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

[chartle]

I'm pretty sure they would have said "it's 200 kilometers" in UK.

I believe some/most people still use miles and MPH in the UK even if the road signs say K's.

 

[morrik5]

American " where are y'all from?"
Canadian " Newfoundland"
American "where"
Canadian " eastern Canada"
American " Oh"

Husband " why don't you just say Canada".

WishingMom, reminds me of one of the last times crossing the border back into Canada and Customs Border Guard asked where we were going - hubby replied "home". Duh.....

 

[Tksolomom]

A rutabaga is a type of tunnip or squash they all kind of fall in the same vegetable family.

Here in BC, a rutabaga and a turnip are different vegetables, they are similar, but not the same. Same as Yams and Sweet Potatoes, similar but different.

 

[Rita007]

Hubby continues to ask for ginger ale, pretty common here at home, but not in the US! One waiter “made” him some by mixing coke with sprite. Um, no.

 

[morrik5]

Hubby continues to ask for ginger ale, pretty common here at home, but not in the US! One waiter “made” him some by mixing coke with sprite. Um, no.

They don't sell ginger ale in the US? If so, what do they call it?

 

[Rita007]

They don't sell ginger ale in the US? If so, what do they call it?

I’ve seen it at the grocery store, but most restaurants do not carry it in their fountain drinks.

 

[pooh'smate]

They don't sell ginger ale in the US? If so, what do they call it?

They sell it here in the US but it isn't something they usually serve in restaurants. I have seen it in the Coke freestyle machines though

 

[bumbershoot]

Ah, gotta love it when threads are put in the ads section at the bottom of the boards. Brought me here!

I've found this so fascinating, and have things to say.

The only thing I've ever really noticed was the 'you're a Northern' comment when I asked for mustard with my pretzel. Funny part is later in the trip got a pretzel from Germany in Epcot and they gave me mustard without me saying anything.

Not sure what they wanted to give you. I'm American, and soft pretzels are served with mustard.

Does anybody in Canada really understand what American cheese it? Is it like a Kraft single, or is it cheap cheddar or something? I can't ever seem to get this right in my brain

Nasty processed cheez. It's very very bland and just adds a texture rather than a real flavor.

I find Canadians call it by Brand name instead of ingredient/what it is.
Eg> Kleenex = Tissue, QTip = Cotton Swab. Etc.

This was in response to the Gravol vs dramamine conversation...

Gravol is not a brand name we use in America. Dramamine is the brand name we use for the SAME drug in both: dimenhydrinate. So if I go to London Drugs and ask for Dramamine, I might get the same look as if you go to CVS and ask for Gravol.

Except the Canadian might have heard of Dramamine and point me to the Gravol.

Also asked for serviettes and got a puzzled look, napkins is the term used.

And then we go to the UK and ask for napkins, and.... eep.

I love the fact that Americans generally know nothing about the geography or politics of Canada.

We're too busy trying to figure out what on earth happened to us!

I think it's so cool how much other people know about America; you guys often know FAR more than we do.

we have college and university for post-secondary options.

College and university are the same things here. I think we often use "university" to be fancier, or to refer to a fancier place, but they are still interchangeable. So my brother went to Duke University, and he would say "when I went to college". I went to University of Puget Sound, which *used to be* College of Puget Sound until it got bigger.

BUT then we also have Community College, which isn't ever going to be referred to as "university" or "a university". It's a 2 year school that can either give you an Associates Degree that you can go do something with, or it serves as the first two years of a college/university education, getting all the beginning-level university classes done with before you move to the stuff for your major. Some community colleges are terrific, and some are awful.

"College" here often means what we would refer to as University back in Canada.

Yes.

AND if we say "public school" we mean up to grade 8 (usually) as opposed to the Catholic School board -- they think we mean we're not paying for our kids to go to some sort of private school.

Right. In the US "public school" refers to the schools that you go to at no extra cost to you. Any child is assigned to a school based on where they live. Some states allow for school choice, which means you can ask to go to another school (it's not always going to be allowed, and here in Washington if you opt for a different school and they have room, you have to get your child there; they won't provide a bus) in the public school system.

And it refers to the schools kids go to from around 6 years old until around 18.

And there are different sorts of grade levels in schools, too. I now live in a small school district with FOUR levels of schools. Elementary is 1st through 5th, Intermediate is 6th and 7th, Junior High is 8th and 9th, and (Senior) High School is 10th-12th. That's not typical. Most districts have Elementary 1-5, Middle 6-8, and (Senior) High school 9-12. (though it used to be 1-6, then Junior High 7-9, and (Senior) High School 10-12...for me we switched from Junior High to Middle school the summer I was between 7th and 8th...)


