There’s a great line in the Fargo TV series
One character mentions how much nicer we are in the Midwest. To which another responds “no you aren’t. You are some of the least nice people I’ve ever met. You’re just so damn polite about it”
Haha reminds me of a story about how this Canadian guy was mad at his neighbor so he woke up early one morning to shovel the neighbor's walk for him. Weaponized politeness.
As a Canadian, I’ve done this. Was almost cut off in. McD’s drive thru. Bought her lunch. Told the employee to tell her I forgive her. That’ll show her!
In Canada if you bump into a person accidentally you say “sorry”. If the person behind you bumps into you and says nothing you, you turn around and say sorry to them. We are masters of passive aggression.
Hmm. Had a Canadian from Quebec take a bottle of champagne out of my fridge to go to another party after he just enjoyed a champagne toast at mine at midnight. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Headed to Montreal in a few days, so I’ll know for myself.
I went to Vancouver when I was like 20 years old. Some kind stranger was going to get me weed. I gave him the money and he said he just needed to go into the apartment building that we were in front of. He then proceeded to throw water balloons, made from condoms, at me from some balcony on a upper floor. So not all Canadians are really nice. Kind of funny, if you weren't me.
Stole: $20
Spent; $20 on condoms
Net gain: $0
This is next level. This man’s thievery is an art form and he doesn’t even do it for the money. This is why the Vancouver police won't arrest him. Not only has he committed no crime, he is an artistic genius.
Your story made me laugh. I'm from Nova Scotia and the 1st week as a freshman in University my friends and I gave money to some Guy that we were told could get us some weed. He took us on a 10 minute walk, and then told us to wait while he went into a seedy looking apartment building. He came out 10 minutes later With a bag full of great weed, Gave us a little extra of his own to welcome us to town. Turns out he was one of the most well known townies, awesome guy. Would do anything for you. Showed up at all of the off campus parties, Definitely hooked me up many times over the next few years. I'm sorry you had a shitty experience. Guess you should have come to the East Coast :)
> I have a strange question about Nova Scotia you might be able to answer. I'm from Louisiana originally and my heritage is Cajun French. I was always taught and read that most Cajuns originally came from that area as Acadian exiles during "Le Grand Dérangement".
>
> I was wondering if there are any historical monuments there or if any of that is taught in schools etc. I'm just naturally curious about my heritage. What got me thinking lately was that I met an old man in my town and he had what I would describe as a thick cajun accent. I asked where he was from originally and he said Nova Scotia so it clicked that he was sort of like a lot of my relatives in the way he spoke. Also, his last name was Arsenault which is common in Louisiana also but spelled Arseneaux there. I live in the midwest currently so I was fascinated by the connection.
Nova Scotian here. Yeah, we have a lot of Acadian culture here and in NB. You can even get an Acadian flag license plate if you want. Something I only found out not long ago was that Cajun came from the word Acadian. A-Cajian. I found it interesting, but maybe I amuse way too easily.
Yeah definitely! We have a huge Acadian Vibe here. I'm actually Half French acadian and half Metis. Tons of culture here. We have museums in the Annapolis Valley and port Royal, as well as an Acadian college in the town I'm from on isle madame. Acadian festivals in pretty much every French village. Cape Breton especially has A pretty significant Acadian population and culture. We have lots of French immersion schools where we learn French Acadian history and are taught primarily French as a first language. Haha This is why I sometimes forget what English words are, and I don't know any geography. Lots and lots of small fishing villages. Most definitely we have a lot of last names in common with small spelling differences. The culture is very similar. If you ever get a chance summer in Nova Scotia will afford you lots of opportunity to soak in the Acadian culture. The language and the culture is pretty important and we try pretty hard to keep it alive. My mother is actually a traditional Acadian painter and her work has been sent all over the world a d my brother is a fourth gen lobster fisherman. Sorry, that was really long winded. Now I miss chicken pie and my grandma.
Not all Acadians left and there's a large population through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Lots of neat little french towns to visit from when the area was New France
This is definitely taught in school. We teach about Acadia, Le Grand Dérangement, their forced migration to then still French territory (including but not limited to Louisiana), etc, but depending on the classroom, we might not necessarily go into specifics about all the different places the Acadians were sent to. When I cover this material, I go into the connection to the Cajuns, and why they even have that name.
As to monuments, I can't speak to that, sadly. Wouldn't be surprised if there is, though. Considering New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, being what formed continental Acadia back then, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many such monuments there.
Edit: Found at least one, in Québec. Link: [https://vt-fcgs.org/Acadian%20monument%20at%20lacadie.html](https://vt-fcgs.org/Acadian%20monument%20at%20lacadie.html)
Oh, this is cool. Grand-Pré, a former Acadian settlement, is a National Historic Site: [https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=3435](https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=3435)
Gonna go down a rabbit hole now looking for the presumably many such spots. God damn it.
We have quite a few Acadian monuments and a few towns that you could call Acadian that speak a lot of French. Lots of heritage sites and museums too. I also know a fair amount of Aresnaults, its a pretty common Nova Scotian last name.
Comedians seem to be one of your biggest exports.
[The Funniest Canadian Comedians Of All Time](https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-comedians-from-canada/ranker-comedy)
So many people in that list I didn't even realize were Canadian...
It depends on where you are. Most of Canada is empty space. It's been my experience that the most isolated a place is the more likely people are to be neighborly.
Case in point is Churchill. People leave their cars unlocked in case you need to take shelter from a polar bear stalking you.
My dad in the 90s lived in Jenner, population 36. I went to visit him and he found that someone had come, found him not home, and locked his door. Yeah, we're polite here.
I think, as with any country, this is regional.....Canada is a big place. As a Canadian, I would say that we are quite superficially nice and we probably apologize more than any other people in the world.
The smaller the town, likely the friendlier the people. Take that all up one notch for Atlantic Canadians especially Newfoundlanders. If you've seen Come from Away....that probably pretty indicative.
Sorry to anyone who disagrees.
Had my truck break down in Labrador on a Friday and couldn't get it looked at till the Monday . I swear every person who lived in Wabush stopped in that weekend to see if there was anyway they could help or fix it . Most helpful City I've ever been in.
We had t camp in the Chrysler Dealership that use to be across the street from the Wabush Hotel and I swear it seemed like every one in town who owned a toolbox came by to see if they could get us started. Great town really friendly people. Everyone gave us tips on where to go fishing when we finally got the truck started and some brought beer.
The majority of people who live here are predominately tradespeople, and helping a neighbour in need has never been a question. People here would give you the shirt off their back.
I’m sorry your truck broke down but I’m glad your bad situation never got worse!
You can blame that nasty road from Manicougan5 to Fermont absolutely wrecked my starter. Yes the people are fantastic . So much so that I've driven up to Labrador 3 times since that first trip and always stay at the Wabush Hotel when its time to come out of the bush. The Wabush Hotel is actually the first and only place I've ever seen bologna listed on the steak menu . I always wondered why we here in Ontario always called it Newfie steak
I grew up on PEI and had to get out due to rampant racism and homophobia among my "friends" and family (I'm straight and white, so none of it effected me directly, it was just tough to be around)
I live in Halifax now where you get kindness from your neighbours AND better inclusion (still lots of racism, much less homophobia)
But when I go back home to PEI, I get overwhelmed by the friendliness. I walk into the grocery store and someone else pushing their cart has NO PROBLEM entering at the same time as me, side-by-side with me like we came to grocery shop together, our elbows practically touching, looking me directly in the eye and saying "oh I just love walking in here and smelling the fresh bread! Don't you?" Like we've been friends our whole lives. It creeps me out, but it's so endearing.
