Funny Things that Cdns say/do at Disney that make Americans go 'huh?'

We had the "washroom" problem too...not good when your kid has their legs crossed in a panic! Got an even weirder look when I said "bathroom" then finally resorted to "the room where you keep your toilet!" (Did I mention the kid was getting desperate?)

The phrase that sets my teeth on edge, and it may be regional as well, is "on accident" instead of what I say, "by accident".

Also my friend that lives in Florida, though is from Ohio, claims only Canadians say "backyard" but I'm sure that can't be true!
 
Also something that people from Toronto will do if you say you are from Toronto is ask what apart as many people will say Toronto if the live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area basically Toronto and the suburbs including Hamilton). You're actually only from Toronto if you are from one of the flowing, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, York and East York
And an interesting tid-bit here, i was born in Etobicoke and when we renewed our passports the clerk asked me if i wanted to change my birthplace to Toronto since Etobicoke has been technically (her words here not mine) "swallowed up by Toronto". I told her no thanks, I was born there, let's just leave that alone. Thought that was rather odd!!!!
 
I'm from CT and I gotta say there's a few things I don't understand here, but most are completely in line with my New England ways.
I would never bump into anyone and not say "I'm sorry" or "pardon".
I have NO idea what a "toque" is (aside from something my friends do in a circle) but I do ride a toboggan or a sled down the hills in the winter.
My grandmother will sometimes still call it a washroom, and in nicer places I will too.
Utensils I say all the time, but when out at a restaurant I will ask for silverware or a place setting.
Malt vinegar on fries, the more the better
Mustard on pretzels, even NYC carts have packets to grab, yes please!
Gravy on my fries, yes, with cheese, we call them Disco Fries :dance3:
I have never in my life said the term "standing on line" it makes NO sense!!! I though for sure it was a Canadian thing cuz I have NO idea where it comes from, no one around my parts say it :laughing:

In essence, it seems I am in fact pretty Canadian. I hope you will all adopt me......eh? :hyper:
 


For what it's worth, it's pronounced "Tooque" with a real oo sound.
This is funny since in French we have both toque and tuque :rolleyes:
A tuque is the knitted hat you put on in the cold weather (so the one you pronounce tooque).
And a toque is a chef's hat (pronounced with an "o") :hyper:

When we're in the US, we always answer that we come from Montreal eventhough we live 30 minutes away because it's much simpler... :rotfl:
 


When I lived in Regina, I never even bothered saying what province I was from... just "about 100 miles north of Minot, ND". Even then, some people didn't know where that was.
 
Asking for ketchup chips. I still remember the strange look I got at a 'bodega' in NYC when asking for ketchup chips.
 
And an interesting tid-bit here, i was born in Etobicoke and when we renewed our passports the clerk asked me if i wanted to change my birthplace to Toronto since Etobicoke has been technically (her words here not mine) "swallowed up by Toronto". I told her no thanks, I was born there, let's just leave that alone. Thought that was rather odd!!!!
That's kind of odd as my passport says it was issued in Scarbrough although I was actually born in Toronto and lived there until I was about 10 or so and we moved one street north into East York.
 
I love the fact that Americans generally know nothing about the geography or politics of Canada. It's fun to show them Rick Mercer's report on 'Talking to Americans.' Good times ;)

I remember one trip to Florida, and when this person learned I was from Canada he asked me what Canadians thought of Americans. Well!! That's a loaded question! So I said that the Americans had a reputation of being aggressive.
He said "then what are Canadians like".
I said we are like "go away and leave us alone"
He said "Well, that's because we won the World Wars.
I said "You never won the world wars"
"Yes we did".
"No, that was an allied effort"
"Well, we have never lost a war".
"Yes , you did lose a war"
"Well you can't count Viet Nam. That wasn't a real war"
"I'm not counting Viet Nam".
"Well what war did we ever lose?"
"You lost the war of 1812"
"I never heard of it. What happened?"
"The Americans invaded Canada"
"I never heard of it"
"Look it up. The battle of Lundy's Lane, Queenston Heights. There's a lot of history"
"What happened?"
"We won"
"So then what happened"
"We said go away and leave us alone"
 