A private school is one with extra tuition. Sometimes they are religious and sometimes they are not.

I also get really confused when they talk about freshman, sophomore, junior??

Freshman is generally your first year in HS or college, Sophomore is 2nd year, Junior is 3rd, and Senior is 4th year. For those high schools that start with 10th grade, I don't know if incoming students are freshman or sophomores, though!

I was in Disney talking to a guy from Portland, Oregon. He wouldn't believe me that where I am from is future south then he is.

Um. I am cringing inside to say this, but I didn't realize that either. How embarrassing. I looked at a map. Wow. I swear I have looked at maps before. I have a globe sitting close enough to me that I can see it in my peripheral vision. And I never realized that.

Then again, I've never been to Michigan, and only *through* Chicago, so I haven't even been to that basic area in the US, let alone ANYWHERE in Canada other than Vancouver (and Victoria when I was a baby).

Their population, geography and history create a very rich tapestry of literature, film, television, music etc. that means that they can get everything they want and need by looking inwards.

That's a lovely way of putting it. As an American (unhappily so) I would say we're just selfish and egotistical...

And I always thought washrooms was a nicer way to say bathrooms (especially since there are no baths there!) so it never occurred to me that it might be regional.

Definitely regional.

When I go to Ireland (and England I think) it's odd to say "toilet" when I want to say "bathroom". I really confused the Irish woman that ran the BnB where I stayed in '95, when I kept saying "bathroom"...

Yes! this cracks me up. I spoke to a guy on the phone today for tech support who asked where I was calling from. I asked where they were located since he was Mountain Standard Time... he replied "well, I am originally from Texas, moved to Oregon for school and now am working in Utah". mine was a one-word answer....

OK, if you asked where he's *located*, it makes sense that that's not the answer that made sense to you, but if you ask "where are you from", that's a confusing question! I'm from California, I've lived in South Carolina and Virginia, and West Virginia for a very long summer, and I moved to Washington State when I was 17 and have basically stayed here since then (except for my forays into the South). My personality and accent(s) are made up from all those places, so how do I choose just one??

my son had a raging fever on our Disney holiday. I went to the little shop at the contemporary and asked for liquid Tylenol. blank stare. I was pretty sure it was not Canada-specific but when I explained medication, with a dropper for kids with a fever I was walked over to something called temporal I think...

Liquid tylenol should have worked. Never heard of temporal... He was probably just limited by the limitations of what that shop carries. If you could have gone out to Target or Publix you wouldn't have had a problem.

and all the CMs looked like I was nuts when I said "hey, what is with the water here?? it smells funny". according to their name tags they are from all over but no one have noticed or heard complaints about stinky drinking water??? is it just me?

They're just being silly. They've heard it.

as for my "fave" American expression, when you say thank you to someone and they reply with "uh huh". like they are acknowledging your thanks. lol!

Yep. Or "no problem". UGH. I never realized how rude that was until I lived in South Carolina and was schooled. Now I say "you're welcome" if I'm thanked.

As an American living in Toronto (which we love, thank you very much), raising a basically Canadian speaking child, my two cents:

American cheese = kraft singles ("processed cheese food stuff" per the label)
Mac and cheese = Kraft dinner
Restroom/bathroom = washroom (meanwhile we don't rest, bathe or wash in them!)
Hat/cap = toque
Z = zed (no American will know what you mean if you spell something out loud for them with a zed. Say Z or be doomed to repeating yourself)
I'm all set = no thank you

"Regular" for coffee is very regional so just be specific.

I laughed at the listing every place you're from, as I probably do that. What do Canadians do? Do you answer where you live right now? Where you were born?

Yes to all of that.

I don't know about you but I wash my hands in a washroom!

Yes, but it's not the MAIN purpose for the room, generally.

As for the answer to "where are you from?", I typically say Victoria, BC (where I live now) but if someone starts talking about Ontario, I will mention that I was born near TO and grew up in Ottawa.

But see if you just say all that up front, the other person doesn't have to ask all those questions!!!

I think that answering so thoroughly is actually one place where Americans are actually being polite. To me, it's wondering "do we have anything in common, do our lives intersect?" So...I was born in San Francisco, I grew up in San Jose, I moved to Tacoma, I moved to Spartanburg, I moved to 20-minutes-away-from-Washington DC, then back to Tacoma (aka 20+ miles from Seattle), Washington, and I spent a long summer in West Virginia. We can certainly find a connection somewhere in there!

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!