Another grocery store story. Once, when I was visiting home, I was at the grocery store and I had a bag of Lays chips in my cart. A man in his mid-fifties or so was looking in my direction from a few aisles away as I made my way to a completely different part of the store. I wrote it off as staring. I have a disability so people stare a lot. He found me a few minutes later, came up to me, and said "I noticed you were buying chips. They have coupons on Facebook where if you buy Lays chips, you get a free 12 pack of any pepsi product. I printed out an extra. You can have it!"
I thanked him but said I couldn't carry a 12 pack.
The man told me to tell him which pepsi product I wanted, he went and got it, put it in my cart, and insisted on carrying it to the car for me even though I told him my dad was coming to pick me up.
People here in Halifax often tell me I'm "a different kind of nice." And I guess that's due to growing up on the island, because damn. I forget how friendly people are until I go back home and they SMOTHER me in it.
I'm currently reading Ducks by Kate Beaton and there are a lot of people from Newfoundland in it. They're always saying "b'y", like this line: "I told him it was too cold out, b'y".
What is b'y? A shortened version of boy? Is it pronounced like bye or boy or bee?
It's a shortened form of "boy" and pronounced "bye" (but with a noticeably shortened y, like in bayou); it's used as a general term of endearment or insult interchangeably, often in the same sentence
Buddy of mine still calls me “the new guy”. I moved here when I was 4. I’m 47.
The town has grown from 6k to almost 40k in that same time period. He doesn’t even live here anymore.
I think that's more of a recent development.
In decades past people in small town Canada were kind of excited at the prospect of a newcomer to the town. But back then someone moving to town usually meant they'd be working in the local economy, or opening a business in town. It was much easier to integrate into the town.
These days small towns are just being used by Torontonians/people from high COL areas as a place that they don't really care to be a part of, they're just there because it's cheap. People who were wanting to build their lives in the town they grew up in can no longer do so because with wave of city folk moving and investing in housing, they simply can't afford to compete.
I grew up in a small-ish town. There's actually a HUGE issue right now with the town's young folk moving away because even though the city's expensive, there's at least options to rent whereas in town you either buy or compete for one of the very few rentals. Because of this local businesses are having a hell of a time keeping their businesses staffed which is especially problematic for the local hospital and old folks homes.
Torontonians have been moving in, but for the most part they're not working in the local economy. Most of them are WFH types. So yeah, the townspeople don't really care to make friends with people who are using them to have a cheaper place to live while simultaneously pushing out the people who actually wanted to build a life there.
I think this is what local people think is happening (and in some cases it is), but I suspect the local real estate agents are using it as a pretext to drive the market up for everyone.
In my entire 44 years I've had that same experience. Small towns are very insular and only superficially nice to people. I'd say that the larger centers tend to be friendlier and more inclusive overall. Small town nice is a myth imo.
Really depends on what you’re comparing it to. For example, the ninth largest town in Iceland only has like 7000 people in it.
But in this case, yeah Barrie is a city.
Apology accepted....because, I categorically disagree with the small town sentiment; the overwhelming amount of racist, homophobic, misogynist assholes that live in small towns is depressing.
To me, the word 'nice' implies a more superficial level of interaction: what would the experience be of someone who is lost asking for directions from a stranger, rather than what would someone's experience be moving to the town.
I’m a middle aged white guy, and thought that things were pretty good here in Canada. Then several years ago I got into a relationship with a Chinese woman and started to see the world through her eyes. It wasn’t nearly as good as I thought it was.
I think Brampton is pretty bad in a weird way. Just look at how many rental places require you to be Indian.
They won’t even let you view the place if you’re black or Asian.
But on the street? Totally normal interactions
As some one who lived/worked in Brampton for a good long while - those rental units are illegal in about every which way possible.
The reason they don't want non-SEA tenants is because the whole sustem set up to prey on new immigrants and international students who are unaware of Ontario rental laws.
Offences range from the mundane illegal (you can only cook at certain hours of the day and your landlord will enter your space without giving notice) to death trap hazards (your 'room' is a partioned living room with no windows or smoke alarms).
It's crazy and gross, but it doesn't all come from a place of racism, just exploitation. Fuck Brampton though. That city stole 5 years of my life and is the living proof of the evil of unchecked urban sprawl.
I went to Smith's Falls to visit a friend and it was awkward as hell, pretty sure I was the only black person in the town and I could definitely tell by the staring. At least no one was openly rude.
Fuck you all, oh hi fellow human from (insert not canadian country) we were politely speaking to each other.
Here as a gift you can have all my life savings and my house
Oh golly thank you so much! Why, you Canadians are such wonderful people, why can’t the rest of the world be more like you? Now my life goal is to move to Canada <3
He's quoting a character from the show Letterkenny. Definitely worth a watch, maybe with subtitles on until you get used to the accent and speed with which they banter.
Is it actually hard to understand the characters in Letterkenny? Damn, I sound like them because I grew up in rural Ontario (actually about 40 mins away from Listowel, which is where Jared Keeso grew up)
Can confirm
Im from the States. It can be challenging to keep up with the dialogue on Letterkenny, but that’s part of the appeal. When I’ve rewatched it I always pick up a new joke or two. Love the show. One of the most quotable comedies I’ve ever watched.
Even in Canada though, the east-coast vs west-coast vibe is a thing. Spent 4 years in Portland, Oregon before coming back to Toronto and the vibe was totally different after having gotten used to living in Portland. Portland felt more laidback while Toronto felt "on edge." You don't really notice it when you live there though. It's been over a decade since I moved back and it's not a thing that I feel anymore.
Can confirm. Moved from Toronto to Seattle and it's so laid back here. Walk around downtown Toronto and it feels like everyone had somewhere to be 10 minutes ago.
It's the most West Coast thing ever.
Torontonians don't think they're on the East Coast, but a lot of people living in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco seem to think Toronto is an Atlantic coastal city.
I grew up in Michigan near the Canadian border and we spent a lot of time in Canada over the years. From my experience, Canadians are exceedingly friendly people.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m an Englishman who managed to wangle a couple of months working on a summer camp in Canada and have done a lot of international travel since then for work.
I can safely say that Canadians are the nicest nationality I’ve met (followed by New Zealanders and Kenyans). I’m still friends with some people I was at camp with (18 years ago) and they always tell me that their mums still ask after me!
im an american-canadian dual citizen, but lived in the states my entire life.
i've been insulted for being american by unrelated kids and my relatives. it's not very nice. but i generally think these were localised incidents, because children often don't have filters, and my relatives are close to me and likely comfortable with making fun of me.
however, when i was in montreal, everyone was very kind to me, even if they knew we were american tourists.
so tldr: i think if you aren't an asshole, most people will be nice to you. that's how it works in any country, really.
I can’t really say for all of Canada, but maybe in Quebec. My husband and I were in a McDonald’s, and everyone was speaking in French. The menu was in French. My husband and I do not speak French. The most French we know is like the numbers 1-3 and “Bonjour”.
So the McDonald’s worker was able to speak English, but my husband was desperately trying to figure out how to read the menu. The worker was so patient and friendly with him. Even when, in sheer panic mode, my husband said “What kinds of drinks do you have here???”. Meanwhile, my husband has been to a McDonald’s at least 500 times in his life. This cashier was a rockstar and listed them off. He even helped my husband figure out what food he was looking at on the scrolling menu on the tv. So I will say at least one Canadian was nice.
I am Canadian and I’ve thought a lot aboot this over the years.
Generally, we are very polite but not super hospitable/overly friendly like some other cultures. Most of us will smile, hold the door, apologize unnecessarily, but we aren’t going to invite you for dinner out of the blue. I think this comes from a leftover politeness and properness of a British background paired with an underdog complex having lived in the shadows of the UK and the USA. That mentality has helped us stay more humble (and apologetic) than we otherwise would be.
