience, Canadian tourists were without a doubt the second most obnoxious tourists abroad. Although they were a distant second to the Brits (by far the worst tourists in the world) Canucks were much ruder than their American cousins.

I lost track of how many drunk, obnoxious Canadians I ran into on Christmas Day at Bondi Beach. How many BC'ers would spend time telling me how beautiful the beaches in that Province are (this while standing on a true world renowned beach like Bondi or Manly) or how the weather in BC is so much better than the rest of Canada (this while standing in the sun on a brilliant 18 degree Sydney winter morning).

I got sick of seeing large groups of drunken Canucks hanging moons within site of families, swearing at top volume, or passing out drunk in the street because they couldn't handle the more liberal drinking laws down under.

All while reminding anyone who'd listen that "We're not Americans."

Why is that Canadians aren't allowed to be patriotic? If you don't like Canadian patriotism, then move somewhere else and leave us alone. And the next time you head down under, call a couple of Aussies Kiwis and see how long it takes before you get yelled at (or worse). No nationality likes others assuming they are someone else. Or call someone from China or Korea Japanese and watch the fireworks fly! Hell, call a Yank a Canuck and see if he likes it...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wear a maple leaf on my backpack (and have for over a decade) because I'm proud of being Canadian. It's that simple.

If it's not okay for Canucks to wear Maple Leafs on their backpacks, then I'll expect you to start a similar thread denouncing Americans chanting U-S-A! U-S-A! at international sporting events like the Olympics.

While I lived in Japan, I met four Yanks who all had Canadian flags sown on their backpacks. They wore them because they got better treatment and didn't have to deal with US politics. Hell, if you visited Tshirtking.com last year, you could buy a travel kit with a canadian t-shirt, a sew-on patch and a sticker for your suitcase. They sold several hundred of these packages. Personally, I don't like anyone other than Canadians wearing our flag, because they could give Canadians a bad name, and like you said, in many places, we already have a bad enough reputation.

Personally, I think the biggest reason Canucks may (or may not) have a bad reputation is that many of the people who go abroad are young, dumb and full of cum. All they think about is drinking, partying and nailing 'insert country here' women. Sadly, I know of a couple of people who fit that description. They think it's cool to do that, but you hardly ever see a drunk bunch of Aussie yahoos running around in Canada (even in Banff where there are tons of them) hitting on girls and making asses of themselves.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with you putting us as the 2nd most obnoxious tourists on Earth. Like any group, I've met my share of both Americans and Brits I liked and others I'd prefer never to see again. That goes for every nationality, and I'd bet for every dumbass Canuck out there, there is a decent chap/lass who is making Canada proud.

[MissT]

Well, I have to say that where I'm living at the monent in the South West of England, my circle of friends has a surprising number of Canucks... and we're all fabulous, sophisticated and a credit to Canada! Hey, we make you look good! Hehe.

[Yank-in-NY]

Even wikipedia has an article about the Canadian Identity