Absolutely NOT. Always remember that Florida is WEIRD. Read some Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen books, then read the FL newspapers. Floridians are strange, LOL. They know not what they are talking about lol. They have alligators in their backyards. So they have to screen in their lanais, which almost NO ONE ELSE HAS...

(grandma lived there from '63 on, aunt and cousin moved there in '78 or so...mom moved to Miami in '87...)

"Well what war did we ever lose?"
"You lost the war of 1812"
"I never heard of it. What happened?"
"The Americans invaded Canada"

Canada Place in Vancouver had the loveliest exhibit about that war. I learned a TON!!! And the whole exhibit was just soooo Canadian-nice in the way they worded it all.

Technically neither side actually won the war of 1812 as all sized property from both sides was returned.

Exactly like that. So nice and neutral.

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.

Ayep. And we inched up to Vietnam in May of every year then ran out of time and would have to start over with WW1 again in the Fall. I actually took a class about the Vietnam War in college to FINALLY get some coursework about it.

We have public school boards and Catholic school boards in Ontario and you designate which you want your school taxes to be paid to.

That's sooooo cool.

Why do Americans think they US won WW1 and WW11 single handedly?

We might not be taught THAT, but we are NOT taught about how LONG Europe had been fighting before we showed up.

It actually took Eddie Izzard's comedy for me to truly comprehend how long it had all been going on before we showed up. And I am an educated human whose high school had an amazing Honors History program, but still....

And then my husband's family had a story. DH's grandfather, born in the late 1800s, wanted to get over to Europe and help out in WW1. He didn't see the US going there any time soon, so he actually moved to Canada and joined their cavalry to get over there. We have some sort of Canadian medal that he got.

I had no idea one could even do that at any point. Obviously you can't really do it now, but even then I didn't realize anyone could do it or think of doing it.

We also say 'decks' and more and more American's say 'Lanai,' which is basically the same thing except in Hawaiian.

I have lived in many regions here, and I have friends from ALL over, and I have only heard of lanais in Florida and Hawaii. Promise.

Unless someone is doing a THING with their house and making tiki bars or some such thing...

More of an accent thing, but I had a lot of trouble when I was working at WDW last summer with the word 'bag'. Was a lot of confusion when asking a guest to take off her backpack and put it on the floor of a ride. I guess we say it more as "b-eh-g"? Americans tend to have a longer a (B-aaaah-g).

I can see that. Suburbs east of Seattle have the same accent. Bag vs beg. Also pen vs pin. DH (from Issaquah, WA, which is a suburb east of Seattle) still says "pellow" instead of "pillow".

My dad's from Denver, Colorado and say "warsh" for "wash". Not sure where that came from! (my mom was from upstate NY and said Ahrange for Orange...)

When people are disgusted that I mix ketchup and mayo together.

And yet that's just Thousand Island dressing, minus the chopped pickles... Why would anyone be disgusted?

They also couldn't understand why we observe November 11th -- didn't grasp the significance of honouring fallen soldiers and the end of a war.

It's b/c we think it's an American holiday. Many of us have NO clue that it's based on A war.

I just looked it up...

"The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954."

I would bet that people grown enough to remember that know it. Those of us born 15+ years later might not, unless we had military members in our families, which I do not. Well, my dad's youngest brother was in the Army, but he's the baby of 7 kids, and has lived in Massachusetts my whole life, so I haven't spent much time with him.


"Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans"...

...."Memorial Day honors those who died while in military service."...

"It is also not to be confused with Armed Forces Day, a minor U.S. remembrance that also occurs in May, which specifically honors those currently serving in the U.S. military."


Whew. I hadn't realized the differences there...

Do you do services and wear poppies on both days?

I had never once seen an American wearing a poppy for Veterans Day until just last year. Not once. And we were actually in Ireland for Veterans Day, which was nice. In 2014 we were in England during the summer, and an art installation was being prepared in the moat of the Tower of London for future honor of that day. It was being filled with glass poppies. I saw pictures of it, and it was lovely. But poppies haven't been a thing in the parts of the US where I have lived...

In Los Angeles we almost always say utensils. I only say silverware when the utensils are made out of silver.

Agreed.

I feel like Ikea has a sign saying "utensils" in the cafeteria...

And I do occasionally say 'on accident' instead of 'by accident.' I use them both interchangeable, and never thought about it until now.

I use them interchangeably as well!

I know the US has rule about the flag pole being lit to do that.

And it has to be made of certain material, I believe.

Just wanted to add the fact that I have never ever referred to my running shoes as sneakers........ just saying....

I have!

same or tennis shoes either

I've done that, too.

