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Canadian flag on the backback myth



 
 
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  #201  
Old June 4th, 2004, 05:02 PM
ANONYMOUSE
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth



It could also be that Canadians visiting foreign countries don't refer
to the residents as foreigners and demand they speak english. They
don't go to a local restaurant and demand food as served at home. They
usualy don't spend the day telling their hosts how things are so much
better at home and try to make up for bad manners with a huge tip.

Hi,

I remember the time I was eating in my regular first day chinese
restaurant in amsterdam... and the waitress (asian, very probably
chinese) was trying to wait on a table... she started with english, then
dutch, german, french, chinese (I guess), then back to english... BUT
THIS TIME LOUD ENGLISH.

ended up pointing at the pictures on the wall.



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  #202  
Old June 4th, 2004, 05:11 PM
Mike Taylor
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth


"ANONYMOUSE" wrote in message
...


It could also be that Canadians visiting foreign countries don't refer
to the residents as foreigners and demand they speak english. They
don't go to a local restaurant and demand food as served at home. They
usualy don't spend the day telling their hosts how things are so much
better at home and try to make up for bad manners with a huge tip.

Hi,

I remember the time I was eating in my regular first day chinese
restaurant in amsterdam... and the waitress (asian, very probably
chinese) was trying to wait on a table... she started with english, then
dutch, german, french, chinese (I guess), then back to english... BUT
THIS TIME LOUD ENGLISH.

ended up pointing at the pictures on the wall.


I laugh when in a situation where I don't speak the language and the person
I'm attempting to communicate with speaks more slow, as if I can grasp what
they're saying when they speak that way.

Until then, I thought that only English speaking people like me who dealt
with those who don't speak it did that.

If you don't understand a word of Mandarin, someone speaking it at half
speed sure doesn't help.


  #203  
Old June 4th, 2004, 05:23 PM
Robert R.
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth


I laugh when in a situation where I don't speak the language and the person
I'm attempting to communicate with speaks more slow, as if I can grasp what
they're saying when they speak that way.

Until then, I thought that only English speaking people like me who dealt
with those who don't speak it did that.

If you don't understand a word of Mandarin, someone speaking it at half
speed sure doesn't help.


Funny isn't it! I was listening to Arabic and I do not know a single word but I
keep wishing they would slow down a bit because I cannot tell where one word
ends and the next begins like a stream of water.

Even if they did I'd still be no better off.

  #204  
Old June 4th, 2004, 05:43 PM
Whoever
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth

I have lived in Canada for over 15 years, and I am a Canadian citizen. It
is true, most White Canadians believe that they are loved around the
world. However, you are right, it is just a myth. For one, seeing a
Canadian flag on someone's backpack is enough reason for me to not help
them out if they are lost, or getting ripped off. I figure their backpack
flag should cover their asses. The truth is that their flags are a sign of
their stupidity, false-pride, and their lack of touch with reality in
general. Because they believe in this fantasy world, they go out of their
way to seem super nice to locals where they travel. The problem is that
they come across as being fake. Americans, on the other hand, know not
everybody likes them. They know that Americans can be nice, assholes,
thieves, honest, anything. They do not stereotype themselves. They usually
deal with foreigners in a more honest and personable manner. I believe
that people around the world appreciate being treated as a human being, on
the same level, American-style, than like some dummy by a person acting
like a retard.

Maybe that I have lived in Canada for this long makes me specially aware
of these issues. Even as White Canadians can be very polite, they often
are ruthless and vicious. But that is ok with them because they are being
polite and "friendly" while ripping you off here in Canada. Most people in
locations where they travel would not know enough about them, but the fake
interaction, and condescending talk, is something most people can pick up
at some level.

You mention the issue of money. Canadians are nowhere near as wealthy as
Americans. They usually do not have as much money to spend, so they are
usually a lot more stingy. Anyone who is trying to sell something would
love Americans more with their bigger wallets, and bigger spending.

I have spent a lot of time travelling in Indonesia, the largest Muslim
country. Americans seem to me the best liked tourists there. Not just
because of their money, but because of the way they interact with the
locals. If there is one important gift that Americans have over white
Canadians, and Europeans, is that Americans can "keep it real". That is
worth a lot more than fake gestures.


