Canadians, Kiwis, Aussies and their flags

"rghYQM" schreef in bericht
om...
(gman99) wrote in message
...
zzyyxx wrote:
Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and
whatnot? I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe
in
the last couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people
disliking or being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to
proclaim
that they're not American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from
their
accents! It's kind of insulting to me too, because they don't want to
be
mistaken for an American, like there's something wrong with being
American.



We were on vacation in Paris a year ago. Around the time "French
Fries" became "Freedom Fries" in the States. We had dinner in a small
restaurant and the service was poor. I passed the waitress my credit
card and remarked to my wife I wouldn't be adding a tip.

Well it must have been the Maple Leaf on my CIBC Aerogold VISA Card
because the waitress came right back over and asked if we were
Canadian. I said yes and she apologised for the poor service and said
our meal was complementary.

Did that make you feel better or did you tell the lady in plain terms that
she shouldn't treat people based on the passport they happen to carry or the
idiots they happen to have as presidents?

Sjoerd

st wrote:
On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 22:35:07 -0400, zzyyxx wrote:

Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and whatnot?
I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe in the last
couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people disliking or
being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to proclaim that they're not
American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents! It's kind of
insulting to me too, because they don't want to be mistaken for an American,
like there's something wrong with being American.

As a general rule, Australians and Kiwis don't put flags on their
bags. Canadians, on the other hand...

And then there are Dutch people with Aussie flags on their bags (and
T-shirts and caps and stubby-holders and ...) in order to be mistaken
for an Aussie! :-)

zzyyxx wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 04:42:20 GMT, "Pete"
wrote:
[deleted]
Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents!

I assure you that almost no European will be able to distinguish between
the accents of Canadians & Americans. Lots of Canadians sound just
like Midwestern Americans except for the occasional difference in "out"
("oot") as in "about."

True. But they should be able to distinguish between American and
Kiwi/Aussie.

Sure, like you would be able to distinguish between Germans, Austrians,
Swiss, Luxemburgians, Italians and between the Spanish and Portugese and
between the different Scandinavian countries, Finland and Holland and ...

zzyyxx wrote:
Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and whatnot?
I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe in the last
couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people disliking or
being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to proclaim that they're not
American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents! It's kind of
insulting to me too, because they don't want to be mistaken for an American,
like there's something wrong with being American.

Well, if I was an anonymous American, I wouldn't carry a flag either.

On 28 Jun 2004 10:32:11 GMT, (gman99) wrote:
zzyyxx wrote:
Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and
whatnot? I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe in
the last couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people
disliking or being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to proclaim
that they're not American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their
accents! It's kind of insulting to me too, because they don't want to be
mistaken for an American, like there's something wrong with being
American.

FOAD troll...

*PLONK*

"Cyril & Sandy Alberga" wrote in message
...
zzyyxx wrote:

Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and
whatnot?
I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe in the
last
couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people disliking
or
being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to proclaim that they're
not
American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents! It's
kind of
insulting to me too, because they don't want to be mistaken for an
American,
like there's something wrong with being American.

Have you ever considered that they might be proud to be Australian, New
Zealanders, etc.? In the past my wife and I traveled in Europe with
American flags on our backpacks, and nobody accused us of trying to
prove we weren't Canadian.


That's funny.

I have never had to empty my backpack crossing a border (except into the
UK,
but they're special) when displaying my American passport - Canadians I
have
been traveling with had to empty their backpacks and were questioned
privately on several occasions.

It even extends beyond Europeans -once when I hooked up with some Kiwis
in
Ireland and was invited back to their London flat for a few days, one of
their flat mates was particularly cold towards me. He wouldn't even look
at,
or speak to me as we piled in the VW to head to a pub the first night I
was
there. 10 minutes after we arrived at the pub one of the other folks
asks me
something about Canada and this distant guy gets a quizzical look on his
face, comes over, has me confirm I am Canadian and then apologizes for
his
behaviour because he thought I was a Yank. After that we drank and snag
for
days - ah Europe and youth!.

Sounds to me like the guy was an idiot. If someone was treating Canadians
that way I wouldn't drink with him.

I'll chip in here. Recently I met some travellers who had big New Zealand
flags on their bikes. It turned out they were US citizens travelling around
the world and had picked the NZ flag as they got way less hassle if people
thought they were Kiwis.

Regards

Nigel in NZ

We did meet a Dutch couple (with the inevitable caravan!!) in Bogdzkale in
Turkey - she wearing an Australian Institute of Sport tracksuit - with flag
(a perquisite of elite athletes normally). They lived in Sydney, were now
Australian citizens and their daughter was at the AIS - guess they qualify
as Australians. I don't think they were indicating anything other than
normal parental pride in their daughter and her accomplishments.



"Frank Slootweg" wrote in message
...
st wrote:
On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 22:35:07 -0400, zzyyxx wrote:

Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and
whatnot?
I'm an American who's done quite a bit of traveling in Europe in the
last
couple years and haven't experienced any problems with people disliking
or
being rude to me. So why do they feel the need to proclaim that
they're not
American? Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents! It's
kind of
insulting to me too, because they don't want to be mistaken for an
American,
like there's something wrong with being American.

As a general rule, Australians and Kiwis don't put flags on their
bags. Canadians, on the other hand...

And then there are Dutch people with Aussie flags on their bags (and
T-shirts and caps and stubby-holders and ...) in order to be mistaken
for an Aussie! :-)

In article .net, "Pete"
wrote:

Why do they insist on putting their flags onto their backpacks and
whatnot?

Are you implying that only Americans can be patriotic?

Like you wouldn't be able to tell from their accents!

I assure you that almost no European will be able to distinguish between
the accents of Canadians & Americans. Lots of Canadians sound just
like Midwestern Americans except for the occasional difference in "out"
("oot") as in "about."

Uh-uh. I have never understood why people say this. It is not true. The
Canadian "out" is more like "oat" than "oot."

They also say many other things differently from Midwestern Americans
(although some people in some parts of the border Midwest states have a
similar accent--Minnesota, for example). They tend to use British words
and phrases, and some that are exclusively Canadian (example: American
"pacifier" = British "dummy" = Canadian "soother").

Having traveled quite a bit in Canada, I can always tell a Canadian (even
if I can't tell them much ;-)). Sheesh, I can even watch American TV shows
or movies that were shot in Toronto or Vancouver and tell you which minor
characters are being played by locally hired actors just by the way they
talk.
--
Trudi

"Cleveland rocks."--Ian Hunter

We call em' a Play Purdy round hyar...g

Tim K

"Cleveland, city of lights, city of magic...Burn on big river, burn
on..." Randy Newman

"Trudi Marrapodi" wrote in message
news:trudee-2806042358170001@icstudent-
They also say many other things differently from Midwestern Americans
(although some people in some parts of the border Midwest states have
a
similar accent--Minnesota, for example). They tend to use British
words
and phrases, and some that are exclusively Canadian (example: American
"pacifier" = British "dummy" = Canadian "soother").

Having traveled quite a bit in Canada, I can always tell a Canadian
(even
if I can't tell them much ;-)). Sheesh, I can even watch American TV
shows
or movies that were shot in Toronto or Vancouver and tell you which
minor
characters are being played by locally hired actors just by the way
they
talk.
--
Trudi

"Cleveland rocks."--Ian Hunter