Sneakers and tennis shoes for the same sort of shoes. Later on we called them running shoes and then athletic shoes. And I grew up in California...

But my friend from the UK living here mentioned to me that the thing he finds weird is that when he asks how far away some place is, Canadians always respond by the time that it will take to drive there, whereas he would expect to be provided the distance. In the Uk, its 200 miles, whilst in Canada its 3.5 hours away

We do it in the greater Seattle area, too. Because driving 25ish miles up the road to Seattle could take 25ish minutes or it could take 2 hours. DH just stayed at work in Seattle an extra 1.5 hours because it was going to take 2 hours to get home to the Tacoma area on the bus, and he would rather be at work and do the annual reviews on coworkers and then have a 40 minute ride home.

Hubby continues to ask for ginger ale, pretty common here at home, but not in the US! One waiter “made” him some by mixing coke with sprite. Um, no.

Ginger ale is common here, though it rarely has ANY ginger in it (loaded with HFCS though), and it's rarely served in bars.



And.....per wiki...."The rutabaga swede or neep is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip."

So it's not a turnip, but it's related.


As for swimming when it's cold, the pool itself is lovely and warm. The water isn't the problem. We can see the steam rising, too.

The problem is the air outside of the pool. That is not always lovely and warm. And people from warmer areas can't or don't want to handle the cold after getting out of the pool.

Our first trip to Orlando was the infamous December of 2010. We swam 3 times that vacation. It got harder and harder to deal with as the cold set in. The parts totally submerged were fine, but when those hairs towards the neck would get wet and then you put your neck above water, you would freeze there. Getting out was painful.

 

[chartle]

They sell it here in the US but it isn't something they usually serve in restaurants. I have seen it in the Coke freestyle machines though

Yes there are 5 or 6 brands of ginger ale in any grocery store here with the appropriately named Canada Dry probably being the best selling. I would say very few here drink it by its self. Around the holidays its sold a lot for mixers and punches.

I like the Vernors brand.

 

[kirstenb1]

Fun Thread! My parents are from Ontario, but we kids were born in the States. We'd go back to Canada on holidays and in the summer to visit my grandparents. I always remember rutabagas and turnips are different, but similar tasting. I think rutabagas were larger. I also remember serviettes, freshie (koolaid), Girl Guides, and one pair of grandparents calling a sofa a Chesterfield. And bags of milk, which I thought was very strange. Also, mentally translating km into miles, whenever we drove somewhere. Clothes were slightly different. Much better candy bars than in America. Aero bars, and Cadbury, and Nielsens. Everything seemed much more expensive. We moved a lot when I was a kid, so Canada always felt like a home base. We had at least some of my parents' accent, so I always felt like it was home. Oh, last of all, in the summer, it would take forever to get dark. We'd play outside, at least til 9 or 930.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Hubby continues to ask for ginger ale, pretty common here at home, but not in the US! One waiter “made” him some by mixing coke with sprite. Um, no.

I have to imagine that whoever is doing that has no clue. I've never met anyone in my life who thinks ginger ale is something other than...you know ginger ale.

If that waiter made him coke with sprite he's an exception and has never been to the Soda/Pop aisle at the grocery store.

I have however seen it in restaurants. Usually it's Schweppes or Seagram's brand though. It's not too too common though.

Airlines def. have it. My husband and I always get that when we fly.

 

[bankr63]

Yes there are 5 or 6 brands of ginger ale in any grocery store here with the appropriately named Canada Dry probably being the best selling. I would say very few here drink it by its self. Around the holidays its sold a lot for mixers and punches.

I like the Vernors brand.

But if you have the chance, try some Blenheim's Ginger Ale. You can buy it at South of the Border if you are driving down, although it is carried many places in the South East. A generations old family business from South Carolina (actually now owned by the same folks that own SOTB), they have been brewing up a Ginger Ale that will blow the top of your head off. Get the original red cap variety; the gold cap is a bit gentler on your sinuses. I understand that Fresh Market in Orlando carries it, but we generally stock up on our way through the Carolinas.

 

[TFC_UNTIL_I_DIE]

Fun Thread! My parents are from Ontario, but we kids were born in the States. We'd go back to Canada on holidays and in the summer to visit my grandparents. I always remember rutabagas and turnips are different, but similar tasting. I think rutabagas were larger. I also remember serviettes, freshie (koolaid), Girl Guides, and one pair of grandparents calling a sofa a Chesterfield. And bags of milk, which I thought was very strange. Also, mentally translating km into miles, whenever we drove somewhere. Clothes were slightly different. Much better candy bars than in America. Aero bars, and Cadbury, and Nielsens. Everything seemed much more expensive. We moved a lot when I was a kid, so Canada always felt like a home base. We had at least some of my parents' accent, so I always felt like it was home. Oh, last of all, in the summer, it would take forever to get dark. We'd play outside, at least til 9 or 930.