I remember one trip to Florida, and when this person learned I was from Canada he asked me what Canadians thought of Americans. Well!! That's a loaded question! So I said that the Americans had a reputation of being aggressive.
He said "then what are Canadians like".
I said we are like "go away and leave us alone"
He said "Well, that's because we won the World Wars.
I said "You never won the world wars"
"Yes we did".
"No, that was an allied effort"
"Well, we have never lost a war".
"Yes , you did lose a war"
"Well you can't count Viet Nam. That wasn't a real war"
"I'm not counting Viet Nam".
"Well what war did we ever lose?"
"You lost the war of 1812"
"I never heard of it. What happened?"
"The Americans invaded Canada"
"I never heard of it"
"Look it up. The battle of Lundy's Lane, Queenston Heights. There's a lot of history"
"What happened?"
"We won"
"So then what happened"
"We said go away and leave us alone"
Technically neither side actually won the war of 1812 as all sized property from both sides was returned. However it was a victory for Canad/ Britain as we repelled an attack from the Americans plus put up a good offensive too with setting fire to the white house and the US capitol building. The americas accuse of of committing an act of terrorism during it though when the powder magazine at fort york was blown up it killed a large number of the american forces and the shockwave from it was felt in Niagara and Kingston where it rattled windows.
 
Yes, EastYorkDisneyFan, there is a lot of truth in what you say. I have since learned that the Americans don' t consider it a loss since Canada was not established as a country at that point. They were fighting the British and the fight continued into 1814 when they "fought the bloody
British" as the song goes, they won and the last is history. I just thought it amusing that he had never heard about it, when it is such a large part of our history, and I found it funny how the conversation went a full circle.
 
Yes, EastYorkDisneyFan, there is a lot of truth in what you say. I have since learned that the Americans don' t consider it a loss since Canada was not established as a country at that point. They were fighting the British and the fight continued into 1814 when they "fought the bloody
British" as the song goes, they won and the last is history. I just thought it amusing that he had never heard about it, when it is such a large part of our history, and I found it funny how the conversation went a full circle.
I think it comes down to the don't teach that part of their history in school down there. They teach them about the Civil war and then skip to World war 1 and 2.
 
We had the "washroom" problem too...not good when your kid has their legs crossed in a panic! Got an even weirder look when I said "bathroom" then finally resorted to "the room where you keep your toilet!" (Did I mention the kid was getting desperate?)

The phrase that sets my teeth on edge, and it may be regional as well, is "on accident" instead of what I say, "by accident".

Also my friend that lives in Florida, though is from Ohio, claims only Canadians say "backyard" but I'm sure that can't be true!

I'm from CT and I gotta say there's a few things I don't understand here, but most are completely in line with my New England ways.
I would never bump into anyone and not say "I'm sorry" or "pardon".
I have NO idea what a "toque" is (aside from something my friends do in a circle) but I do ride a toboggan or a sled down the hills in the winter.
My grandmother will sometimes still call it a washroom, and in nicer places I will too.
Utensils I say all the time, but when out at a restaurant I will ask for silverware or a place setting.
Malt vinegar on fries, the more the better
Mustard on pretzels, even NYC carts have packets to grab, yes please!
Gravy on my fries, yes, with cheese, we call them Disco Fries :dance3:
I have never in my life said the term "standing on line" it makes NO sense!!! I though for sure it was a Canadian thing cuz I have NO idea where it comes from, no one around my parts say it :laughing:

In essence, it seems I am in fact pretty Canadian. I hope you will all adopt me......eh? :hyper:
Originally from Illinois (Ill-in-oy) and we do have backyards.
Yes, pardon me or I'm sorry should be expected.
My father said utensils which always made us chuckle in a fond way (and cry now that I don't get to hear it any more).
I also stand in line.

Sorry for being a butinsky on the Canadian board, loved the thread.

Side note as a recent transplant to Michigan, I recently found out I can listen to Canadian radio in my car. I was pretty shocked that they were calling out commute delays because of construction (road and pipeline) in the middle of winter. We don't do road work (in IL anyway) ever in the winter and very little if any pipeline work but it must be fairly common in Canada.?
 