On Mon, 31 May 2004 23:14:46 +0000, Xomicron wrote:

I was just wondering, is it really true that most Canadian's believe the
myth that people in the rest of the world will treat them better if they
know they are Canadian. I've had some people tell me this and I can't
believe that intelligent Canadians fall for that bunk. I've traveled a
lot and most of the world sees one rich foreigner as pretty much the
same as another rich foreigner.

One Canadian woman in Turkey told me Canadian flags ensured better
treatment, and I noticed Turkish men were in the habit of coming up to
her and grabbing her tits in the street (she wore 2 Canadian flags), and
a guy in Beijing who was being threatened by a cab driver who wanted $50
US for a 10 minute cab ride (he had a big plastic Canadian flag on his
back).

Whenever I ask a Canadian about this every one has held that it is true.
One English teacher said there was some famous Canadian comedian that
Chinese knew. I pointed out that the most popular person on Earth was
an American. He repeated with total conviction that anywhere in China
average people will treat you better if they know you are Canadian.

Is this some kind of Canadian folk legend and if so is it true that most
people believe it. Where does this strange belief (that a rich
foreigner who is Canadian is more your friend then an American) come
from? Is it a little misplaced nationalism (entirely harmless) or is it
from a deeper desire to make up for Canadian inferiority?

  #205  
Old June 4th, 2004, 06:30 PM
ANONYMOUSE
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth

Ken Pisichko wrote:

So the taxpayers paid for the Marshall plan. And all the money went to the US firms to produce all the materials shipped to Europe for rebuilding.
Naturally those same US firms profited handsomely from this plan. Otherwise they'd be idle at the end of WW Ii when there was no further demand for the
war goods they produced. Sounds lie socialism to me - the people paying for the industrial complex and fat salaries of the executives...


Hi,

actually the plants that were making goods for the war effort were
plants that had just months before been making civilian goods.... so
they would not have "sat idle".

Singer (sewing machines), Rock-O-La (juke boxes), IBM (adding machines),
GM (cars/trucks), etc all made guns for example... and after the war
they went back to their normal products.

other companies made the same thing they made before... just during the
war civilian sales were rationed with everything going for the war
effort... after the war they just kept making tires or whatever but
civilians could buy them again.

britain (to it's credit) actually paid it's debts after the war for all
the things it bought on tic from the US... though they did NOT return
the arms they'd begged off the American Civilians for home guard duty.


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  #206  
Old June 4th, 2004, 06:38 PM
ANONYMOUSE
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth


these united States have not been at war since 1945.


Nice exercise in semantics. The US did not lose a war in Vietnam
because they have decided that technically it was not a war, presumably?

Hi,

correct.

now the federal government hired out mercenary troops to the South
Vietnamese government, much like they hired out troops to the Kuwaities.

you see in these united States -ONLY- Congress has the power to Declare War.

these united States were last at war with imperial japan.

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  #207  
Old June 4th, 2004, 07:06 PM
ANONYMOUSE
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth



The Americans "arrived" because of what happened one Sunday morning in Hawaii.
Then they got their asses kicked badly enough that they realized they better
get into the war INSTEAD of SELLING war materials to both the AXIS and ALLIES.

Hi,

actually as a neutral country these united States (the government)
didn't SELL war materials to either side.

we did have a program called "lend/lease" which allowed us to "loan" war
materials to britian for example... that was not a "sale" and was thus
legal... "lend/lease" enfields bring a premium on the collectors market.

what private companies do that's not against the law is their own
business....

Are you going to the D-Day events in France?


no... my father was there June 9th.... 1944.... D+3.


my mother was in occuppied Paris.


my great uncle was a "criminal"... he operated a short wave radio out of
his attic in vichy.... if caught he would have been shot... again....
he'd been shot once by the germans in ww-I.

If you are, open your eyes and visit the cemeteries full of Canadians, French, British and other war dead.

I have.

the Tommys -earned- my forgiveness for what they did to St. Joan in the
trenches of WW-I.... and I stop and visit and chat with the ol' boys...
they don't get many visitors anymore.

in fact let me tell you a little story.