I just noticed this sentence as a bit of an irony in this thread because Canadians don't tend to say 'candy bar' - its always 'chocolate bar'. Also, we never say 'America' - its always 'the States' or the 'US'.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Ginger ale is common here, though it rarely has ANY ginger in it (loaded with HFCS though)

Yeah that is true. I know Canada Dry and Seagram's had a class action lawsuit filed against them last year due to false advertisement of saying "MADE FROM REAL GINGER" when in fact they are not.

I have lived in many regions here, and I have friends from ALL over, and I have only heard of lanais in Florida and Hawaii. Promise.

Unless someone is doing a THING with their house and making tiki bars or some such thing...

I have never ever ever heard anyone describe a deck as a lanais unless you are in Hawaii or you are going for a tropical theme. So whoever that other poster is talking to def. doesn't represent 'more and more Americans' unless they are speaking about the decor choices people are making lol and a geographical specific location.

 

[chartle]

I have to imagine that whoever is doing that has no clue. I've never met anyone in my life who thinks ginger ale is something other than...you know ginger ale.

If that waiter made him coke with sprite he's an exception and has never been to the Soda/Pop aisle at the grocery store.

I have however seen it in restaurants. Usually it's Schweppes or Seagram's brand though. It's not too too common though.

Airlines def. have it. My husband and I always get that when we fly.

In most places if you asked for Ginger Ale , at least in the old days, they would have to go to the bar and the bar tender would pull out this dispenser thing with multiple buttons on top. It was basically a multi-head soda fountain in one hand. Always seemed to make terrible pop.

 

[chartle]

I have never ever ever heard anyone describe a deck as a lanais unless you are in Hawaii or you are going for a tropical theme.

Didn't the Golden Girls have a lanai.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Didn't the Golden Girls have a lanai.

Yes....and their show was set in Miami, FL....

As the other poster said FL and HI is where you'll hear lanai. Some of their furniture and landscape etc from the show had the Floridian tropical-esque feel.

 

[friedela]

At the Publix, said to the cashier "boy it's hot!" (was around 85F)
She, "No it's not" (with a Floridian drawl)
Me, grabbing phone, "here's a picture of my front yard 2 days ago" (with 6-7 feet of snow obscuring the house)
She, "okay, it's hot"

ETA: The picture I flashed (or "how to scare a Floridian"):

Hahaha. Must remember to do this before we leave! Our front yard looks the same right now!

 

[morrik5]

But if you have the chance, try some Blenheim's Ginger Ale. You can buy it at South of the Border if you are driving down, although it is carried many places in the South East. A generations old family business from South Carolina (actually now owned by the same folks that own SOTB), they have been brewing up a Ginger Ale that will blow the top of your head off. Get the original red cap variety; the gold cap is a bit gentler on your sinuses. I understand that Fresh Market in Orlando carries it, but we generally stock up on our way through the Carolinas.

Trivia: "Ginger ale was purported to be first invented in 1851 in Ireland, but modern-style ginger ale came about many years later in 1907 when Canadian John McLaughlin invented it and it eventually became Canada Dry. The ginger ale was available in two versions, golden and dry (golden is rare today)." One of the ingredients is artificial or natural ginger-flavour.

John McLaughlin was the brother of R S McLaughlin who took his father's McLaughlin Carriage Company into the automobile age and developed the McLaughlin Buick. The company was merged with General Motors and "Col. Sam" became President of General Motors Canada here in Oshawa, Ontario and later Chairman of the Board and also was Vice-President of General Motors' parent company.

 

[Sue M]

Zee & Zed lol. Yup. When we were in DL in Sept with my Californian friend I always go on all Disney (WDW or DL) with I was checking into our ADR that happened to be in her name. CM asked me to spell name so I started with ‘Zed” and she’s going, no it’s Zee! Which prompted a dinner conversation about Zee/Zed. She was telling me nobody’s heard of pronouncing it Zed, I argued the rest of the world pronounces it that way. Only in the US is it Zee!

Hard to find any bar who knows how to make a Caesar!

Can’t find Polysporin over the counter in the US. I have to bring my own.

Since the Olympics everyone now knows where Vancouver is! I live just outside of Vancouver so, close enough when asked.

True about distance. When someone asks how cold it gets (I think they think we live in igloos) I just say we are about 3 hrs north of Seattle. So similar weather. I always answer distance questions with time, lol.