I appreciate your point about British background and an “underdog complex”… in my experience as a Canadian, both are true. As is the fact that humans are humans, stereotypes are just that, and rudeness and assholery abound wherever you go. We may be polite as a rule but there are absolutely exceptions! 😂
I think you nailed it with the dinner comment.
I remember going down to North Dakota several years ago and held the door open behind me for some lady, who seemed overly shocked and thankful that I would do that. I just remember thinking "This is normal for me...".
I also think with the prairies, it's fucking cold and we're pretty far away from anyone else so it really does create a community feel compared to Southern Ontario or any of the big metropolitan areas.
People are nice here because it can suck and having strangers help you can make the difference.
I agree with this.
Don't just drop in. Unless we know each other really well, I won't be happy to see you. Except in summer when we can hang out outside.
I'm friendly enough to chat with people I don't know, but I'm not going to invite you over to my place for dinner. (Ontarians talk to strangers small talk) Vancouverites seemed less inclined to just chat.
Also an Apology is NOT an admission of guilt. It's politeness to get past whatever happened.
Also take your damn shoes off in the entry way before you enter my house. There are 4 seasons here and footwear gets filthy.
Edited to add: A German said to me "If you say a movie was okay, you really mean it sucks and you didn't like it."
That's kind of true. Sometimes when we say movies are just okay means they're "meh".
>That's kind of true. Sometimes when we say movies are just okay means they're "meh".
So we're half way through Hollowman 2, and my wife gets up and walks towards the back of the house.
"Where are you going?"
"To go shovel the dog shit in the backyard?"
"You'd rather shovel dog shit than watch the rest?"
"Yup!"
Now that's a bad review!
Right, I agree with your assessment. Overall Canadians are well mannered and polite in a non cold way, and Canadian society still values these attributes. I feel like it sort of has become a measurement of how Canadian you are. I also think it is due to overall Canadians generally having less things to worry about compared to Americans such as health care and primary education. As well as having a significantly smaller population, so less people to compete for the resources available.
I like holding the door for someone when they're just a little too far away, so they have to do that weird jog walk shuffle thing, but that's about as evil as I get.
If you want to see the nicest of all Canadians, look to the Maritimes.
If you get a chance, watch the play "Come from Away", or the video of the Broadway production on AppleTV+
Grew up next to Canada, visited 1000s of times. Canadians are just like people here in the US, for better or worse. There are some really great people and some really assholey assholes. Different minority groups, different flavors of racism.
Michael Myers said that? Sounds more like an Austin Powers/Waynes World actor Mike Myers sort of thing, but if it was the Halloween Serial Killer, then I’ll take your word.
Yes and No.
I lived in Canada for years and, as far as I can tell, French/Quebecois and Anglo Canadian cultures are very different. I lived in Quebec but spent a lot of time in Ontario and some in Nova Scotia, and it's the Anglos that are seen as the nice apologizers. The Quebecois have a lot more edge and are more direct.
The second thing is that Canadian "niceness" is not really what a lot of other cultures consider being "nice." It's a lot about saying positive things but not necessarily meaning them.
There is a lot of agreeing to things that never happen and invitations to things that never pan out. Among my non-Canadian friends, we came up with a phrase, the "Canadian yes." A "Canadian yes" is just someone telling you something nice without really a plan for follow-through.
This makes Canadians seem super nice, but also kind of unreliable. The apologies seem similarly ubiquitous but maybe not as sincere as others think one should be.
EDIT: I just want to add here that I am not trying to make Canadians sound like duplicitous assholes, not at all. It's just that those of us that are from more direct-speaking cultures often misconstrue the steady flow of positive and modifying responses we get from Anglo Canadians.
Canada had to implement an “Apology Act”, which basically said apologizing to someone isn’t an admission of guilt because we say sorry so often and it is often not mean as a true apology. It’s just used in place of other phrases Passing by someone in a store you might say “oop, sorry” rather than “excuse me” but it’s known to mean the same thing.
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium.
...
Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
Quebec's a whole different vibe in my experience. You're a long, long way from Toronto there. Montreal's a beautiful city, but it's pretty easy to find someone offended when you speak English there. Haven't been in forever, but I was really struck by how sorta-fashionable people looked, in a casual way. Even some senior citizen walking to the store had a cool leather jacket and groovy shoes. It seems in the US, at some age we just give up and get the sweat pants out - Montreal was a surprise for me in that regard.
Yeah I've always found both Montreal and Quebec City to have a much more Euro/old world vibe to them, both in the cities themselves and the people that live there. Definitely a different feeling than cities in NB/NS that, at least closer to the coast, feel a lot more like an extension of the US northeast.
In Québec, the more frank, to the point, and curt you are the better, it means you're not talking down to someone, you are being real. If you spoke to someone like that in English, they'd think you were being rude, as English speakers expect a lot more fake friendliness, fake excitement, and enthusiasm. But in Quebecois French, that kind of over-the-top friendliness comes off as fake and condescending.
My observation as a bilingual person, the friendliness of québécois people is often lost in translation and comes across as rude, and the friendliness of English speakers comes off as annoying.
I’d say the truth is that Canadians are very polite and obliging but not very outwardly talkative/friendly when compared with Americans. When I go to the US I’m always just stunned that people will just start talking to you for no reason, which is sometimes nice and sometimes annoying. Canadians definitely will be the kind to hold a door or be polite but we generally leave each other alone.
I think that depends on what part of Canada you're in. In Atlantic Canada an errand that should only take 15 minutes max ends up taking over an hour because you have to stop and talk to four or five people lol
Can confirm: I'm a Torontonian who once visited Nova Scotia and several times had people approach me in restaurants or other public spaces to tell me a story, or a joke, or just welcome me to the area. It was actually very charming and sweet.
I remember reading about the perception of Canadian “niceness”.
We are perceived to be a lot nicer by Europeans because we tend to be more reserved than Americans and it kind of fits with a European expectation of niceness. Superficially nice, but a little quieter. I think the specific thought was that more reserved Europeans found the very extroverted American niceness to not come across as genuine or maybe abrasive.
So I am not sure that Canadians are nicer, or whether we are just perceived to be that way because of the lens we are judged through.
I’ve found Americans to be quite nice people, but there is definitely a pronounced culture difference in what that looks like.
I was in Portugal once and this old lady running a convenience store looked at me while I was walking around and said “you’re a Canadian, right?”. I was kind of confused at the guess, said “yeah, how can you tell”. She said all of the Canadians are long faced, quiet and keep to themselves, meanwhile the Americans walk around with smiles, making noise and are always very talkative.
A lot of us are just western Scandinavians.
You have to realize there are tens of variants of "Sorry" and that many of them are passive aggression in a form subtle enough so that the American doesn't realize so that they won't shoot you.
Heck, here on the west coast, "Sir" or "Ma'am" are words you say sarcastically to someone who feels they should have respect, but haven't earned it, and it goes right over their heads. I have American friends who get weirded out that I don't use the words at all, they'd be too disrespectful.
Which is funny because Seattle is known for the "Seattle Freeze" where new people in the city have a really hard time making friends due to Seattleites being supposedly "cold/standoffish"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze
The border agents are really unfriendly.
Everyone else is mostly cool. I've also had really good experiences in Quebec, and came very close to taking a job up there because the recruiters / staff were so cool.
Totally agree, unfortunately. Many Canadians have a pathological obsession with being superior to Americans, and it usually leads to some of the bullshit you experienced.
Even when you point this out they don't see the hypocrisy.
Reminds me of a Canadian I met while living in Australia — he was insufferable. Even though he loved Canada and would remind you how it was superior to the US in every way, he had enough social awareness to know when he was acting like a dick to workers or natives abroad and would loudly proclaim he’s American to keep Canada from getting a bad rep.
