Canadian American RV Culture Difference
If your out and about... http://roadtreking.com/canada-cultural-differences/
Forum Discussion
In many conversations with Americans over the years, I think I have figured out where some of the confusion over Canada's geography comes from, and may explain why they think that they can travel from say Toronto to the Calgary Stampede in an afternoon.
Of course I am talking here about folks other than RV'ers, as many of them have a good knowledge about Canada, some better than the average Canadian!
To many Americans, Canada, all of it, is directly to the north of where they live. I get this from some of the conversations I have had:
From a lady in NY state, "I should drive up there one day and see those Rocky Mountains, we're only an hour from there"
From a guy in Pennsylvania, "If you live 3000 miles from here in Canada, you must live near the North Pole!"
Same Guy, "What you mean you live on the West Coast, California is on the West Coast, not Canada! Canada is 'up north'!"
Me to a lady working in a company located in Boston who didnt have the Boston accent. "Where is your office actually located",
"Right close to you, not far from the border" she replied.
"No, I am on the West Coast, I just gave you my address, I am over 3000 miles from you"
"No sorry sir, you are mistaken, Boston is only about a 100 miles from Canada"
I blame the US media for this lack of knowledge. All of their maps cut off at the border. The local stations may show parts of Canada as highly distorted and mainly covered by station identifying labels, but any national map is cut right off at the border. Anything north of the line is just referred to as 'Canada' , never the province. You always hear 'Miami, Florida', see how funny 'Miami, America' sounds! Maybe this lack of reference to the Provinces is why many Americans refer to them as 'Providences'!
Of course I am talking here about folks other than RV'ers, as many of them have a good knowledge about Canada, some better than the average Canadian!
To many Americans, Canada, all of it, is directly to the north of where they live. I get this from some of the conversations I have had:
From a lady in NY state, "I should drive up there one day and see those Rocky Mountains, we're only an hour from there"
From a guy in Pennsylvania, "If you live 3000 miles from here in Canada, you must live near the North Pole!"
Same Guy, "What you mean you live on the West Coast, California is on the West Coast, not Canada! Canada is 'up north'!"
Me to a lady working in a company located in Boston who didnt have the Boston accent. "Where is your office actually located",
"Right close to you, not far from the border" she replied.
"No, I am on the West Coast, I just gave you my address, I am over 3000 miles from you"
"No sorry sir, you are mistaken, Boston is only about a 100 miles from Canada"
I blame the US media for this lack of knowledge. All of their maps cut off at the border. The local stations may show parts of Canada as highly distorted and mainly covered by station identifying labels, but any national map is cut right off at the border. Anything north of the line is just referred to as 'Canada' , never the province. You always hear 'Miami, Florida', see how funny 'Miami, America' sounds! Maybe this lack of reference to the Provinces is why many Americans refer to them as 'Providences'!