I was driving north from Rouen on the little roads... a dreary misty
day... I approached Cambrai... the clouds parted, the rain stopped, and
the sun came out.... suddenly there was a HUGE memorial of some sort on
west side of the road....it had stopped raining so I backed up and
stopped to see what it was...

it was a memorial to the over 10,000 Tommys who'd died in the Battle of
Cambrai who had no known grave.

so I gazed at the rows of crosses and names on the walls, signed the
guest book and left them a note telling them they'd earned France's
forgivness for their countrymen's actions years before... while walking
back to the car the rain started again....

Cambrai was the first use of tanks in battle... must have been HELL.


so yes I stop at the cemeteries.


I've visited a little town cemetery north of Reims that had a medal in a
little weather worn box hanging on the village war memorial... no
surviving family member to give it to... lists of names of the men that
were "shot by the germans" (and yes they used the verb tirer, to shoot)
and the dates.... 1 day after another....

I've stopped at the lone cross out by the edge of the road to find it
was the town doctor... shot treating the wounded in no-man's-land.


here's a little research project for you.

the cathedral at Reims was pretty trashed by the end of ww-i.

find what private US organization paid for it's reconstruction.


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  #208  
Old June 4th, 2004, 09:14 PM
David Smith
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth

Xomicron wrote:

David Smith wrote in
:
The US didn't lose the War of 1812.


Sure you did. The US declared war on Britain and invaded Canada, but
were unsuccessful. After several attempts to achieve their objective
they gave up. So I guess your idea of a victory in that conflict, like
Vietnam, is gathering up your troops and running home.


The purpose of the war was to stop British impression of US sailors. This
was accomplished. The war was a successful defense of American rights,
culminating in the victory at New Orleans. Because New Orleans was
successfully defended, American expansion into the Southwest was
possible. Neither side lost territory.


The British were impressing seaman to man their ships for the fight against
Napolean, and the sailors impressed were mostly British, most with phoney
certificates saying they were American. Consider them the same as American
draft dodgers who fled to Canada to avoid the draft. The British stopped
impressing sailors and ended their embargo of European ports after defeating
Napoleon. The fact remains that the US aimed to invade and occupy Canada but
failed, so they lost.


  #209  
Old June 4th, 2004, 11:06 PM
devil
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 13:06:13 -0500, ANONYMOUSE wrote:



The Americans "arrived" because of what happened one Sunday morning in Hawaii.
Then they got their asses kicked badly enough that they realized they better
get into the war INSTEAD of SELLING war materials to both the AXIS and ALLIES.

Hi,

actually as a neutral country these united States (the government)
didn't SELL war materials to either side.

we did have a program called "lend/lease" which allowed us to "loan" war
materials to britian for example... that was not a "sale" and was thus
legal... "lend/lease" enfields bring a premium on the collectors market.

what private companies do that's not against the law is their own
business....


US companies sold stuff such as roller bearings and oil to Nazi Germany
*throughout the war.* Ford, Standard Oil, and of course the Bush family
were the main culprits.

  #210  
Old June 4th, 2004, 11:10 PM
devil
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Default Canadian flag on the backback myth

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 17:03:30 +0000, Bogart wrote:

On Fri, 04 Jun 2004 14:37:08 GMT, devil wrote:

On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 23:11:46 +0000, Bogart wrote:


Really? Where is Saddam?


Saddam, Rummie, what's the difference? I am sure they would rather pick a
homegrown thug, given a choice.

You're referring to the new Iraqi Governing Council?


Read the above again. I was referring to Saddam. BTW I hear the new head
of the council is actually a decent fellow, not a Rummie-like thug. With
perhaps too many friends, on all sides of the Iraq divides, so many that
he may not be able to keep them all happy, but that's another story.

Maybe that's why Rummie didn't seem too happy with him?

Where are the Sunni thugs who ruled that
country with an iron fist?


Are they any worse than American thugs/torturers/military? (Synonymous, I
guess :-(.)

Then you should have no difficulty citing for me examples of the moral
equivalency.


How long will it take until as many Iraqis will have been killed by the US
as by Saddam? Or have they already taken over?

 




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