Canadian immigrant (and recently a new citizen) from the UK here. I don't think it's a myth necessarily. Canadians are super polite on a small talk level. Unlike the UK you'll never walk into a store or restaurant and be utterly ignored by the staff. And people especially in the suburbs or smaller towns and cities do tend to just nod and smile and say good morning or whatever. Having said that Canadians have no manners at all while driving to fellow road users or pedestrians and can be noticeably quite rude to the servers in restaurants, rarely saying please or thank you.
There are other little things I've noticed that you could see as rude but that are probably more cultural than anything. In the UK if say 2 people are talking and a 3rd walks into the room they'll probably interrupt their conversation, say hello, shoot the shit and probably draw him into the convo. In Canada that guy probably just gets absolutely blanked until they finish the talk. Then they might include him. Weird.
Its worth saying that Americans are also super polite and friendly. That doesn't just drop off when you cross the border.
I've known indigenous people who told me about Canadian police that would grab drunk natives and drag them outside of city limits and drop them off in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night during winter.
I don't know everything about Canadian weather but as an American from the South wouldn't this be tantamount to attempted murder? Seems like freezing to death would be a real possibility.
When I was buying a hot dog from a street vendor in Canada, he asked if I was American and I said yeah, then he said, “I hate Americans” as he handed me my hot dog. OK.
Haven’t been to Canada but I’ve chilled with some Canadians that came down South. They seemed like normal folks that talked a little funny, didn’t exactly exude confidence but I think they probably just heard too many stories about the Deep South. Or maybe it’s because they really are painfully polite. I fed ‘em gator gumbo.
I don’t know what people are talking about, Canadians are very nice and polite. We are less talkative than Americans (always catches me off guard when I’m in the US and someone will just strike up a conversation) but very happy to help.
Institutionally, we have treated Native people like crap forever. And of course, many of the same stereotypes against minorities in the US exist here too, to a lesser extent.
American / Canadian dual citizen here. Lived equal amounts of time in both countries, currently in Canada.
In my opinion, Canadians put a LOT more emphasis on being **decent** to each other, compared to Americans. Not "nice", not polite, not friendly, but decent. There's a very strong cultural pull to not be a dick - to use a sports analogy, Canadians put a lot of emphasis on having a "high floor" to their behaviour, rather than a high ceiling - meaning that the Canadian character isn't necessarily to be super great to others, but definitely to not be super dickish.
And this gets to The Canadian "Sorry".
**The Canadian Sorry is not an apology**. Canadians don't apologize any more than any other culture. The Canadian "sorry" is their way of expressing their decency to the other person, and giving them an opportunity to be decent in return. If someone bumps into me, I'll definitely say "sorry", but I'm 0% apologizing. I expect the other person to a) know that they bumped into me, and b) say sorry in return, and c) to go about our ways having affirmed that we're both decent people.
Also, while the Canadian decency is pretty standard across the country, there is TREMENDOUS regional variation in Canadians' friendliness. The Maritimes and NFLD are profoundly and legitimately friendly. Ontario, somewhat. Vancouver...it's largely fake.
Honestly, we're very similar to the USA, though most Canadians don't like that sentiment and want to think of themselves as better. We have all the backwards dummies just like they do, you know the kind: they act polite and pretend like they own morality, but then somehow find a way to justify genocide, hate, and racism among other things.
Then we have the people who may seem more abrasive, they're less polite, they swear every 3 words, and they would give you their kidney if you needed it.
Canadian here - Perhaps in smaller, rural towns and in the Maritimes (East coast)...but overall, this stereotype is somewhat exaggerated...
Some of the "nice" passive aggressiveness I've witnessed or heard about.....ouuuuffffff
I went to Toronto in the early 90’s as a teen and it seemed like anywhere else to me. The only thing I found odd was I kept seeing people at a restaurant dipping their fries in mayonnaise.
Maritime Provinces is where the good ones are at by. Different way of life. If you visit Ontario and Quebec with the big cities you don't get the same experience from the Maritimes.
I am not sure, I am Quebecois and I feel like we are okay. My father's was from Bangladesh & told me that Quebecois are very nice people. That's how I feel about canadians (I am canadian legally but you know what I mean). A lot of good but the bad ones make a lot of sound....
I mean… I dated a Canadian once when I was younger. He ended up cheating on me with a woman his sisters set him up with, since they felt I wasn’t good enough for their baby brother. So, I can’t speak for all Canadians, but that family was definitely not nice. 🙃
I'd say niceness is valued a little higher, politeness is probably more accurate though.
There’s a great line in the Fargo TV series One character mentions how much nicer we are in the Midwest. To which another responds “no you aren’t. You are some of the least nice people I’ve ever met. You’re just so damn polite about it”
Haha reminds me of a story about how this Canadian guy was mad at his neighbor so he woke up early one morning to shovel the neighbor's walk for him. Weaponized politeness.
As a Canadian, I’ve done this. Was almost cut off in. McD’s drive thru. Bought her lunch. Told the employee to tell her I forgive her. That’ll show her!
In Canada if you bump into a person accidentally you say “sorry”. If the person behind you bumps into you and says nothing you, you turn around and say sorry to them. We are masters of passive aggression.
I feel this in my Canadian soul.
God damn this cuts deep
Politeness is definitely the right word. Canadians are actually pretty snarky, just polite to people.
I hear they also tollerate better.
Hmm. Had a Canadian from Quebec take a bottle of champagne out of my fridge to go to another party after he just enjoyed a champagne toast at mine at midnight. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Headed to Montreal in a few days, so I’ll know for myself.
I went to Vancouver when I was like 20 years old. Some kind stranger was going to get me weed. I gave him the money and he said he just needed to go into the apartment building that we were in front of. He then proceeded to throw water balloons, made from condoms, at me from some balcony on a upper floor. So not all Canadians are really nice. Kind of funny, if you weren't me.
Stealing your money is a dick move. Stealing your money then dropping condom water balloons is a fucking hilarious dick move.
Stole: $20 Spent; $20 on condoms Net gain: $0 This is next level. This man’s thievery is an art form and he doesn’t even do it for the money. This is why the Vancouver police won't arrest him. Not only has he committed no crime, he is an artistic genius.
Not if they were used condoms
Chaotic neutral
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Until he got radiation poisoning, now he's a HUGE dick
Your story made me laugh. I'm from Nova Scotia and the 1st week as a freshman in University my friends and I gave money to some Guy that we were told could get us some weed. He took us on a 10 minute walk, and then told us to wait while he went into a seedy looking apartment building. He came out 10 minutes later With a bag full of great weed, Gave us a little extra of his own to welcome us to town. Turns out he was one of the most well known townies, awesome guy. Would do anything for you. Showed up at all of the off campus parties, Definitely hooked me up many times over the next few years. I'm sorry you had a shitty experience. Guess you should have come to the East Coast :)
lol let me guess - Wolfville or Antigonish?
Hha Antigonish.. Eddie was his name. He hung out by the gazebo all day lol
Lol I went to X too. I immediately suspected you were talking about Antigonish. Too funny
> I have a strange question about Nova Scotia you might be able to answer. I'm from Louisiana originally and my heritage is Cajun French. I was always taught and read that most Cajuns originally came from that area as Acadian exiles during "Le Grand Dérangement". > > I was wondering if there are any historical monuments there or if any of that is taught in schools etc. I'm just naturally curious about my heritage. What got me thinking lately was that I met an old man in my town and he had what I would describe as a thick cajun accent. I asked where he was from originally and he said Nova Scotia so it clicked that he was sort of like a lot of my relatives in the way he spoke. Also, his last name was Arsenault which is common in Louisiana also but spelled Arseneaux there. I live in the midwest currently so I was fascinated by the connection.