The War of 1812 ended status quo ante bellum. Out of the 3 parties, the future Canada was the biggest loser

Originally from Illinois (Ill-in-oy) and we do have backyards.
Yes, pardon me or I'm sorry should be expected.
My father said utensils which always made us chuckle in a fond way (and cry now that I don't get to hear it any more).
I also stand in line.

Sorry for being a butinsky on the Canadian board, loved the thread.

Side note as a recent transplant to Michigan, I recently found out I can listen to Canadian radio in my car. I was pretty shocked that they were calling out commute delays because of construction (road and pipeline) in the middle of winter. We don't do road work (in IL anyway) ever in the winter and very little if any pipeline work but it must be fairly common in Canada.?

Not common, no. But unfortunately there have been some issues that resulted in the need to fix things in the shoulder season for construction. Generally you can see construction from April to early November. Especially towards Essex where you could be hearing radio. Also remember that southern Ontario is surrounded by water. We have a fairly moderate climate for our location.
 
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Originally from Illinois (Ill-in-oy) and we do have backyards.
Yes, pardon me or I'm sorry should be expected.
My father said utensils which always made us chuckle in a fond way (and cry now that I don't get to hear it any more).
I also stand in line.

Sorry for being a butinsky on the Canadian board, loved the thread.

Side note as a recent transplant to Michigan, I recently found out I can listen to Canadian radio in my car. I was pretty shocked that they were calling out commute delays because of construction (road and pipeline) in the middle of winter. We don't do road work (in IL anyway) ever in the winter and very little if any pipeline work but it must be fairly common in Canada.?
OOOh you're an honourary Canuck by virtue of your unnecessary apology :clown: (not sure what this little dude is *supposed* to be, but i always figured that's a Canadian flag on his chest :P )
What you might be hearing about when it comes to water related construction in the winter is the number of water main breaks we deal with due to frozen pipes!! Really not common to see much road construction during the winter, we refer to 2 seasons of road conditions "Winter & Construction" We have a LOT of construction on an on-going basis due to the fact that our roads are maintained thru taxes on fuel & licenses and it doesn't help that winter plays havoc on the roads!
 
Not sure what you mean? We don't even have Catholic School boards in Manitoba. No one says "public school" here?
We have public school boards and Catholic school boards in Ontario and you designate which you want your school taxes to be paid to. We have JK and SK (junior kindergarten age 4 and senior kindergarten age 5) and senior public is grades 7 & 8. At one time you most likely would go to a separate school for senior public but in the recent decade or less schools have been reverting to JK - 8.
 
YES, last trip we were on the ferry from MK to Fort Wilderness with a family from New York city and their 20 year old daughter could not wrap her head around the fact that our flight to Orlando was actually 10 minutes shorter than their flight from La Guardia ! "but you live in Canada??" I said yes, close to Toronto -- blank stare ... "But isn't that still in Canada?" WOW! Tell them how large our provinces are and they are dumbfounded.

I also continue to be amazed by the fact that they don't understand how we know anything about TV, movies & music. When we tell them that since we live so close to the border we actually watch some shows from Buffalo -- some rather quizzical looks.

**** Yes, i realize this is a generalization and that not all Americans are so unaware of our country but it is still there.
People from the US who believe it is always cold in Canada don't stop to think that Toronto is about the same distance north as Boston.
 
I remember one trip to Florida, and when this person learned I was from Canada he asked me what Canadians thought of Americans. Well!! That's a loaded question! So I said that the Americans had a reputation of being aggressive.
He said "then what are Canadians like".
I said we are like "go away and leave us alone"
He said "Well, that's because we won the World Wars.
I said "You never won the world wars"
"Yes we did".
"No, that was an allied effort"
"Well, we have never lost a war".
"Yes , you did lose a war"
"Well you can't count Viet Nam. That wasn't a real war"
"I'm not counting Viet Nam".
"Well what war did we ever lose?"
"You lost the war of 1812"
"I never heard of it. What happened?"
"The Americans invaded Canada"
"I never heard of it"
"Look it up. The battle of Lundy's Lane, Queenston Heights. There's a lot of history"
"What happened?"
"We won"
"So then what happened"
"We said go away and leave us alone"

OMG that is hilarious! Why do Americans think they US won WW1 and WW11 single handedly?
 

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