The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
(Bad) Neighbors to the North
: Well isn’t this sweet… Canadians can now buy T-shirts on which they proclaim in every possible language that they’re not American.
Funny, when I used to go to Montreal a lot, I carried American cigarettes and magazines just so i could prove to the Quebecois that I was not Canadian. [via Canada.com]
Sort of funny when you think about it considering the number of American tourists sewing Canadian flags on their back packs when travelling abroad ‘eh?
I guess it makes sense that the joker who’s made “iraqiwar.com” point to “completeconfusion.com” is a Canadian. (Meanwhile, I notice, IraqWar.com is begging for someone to buy it)
I actually own one of these shirts. Because we in Canada tend to speak English, a lot of folks mistake us for Americans abroad. No offense, but…
Go Jeff!
The only response to empty-headed jingoism is empty-headed jingoism!
Did they translate this with some translation engine? As far as I’m concerned it should read “Ich bin kein Amerikaner”, not “Ich bin nicht Amerikaner” (Can’t comment on the other languages). Apart from the fact that most people can very well differentiate between Americans as such and the Bush administration. So what’s the point of this T-shirt?
Interesting distinction between Bush and America, Armin, and a valid one, but sadly, incorrect. Outside the US most of the world sees the action of the US as the action of its citizens (the assumption being that’s what representative democracy is about).
As for the shirt… I believe it’s a satirical riff on the Canadian habit of placing maple leaf tags on luggage so as not to be mistaken for Americans abroad.
yes armin, you’re right: it should be ‘ich bin kein amerikaner’ instead of ‘…nicht amerikaner’. they should have asked someone who knows about, as a famous german commercial taught us for years.
and note the font type used for the german expression – THAT’s funny, uh?
I had a college professor who went on a rant about how non-N.Ams deal with Canadian and American tourists. “Canadians stitch these maple leaves on their baggage and clothes to make sure nobody mistakes them for Americans, but it totally backfires on them because they get lousy service at restaurants, hotels and with taxis; everyone knows the Americans are the best tippers in the world.”
I suppose so…but I think Canadians are less likely to have their food spat in by the kitchen staff.
And how would you know that? Have you done some of the spitting?
No, I’ve never worked in the food services industry.
I remember being constantly “mistaken” for a Canadian or even an Australian when I was in Europe.
It was the summer of 1991. At the time I guessed that since many Americans had cancelled overseas travel in the wake of the Gulf War, they assumed I couldn’t be American.
But recently I heard that it was an intentional ploy. Apparently Canadians have terrible fits when they’re mistaken for Americans, so Europeans assume something else about North American- sounding tourists, just in case.
Quite right. We do.
“I actually own one of these shirts. Because we in Canada tend to speak English, a lot of folks mistake us for Americans abroad. No offense, but…”
…?
Just… “…”. More would be rude.
Okay.