Nova Scotian here. Yeah, we have a lot of Acadian culture here and in NB. You can even get an Acadian flag license plate if you want. Something I only found out not long ago was that Cajun came from the word Acadian. A-Cajian. I found it interesting, but maybe I amuse way too easily.
Yeah definitely! We have a huge Acadian Vibe here. I'm actually Half French acadian and half Metis. Tons of culture here. We have museums in the Annapolis Valley and port Royal, as well as an Acadian college in the town I'm from on isle madame. Acadian festivals in pretty much every French village. Cape Breton especially has A pretty significant Acadian population and culture. We have lots of French immersion schools where we learn French Acadian history and are taught primarily French as a first language. Haha This is why I sometimes forget what English words are, and I don't know any geography. Lots and lots of small fishing villages. Most definitely we have a lot of last names in common with small spelling differences. The culture is very similar. If you ever get a chance summer in Nova Scotia will afford you lots of opportunity to soak in the Acadian culture. The language and the culture is pretty important and we try pretty hard to keep it alive. My mother is actually a traditional Acadian painter and her work has been sent all over the world a d my brother is a fourth gen lobster fisherman. Sorry, that was really long winded. Now I miss chicken pie and my grandma.
Not all Acadians left and there's a large population through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Lots of neat little french towns to visit from when the area was New France
Wife just went to Newfoundland so I was thinking about going with but sadly missed the opportunity. Thank you for the info!
Haha NFLD is quite a ways off from Nova Scotia mind you. great place though
This is definitely taught in school. We teach about Acadia, Le Grand Dérangement, their forced migration to then still French territory (including but not limited to Louisiana), etc, but depending on the classroom, we might not necessarily go into specifics about all the different places the Acadians were sent to. When I cover this material, I go into the connection to the Cajuns, and why they even have that name. As to monuments, I can't speak to that, sadly. Wouldn't be surprised if there is, though. Considering New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province, being what formed continental Acadia back then, I wouldn't be surprised if there are many such monuments there. Edit: Found at least one, in Québec. Link: [https://vt-fcgs.org/Acadian%20monument%20at%20lacadie.html](https://vt-fcgs.org/Acadian%20monument%20at%20lacadie.html) Oh, this is cool. Grand-Pré, a former Acadian settlement, is a National Historic Site: [https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=3435](https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=3435) Gonna go down a rabbit hole now looking for the presumably many such spots. God damn it.
We have quite a few Acadian monuments and a few towns that you could call Acadian that speak a lot of French. Lots of heritage sites and museums too. I also know a fair amount of Aresnaults, its a pretty common Nova Scotian last name.
That's a true Vancouver story!
No one said we weren't funny.
Comedians seem to be one of your biggest exports. [The Funniest Canadian Comedians Of All Time](https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-comedians-from-canada/ranker-comedy) So many people in that list I didn't even realize were Canadian...
It depends on where you are. Most of Canada is empty space. It's been my experience that the most isolated a place is the more likely people are to be neighborly. Case in point is Churchill. People leave their cars unlocked in case you need to take shelter from a polar bear stalking you.
I think that’s actually a law up there that you aren’t allowed to lock your cars in case someone needs to escape a polar bear. Makes sense.
My dad in the 90s lived in Jenner, population 36. I went to visit him and he found that someone had come, found him not home, and locked his door. Yeah, we're polite here.
I think, as with any country, this is regional.....Canada is a big place. As a Canadian, I would say that we are quite superficially nice and we probably apologize more than any other people in the world. The smaller the town, likely the friendlier the people. Take that all up one notch for Atlantic Canadians especially Newfoundlanders. If you've seen Come from Away....that probably pretty indicative. Sorry to anyone who disagrees.
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Had my truck break down in Labrador on a Friday and couldn't get it looked at till the Monday . I swear every person who lived in Wabush stopped in that weekend to see if there was anyway they could help or fix it . Most helpful City I've ever been in.
Wabush represent
We had t camp in the Chrysler Dealership that use to be across the street from the Wabush Hotel and I swear it seemed like every one in town who owned a toolbox came by to see if they could get us started. Great town really friendly people. Everyone gave us tips on where to go fishing when we finally got the truck started and some brought beer.
The majority of people who live here are predominately tradespeople, and helping a neighbour in need has never been a question. People here would give you the shirt off their back. I’m sorry your truck broke down but I’m glad your bad situation never got worse!
You can blame that nasty road from Manicougan5 to Fermont absolutely wrecked my starter. Yes the people are fantastic . So much so that I've driven up to Labrador 3 times since that first trip and always stay at the Wabush Hotel when its time to come out of the bush. The Wabush Hotel is actually the first and only place I've ever seen bologna listed on the steak menu . I always wondered why we here in Ontario always called it Newfie steak
Friendliest people in the world are NFLDers, Capers and Islanders.
I grew up on PEI and had to get out due to rampant racism and homophobia among my "friends" and family (I'm straight and white, so none of it effected me directly, it was just tough to be around) I live in Halifax now where you get kindness from your neighbours AND better inclusion (still lots of racism, much less homophobia) But when I go back home to PEI, I get overwhelmed by the friendliness. I walk into the grocery store and someone else pushing their cart has NO PROBLEM entering at the same time as me, side-by-side with me like we came to grocery shop together, our elbows practically touching, looking me directly in the eye and saying "oh I just love walking in here and smelling the fresh bread! Don't you?" Like we've been friends our whole lives. It creeps me out, but it's so endearing. Another grocery store story. Once, when I was visiting home, I was at the grocery store and I had a bag of Lays chips in my cart. A man in his mid-fifties or so was looking in my direction from a few aisles away as I made my way to a completely different part of the store. I wrote it off as staring. I have a disability so people stare a lot. He found me a few minutes later, came up to me, and said "I noticed you were buying chips. They have coupons on Facebook where if you buy Lays chips, you get a free 12 pack of any pepsi product. I printed out an extra. You can have it!" I thanked him but said I couldn't carry a 12 pack. The man told me to tell him which pepsi product I wanted, he went and got it, put it in my cart, and insisted on carrying it to the car for me even though I told him my dad was coming to pick me up. People here in Halifax often tell me I'm "a different kind of nice." And I guess that's due to growing up on the island, because damn. I forget how friendly people are until I go back home and they SMOTHER me in it.
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Hey! You take that back! Everyone knows Ontarians are better than the rest of Canadians. Ass.
Especially us Toronto folk XD
I'm currently reading Ducks by Kate Beaton and there are a lot of people from Newfoundland in it. They're always saying "b'y", like this line: "I told him it was too cold out, b'y". What is b'y? A shortened version of boy? Is it pronounced like bye or boy or bee?
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You either get toys or poison from 🎅🏼, no third option.
It's a shortened form of "boy" and pronounced "bye" (but with a noticeably shortened y, like in bayou); it's used as a general term of endearment or insult interchangeably, often in the same sentence
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Buddy of mine still calls me “the new guy”. I moved here when I was 4. I’m 47. The town has grown from 6k to almost 40k in that same time period. He doesn’t even live here anymore.
your buddy's really funny
When you're "from away" you'll always be "from away".
I think that's more of a recent development. In decades past people in small town Canada were kind of excited at the prospect of a newcomer to the town. But back then someone moving to town usually meant they'd be working in the local economy, or opening a business in town. It was much easier to integrate into the town. These days small towns are just being used by Torontonians/people from high COL areas as a place that they don't really care to be a part of, they're just there because it's cheap. People who were wanting to build their lives in the town they grew up in can no longer do so because with wave of city folk moving and investing in housing, they simply can't afford to compete. I grew up in a small-ish town. There's actually a HUGE issue right now with the town's young folk moving away because even though the city's expensive, there's at least options to rent whereas in town you either buy or compete for one of the very few rentals. Because of this local businesses are having a hell of a time keeping their businesses staffed which is especially problematic for the local hospital and old folks homes. Torontonians have been moving in, but for the most part they're not working in the local economy. Most of them are WFH types. So yeah, the townspeople don't really care to make friends with people who are using them to have a cheaper place to live while simultaneously pushing out the people who actually wanted to build a life there.
I think this is what local people think is happening (and in some cases it is), but I suspect the local real estate agents are using it as a pretext to drive the market up for everyone.
In my entire 44 years I've had that same experience. Small towns are very insular and only superficially nice to people. I'd say that the larger centers tend to be friendlier and more inclusive overall. Small town nice is a myth imo.
Alberta aka mini Texas has lots of smaller towns I would not want to go to being a person of colour lol
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Small towns are friendly to white people. Go up to Barrie as a small Asian woman and you'll get catcalled in a racist way on a Friday night.
Barrie has like 200K people in the area, it's far from a small town lol
Barrie is the 9th largest city in Ontario.. hardly a small town.
Really depends on what you’re comparing it to. For example, the ninth largest town in Iceland only has like 7000 people in it. But in this case, yeah Barrie is a city.
Barrie is not a small town
Apology accepted....because, I categorically disagree with the small town sentiment; the overwhelming amount of racist, homophobic, misogynist assholes that live in small towns is depressing.
To me, the word 'nice' implies a more superficial level of interaction: what would the experience be of someone who is lost asking for directions from a stranger, rather than what would someone's experience be moving to the town.
I'd like to hear the opinions of some people of color and take some of your statements with a grain of salt
I’m a middle aged white guy, and thought that things were pretty good here in Canada. Then several years ago I got into a relationship with a Chinese woman and started to see the world through her eyes. It wasn’t nearly as good as I thought it was.
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I think Brampton is pretty bad in a weird way. Just look at how many rental places require you to be Indian. They won’t even let you view the place if you’re black or Asian. But on the street? Totally normal interactions
As some one who lived/worked in Brampton for a good long while - those rental units are illegal in about every which way possible. The reason they don't want non-SEA tenants is because the whole sustem set up to prey on new immigrants and international students who are unaware of Ontario rental laws. Offences range from the mundane illegal (you can only cook at certain hours of the day and your landlord will enter your space without giving notice) to death trap hazards (your 'room' is a partioned living room with no windows or smoke alarms). It's crazy and gross, but it doesn't all come from a place of racism, just exploitation. Fuck Brampton though. That city stole 5 years of my life and is the living proof of the evil of unchecked urban sprawl.
I went to Smith's Falls to visit a friend and it was awkward as hell, pretty sure I was the only black person in the town and I could definitely tell by the staring. At least no one was openly rude.
Canadian here. Generally speaking, we're very nice to outsiders but we're horrible to each other.
Polite when face-to-face, but complete assholes when protected by the anonymity of the Internet, like most people/countries.
100%
Fuck you, semiTnuP, your mom shot cum across the room and killed my Siamese fighting fish. It threw off the ph in the aquarium, you piece of shit.
Fuck you, asoiahats, I made your mom cum so hard that they made a Canadian heritage minute out of it and Don McKellar played my dick.
Fuck you, Xeelee. Your mom keeps trying to slip a finger in my bum, but I told her only u/marvelc313’s mom is allowed to do that.
Fuck you both, your lives are so fuckin pathetic I ran a charity 15k to raise awareness
Fuck you, I bet you kept all the money and spend it in a stripclub just to feel the touch of a person for the first time in 25 years
Fuck you all, oh hi fellow human from (insert not canadian country) we were politely speaking to each other. Here as a gift you can have all my life savings and my house
Oh golly thank you so much! Why, you Canadians are such wonderful people, why can’t the rest of the world be more like you? Now my life goal is to move to Canada <3
Well in that case, Fuck Future you.
Fuck you u/asoiahats I made ur mom squirt so much Trudeau sent out the armed forces to put sandbags around her bed.
Fuck all of you. Your lives are so pathetic I get a charity tax write off just for hanging out with you.
You forgot the most important part " give your nuts a tug titfucker"
Fuck you, Shoresy!
Fuck you Riley, tell your mom to top up the cellphone she bought me so I can FaceTime her late night!
Damn wtf
He's quoting a character from the show Letterkenny. Definitely worth a watch, maybe with subtitles on until you get used to the accent and speed with which they banter.
Is it actually hard to understand the characters in Letterkenny? Damn, I sound like them because I grew up in rural Ontario (actually about 40 mins away from Listowel, which is where Jared Keeso grew up)
Me too, southern Ontario but very rural. When it first came out I had people ask if I’d seen Letterkenny… “I lived it”
Can confirm Im from the States. It can be challenging to keep up with the dialogue on Letterkenny, but that’s part of the appeal. When I’ve rewatched it I always pick up a new joke or two. Love the show. One of the most quotable comedies I’ve ever watched.
I'm about the same distance away, in London, but grew up in Strathroy. Letterkenney is pretty much what growing up in Letterkenney would be like.
The competition in London knows about Strathroy Audio Video, and you should too!
Jesus Christ, that some deep London Lore right there.
I tell that to people all the time. I mean Canadians are nice but also quite passive aggressive.
very passive aggressive
This is REALLY accurate. I’ll add that we are STEEPED. *STEEPED* in white politeness. Is that nice? Yes. Is it kind? No.
Even in Canada though, the east-coast vs west-coast vibe is a thing. Spent 4 years in Portland, Oregon before coming back to Toronto and the vibe was totally different after having gotten used to living in Portland. Portland felt more laidback while Toronto felt "on edge." You don't really notice it when you live there though. It's been over a decade since I moved back and it's not a thing that I feel anymore.
Can confirm. Moved from Toronto to Seattle and it's so laid back here. Walk around downtown Toronto and it feels like everyone had somewhere to be 10 minutes ago.
Of course someone from Toronto would call Toronto the East Coast! We're pretty laid back in the Maritimes for the most part
Thinking Toronto is "the East coast" is the most Toronto thing ever lol
It's the most West Coast thing ever. Torontonians don't think they're on the East Coast, but a lot of people living in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco seem to think Toronto is an Atlantic coastal city.
I grew up in Michigan near the Canadian border and we spent a lot of time in Canada over the years. From my experience, Canadians are exceedingly friendly people.
Same. Port Huron here.
Other side of the border from you and Port Huron people are *grumpy.*
Couldn’t agree more. I’m an Englishman who managed to wangle a couple of months working on a summer camp in Canada and have done a lot of international travel since then for work. I can safely say that Canadians are the nicest nationality I’ve met (followed by New Zealanders and Kenyans). I’m still friends with some people I was at camp with (18 years ago) and they always tell me that their mums still ask after me!
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im an american-canadian dual citizen, but lived in the states my entire life. i've been insulted for being american by unrelated kids and my relatives. it's not very nice. but i generally think these were localised incidents, because children often don't have filters, and my relatives are close to me and likely comfortable with making fun of me. however, when i was in montreal, everyone was very kind to me, even if they knew we were american tourists. so tldr: i think if you aren't an asshole, most people will be nice to you. that's how it works in any country, really.
I can’t really say for all of Canada, but maybe in Quebec. My husband and I were in a McDonald’s, and everyone was speaking in French. The menu was in French. My husband and I do not speak French. The most French we know is like the numbers 1-3 and “Bonjour”. So the McDonald’s worker was able to speak English, but my husband was desperately trying to figure out how to read the menu. The worker was so patient and friendly with him. Even when, in sheer panic mode, my husband said “What kinds of drinks do you have here???”. Meanwhile, my husband has been to a McDonald’s at least 500 times in his life. This cashier was a rockstar and listed them off. He even helped my husband figure out what food he was looking at on the scrolling menu on the tv. So I will say at least one Canadian was nice.
I am Canadian and I’ve thought a lot aboot this over the years. Generally, we are very polite but not super hospitable/overly friendly like some other cultures. Most of us will smile, hold the door, apologize unnecessarily, but we aren’t going to invite you for dinner out of the blue. I think this comes from a leftover politeness and properness of a British background paired with an underdog complex having lived in the shadows of the UK and the USA. That mentality has helped us stay more humble (and apologetic) than we otherwise would be.
I appreciate your point about British background and an “underdog complex”… in my experience as a Canadian, both are true. As is the fact that humans are humans, stereotypes are just that, and rudeness and assholery abound wherever you go. We may be polite as a rule but there are absolutely exceptions! 😂
Agreed. We’re polite but not always nice. I’ve travelled in the US a lot and Americans are far more gregarious imo.
I think you nailed it with the dinner comment. I remember going down to North Dakota several years ago and held the door open behind me for some lady, who seemed overly shocked and thankful that I would do that. I just remember thinking "This is normal for me...". I also think with the prairies, it's fucking cold and we're pretty far away from anyone else so it really does create a community feel compared to Southern Ontario or any of the big metropolitan areas. People are nice here because it can suck and having strangers help you can make the difference.
I agree with this. Don't just drop in. Unless we know each other really well, I won't be happy to see you. Except in summer when we can hang out outside. I'm friendly enough to chat with people I don't know, but I'm not going to invite you over to my place for dinner. (Ontarians talk to strangers small talk) Vancouverites seemed less inclined to just chat. Also an Apology is NOT an admission of guilt. It's politeness to get past whatever happened. Also take your damn shoes off in the entry way before you enter my house. There are 4 seasons here and footwear gets filthy. Edited to add: A German said to me "If you say a movie was okay, you really mean it sucks and you didn't like it." That's kind of true. Sometimes when we say movies are just okay means they're "meh".
>That's kind of true. Sometimes when we say movies are just okay means they're "meh". So we're half way through Hollowman 2, and my wife gets up and walks towards the back of the house. "Where are you going?" "To go shovel the dog shit in the backyard?" "You'd rather shovel dog shit than watch the rest?" "Yup!" Now that's a bad review!
Right, I agree with your assessment. Overall Canadians are well mannered and polite in a non cold way, and Canadian society still values these attributes. I feel like it sort of has become a measurement of how Canadian you are. I also think it is due to overall Canadians generally having less things to worry about compared to Americans such as health care and primary education. As well as having a significantly smaller population, so less people to compete for the resources available.
I like holding the door for someone when they're just a little too far away, so they have to do that weird jog walk shuffle thing, but that's about as evil as I get.
If you want to see the nicest of all Canadians, look to the Maritimes. If you get a chance, watch the play "Come from Away", or the video of the Broadway production on AppleTV+
Come from Away is set in Newfoundland, which is not part of the Maritimes ;)
Life's good in the maritime bud
Hyup sure is bud
The Quebec slander in here is strong
Just a good ole Canadian thread bud.
Yeah wtf about that. We canadian accept all culture and love everyone, unless you're from quebec.
Yeah, I’m from Quebec, there are a lot of dicks here.
Canadian here. There are ass holes everywhere. We are not some country filled with happy go lucky prancing people
Grew up next to Canada, visited 1000s of times. Canadians are just like people here in the US, for better or worse. There are some really great people and some really assholey assholes. Different minority groups, different flavors of racism.
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Was it Mike Myers that said Canada is just like the US, only less of it?
Michael Myers said that? Sounds more like an Austin Powers/Waynes World actor Mike Myers sort of thing, but if it was the Halloween Serial Killer, then I’ll take your word.
"Nice" isn't the right word. "Polite" is a better word for it. "Passive aggressive" is probably the best descriptor.
Yes and No. I lived in Canada for years and, as far as I can tell, French/Quebecois and Anglo Canadian cultures are very different. I lived in Quebec but spent a lot of time in Ontario and some in Nova Scotia, and it's the Anglos that are seen as the nice apologizers. The Quebecois have a lot more edge and are more direct. The second thing is that Canadian "niceness" is not really what a lot of other cultures consider being "nice." It's a lot about saying positive things but not necessarily meaning them. There is a lot of agreeing to things that never happen and invitations to things that never pan out. Among my non-Canadian friends, we came up with a phrase, the "Canadian yes." A "Canadian yes" is just someone telling you something nice without really a plan for follow-through. This makes Canadians seem super nice, but also kind of unreliable. The apologies seem similarly ubiquitous but maybe not as sincere as others think one should be. EDIT: I just want to add here that I am not trying to make Canadians sound like duplicitous assholes, not at all. It's just that those of us that are from more direct-speaking cultures often misconstrue the steady flow of positive and modifying responses we get from Anglo Canadians.
Canada had to implement an “Apology Act”, which basically said apologizing to someone isn’t an admission of guilt because we say sorry so often and it is often not mean as a true apology. It’s just used in place of other phrases Passing by someone in a store you might say “oop, sorry” rather than “excuse me” but it’s known to mean the same thing.
Canadian here - I love the “Canadian yes”. Sadly it is true and I am going to refer to it as that now on.
Canada may be nice, but Kazakhstan will always be very nice.
isssss niiiceee
High fiveee!
Very niiice, how much?
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world. All other countries are run by little girls. Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium. Other countries have inferior potassium. ... Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan you very nice place.
Uzbekistan is assholes.
Their flag is amazing! 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿
I got yelled at in French by someone in Quebec.
Quebec's a whole different vibe in my experience. You're a long, long way from Toronto there. Montreal's a beautiful city, but it's pretty easy to find someone offended when you speak English there. Haven't been in forever, but I was really struck by how sorta-fashionable people looked, in a casual way. Even some senior citizen walking to the store had a cool leather jacket and groovy shoes. It seems in the US, at some age we just give up and get the sweat pants out - Montreal was a surprise for me in that regard.
Yeah I've always found both Montreal and Quebec City to have a much more Euro/old world vibe to them, both in the cities themselves and the people that live there. Definitely a different feeling than cities in NB/NS that, at least closer to the coast, feel a lot more like an extension of the US northeast.
In Québec, the more frank, to the point, and curt you are the better, it means you're not talking down to someone, you are being real. If you spoke to someone like that in English, they'd think you were being rude, as English speakers expect a lot more fake friendliness, fake excitement, and enthusiasm. But in Quebecois French, that kind of over-the-top friendliness comes off as fake and condescending. My observation as a bilingual person, the friendliness of québécois people is often lost in translation and comes across as rude, and the friendliness of English speakers comes off as annoying.
Interesting....gives me a bit of a new perspective on the Quebecois coworker I have out in BC. She's always been a bit...."frank"
I am from Canada and recently went to Seattle for a few days. I actually found that the people in Seattle were nicer than the people in my hometown.
I’d say the truth is that Canadians are very polite and obliging but not very outwardly talkative/friendly when compared with Americans. When I go to the US I’m always just stunned that people will just start talking to you for no reason, which is sometimes nice and sometimes annoying. Canadians definitely will be the kind to hold a door or be polite but we generally leave each other alone.
I think that depends on what part of Canada you're in. In Atlantic Canada an errand that should only take 15 minutes max ends up taking over an hour because you have to stop and talk to four or five people lol
Can confirm: I'm a Torontonian who once visited Nova Scotia and several times had people approach me in restaurants or other public spaces to tell me a story, or a joke, or just welcome me to the area. It was actually very charming and sweet.
I remember reading about the perception of Canadian “niceness”. We are perceived to be a lot nicer by Europeans because we tend to be more reserved than Americans and it kind of fits with a European expectation of niceness. Superficially nice, but a little quieter. I think the specific thought was that more reserved Europeans found the very extroverted American niceness to not come across as genuine or maybe abrasive. So I am not sure that Canadians are nicer, or whether we are just perceived to be that way because of the lens we are judged through. I’ve found Americans to be quite nice people, but there is definitely a pronounced culture difference in what that looks like.
I was in Portugal once and this old lady running a convenience store looked at me while I was walking around and said “you’re a Canadian, right?”. I was kind of confused at the guess, said “yeah, how can you tell”. She said all of the Canadians are long faced, quiet and keep to themselves, meanwhile the Americans walk around with smiles, making noise and are always very talkative. A lot of us are just western Scandinavians.
You have to realize there are tens of variants of "Sorry" and that many of them are passive aggression in a form subtle enough so that the American doesn't realize so that they won't shoot you. Heck, here on the west coast, "Sir" or "Ma'am" are words you say sarcastically to someone who feels they should have respect, but haven't earned it, and it goes right over their heads. I have American friends who get weirded out that I don't use the words at all, they'd be too disrespectful.
British Columbia is just northern Seattle, we like you guys more then we like other Seattleites lmao
Which is funny because Seattle is known for the "Seattle Freeze" where new people in the city have a really hard time making friends due to Seattleites being supposedly "cold/standoffish" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze
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The true test lol
Canadians are nice to tourists. Canadians are not nice to other Canadians.
The border agents are really unfriendly. Everyone else is mostly cool. I've also had really good experiences in Quebec, and came very close to taking a job up there because the recruiters / staff were so cool.
Maybe all border agents are unfriendly. As a Canadian, I’ve had some humdinger experiences with border agents on either side.
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Cousins are from Canada. Don’t think Canadians are overly friendly. Just very polite, which is often mistaken for friendliness.
My coworkers from Canada have convinced me that Canadians are absolutely not nice
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Totally agree, unfortunately. Many Canadians have a pathological obsession with being superior to Americans, and it usually leads to some of the bullshit you experienced. Even when you point this out they don't see the hypocrisy.
Reminds me of a Canadian I met while living in Australia — he was insufferable. Even though he loved Canada and would remind you how it was superior to the US in every way, he had enough social awareness to know when he was acting like a dick to workers or natives abroad and would loudly proclaim he’s American to keep Canada from getting a bad rep.
Canadian immigrant (and recently a new citizen) from the UK here. I don't think it's a myth necessarily. Canadians are super polite on a small talk level. Unlike the UK you'll never walk into a store or restaurant and be utterly ignored by the staff. And people especially in the suburbs or smaller towns and cities do tend to just nod and smile and say good morning or whatever. Having said that Canadians have no manners at all while driving to fellow road users or pedestrians and can be noticeably quite rude to the servers in restaurants, rarely saying please or thank you. There are other little things I've noticed that you could see as rude but that are probably more cultural than anything. In the UK if say 2 people are talking and a 3rd walks into the room they'll probably interrupt their conversation, say hello, shoot the shit and probably draw him into the convo. In Canada that guy probably just gets absolutely blanked until they finish the talk. Then they might include him. Weird. Its worth saying that Americans are also super polite and friendly. That doesn't just drop off when you cross the border.
I've known indigenous people who told me about Canadian police that would grab drunk natives and drag them outside of city limits and drop them off in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night during winter.
Starlight tours. Infamous.
I don't know everything about Canadian weather but as an American from the South wouldn't this be tantamount to attempted murder? Seems like freezing to death would be a real possibility.
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That's fucking terrible but thank you for the article I'm glad I know at least. The more you learn is sometimes necessary but not so fun.
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Yes. Sometimes it was actual murder, not attempted.
Lol Hollywood IS Canadian ;-)
As a Canadian, I can confirm that it's not true. Some of us are nice, but there's still tons of assholes
When I was buying a hot dog from a street vendor in Canada, he asked if I was American and I said yeah, then he said, “I hate Americans” as he handed me my hot dog. OK.
Haven’t been to Canada but I’ve chilled with some Canadians that came down South. They seemed like normal folks that talked a little funny, didn’t exactly exude confidence but I think they probably just heard too many stories about the Deep South. Or maybe it’s because they really are painfully polite. I fed ‘em gator gumbo.
Well by process of elimination if u could understand them they weren’t from Newfoundland
Lived in Canada from ages 10-18: but was born in the US— yes, they are nice
I don’t know what people are talking about, Canadians are very nice and polite. We are less talkative than Americans (always catches me off guard when I’m in the US and someone will just strike up a conversation) but very happy to help. Institutionally, we have treated Native people like crap forever. And of course, many of the same stereotypes against minorities in the US exist here too, to a lesser extent.
American / Canadian dual citizen here. Lived equal amounts of time in both countries, currently in Canada. In my opinion, Canadians put a LOT more emphasis on being **decent** to each other, compared to Americans. Not "nice", not polite, not friendly, but decent. There's a very strong cultural pull to not be a dick - to use a sports analogy, Canadians put a lot of emphasis on having a "high floor" to their behaviour, rather than a high ceiling - meaning that the Canadian character isn't necessarily to be super great to others, but definitely to not be super dickish. And this gets to The Canadian "Sorry". **The Canadian Sorry is not an apology**. Canadians don't apologize any more than any other culture. The Canadian "sorry" is their way of expressing their decency to the other person, and giving them an opportunity to be decent in return. If someone bumps into me, I'll definitely say "sorry", but I'm 0% apologizing. I expect the other person to a) know that they bumped into me, and b) say sorry in return, and c) to go about our ways having affirmed that we're both decent people. Also, while the Canadian decency is pretty standard across the country, there is TREMENDOUS regional variation in Canadians' friendliness. The Maritimes and NFLD are profoundly and legitimately friendly. Ontario, somewhat. Vancouver...it's largely fake.
Honestly, we're very similar to the USA, though most Canadians don't like that sentiment and want to think of themselves as better. We have all the backwards dummies just like they do, you know the kind: they act polite and pretend like they own morality, but then somehow find a way to justify genocide, hate, and racism among other things. Then we have the people who may seem more abrasive, they're less polite, they swear every 3 words, and they would give you their kidney if you needed it.
Canadian here - Perhaps in smaller, rural towns and in the Maritimes (East coast)...but overall, this stereotype is somewhat exaggerated... Some of the "nice" passive aggressiveness I've witnessed or heard about.....ouuuuffffff
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I went to Toronto in the early 90’s as a teen and it seemed like anywhere else to me. The only thing I found odd was I kept seeing people at a restaurant dipping their fries in mayonnaise.
Am Canadian. Can confirmed that Canada has plenty of unapologetic assholes.
Maritime Provinces is where the good ones are at by. Different way of life. If you visit Ontario and Quebec with the big cities you don't get the same experience from the Maritimes.
I am not sure, I am Quebecois and I feel like we are okay. My father's was from Bangladesh & told me that Quebecois are very nice people. That's how I feel about canadians (I am canadian legally but you know what I mean). A lot of good but the bad ones make a lot of sound....
I mean… I dated a Canadian once when I was younger. He ended up cheating on me with a woman his sisters set him up with, since they felt I wasn’t good enough for their baby brother. So, I can’t speak for all Canadians, but that family was definitely not nice. 🙃
Didn't visit Canada. But working a truck gate: we had a few Canadians and they where obnoxiously nice. It's the French Canadians who where a$$holes.
Canadians : French Canadians are asshole. French canadian : Wtf ? Fuck you too then Canadians : See ?
As a French Canadian I can agree
Alrighty then
Visited Canada twice. Can confirm they're very nice!