What is a Canadian?
The Wrath of Dawn had a recent post pondering the eternal question of what exactly is a Canadian. Many sociologists, philosophers, novelists, poets and politicians have made a very good living ruminating over the same issue, and I can report without fear of contradiction that in Canada's 139 years of existence, no one has yet to come up with a definitive answer.
Me, I've lived here all my life, eh, and I still haven't figured it out, even after having lived in Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. All I know is that I was an Easterner when living in Alberta, a mainlander when I was in Newfoundland and now I'm an anglo in a largely francophone Quebec. Actually, right now I'm a Qallunaq in a part of Quebec where 92% of the population is Inuit.
So not fitting in is something that I'm very used to. As well as not knowing what I am.
In that post Wrath of Dawn had a link to an mp3 of the famous "Joe Canadian" beer ad, which was an attempt to define us. This, of course, spawned many regional parodies. So without further ado, I direct you to this site for some aural takes on the Canadian existence. In particular, check out "I am Newfie", "I am Albertan" and "I am French Canadian", which has the immortal lines "And I do believe Club Super Sexe is an appropriate place for my wife and me to celebrate our anniversaire - what the hell, she goes on at 10 anyways".
Me, I've lived here all my life, eh, and I still haven't figured it out, even after having lived in Newfoundland, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. All I know is that I was an Easterner when living in Alberta, a mainlander when I was in Newfoundland and now I'm an anglo in a largely francophone Quebec. Actually, right now I'm a Qallunaq in a part of Quebec where 92% of the population is Inuit.
So not fitting in is something that I'm very used to. As well as not knowing what I am.
In that post Wrath of Dawn had a link to an mp3 of the famous "Joe Canadian" beer ad, which was an attempt to define us. This, of course, spawned many regional parodies. So without further ado, I direct you to this site for some aural takes on the Canadian existence. In particular, check out "I am Newfie", "I am Albertan" and "I am French Canadian", which has the immortal lines "And I do believe Club Super Sexe is an appropriate place for my wife and me to celebrate our anniversaire - what the hell, she goes on at 10 anyways".
posted by nanuk at 6:42 AM Permafrost
2 Comments:
I've lived in NB, BC and ON. It wasn't until I came to Ireland that I "felt" Canadian. I'd recommend a lil expat action to everyone.
Anna - I know a bit of what you're talking about: south of the 49th I feel people are on a totally different wavelength or have been eating off lead plates for generations, except for Chicago which is exactly like Winnipeg. North of the border we're aware of regional differences, but we can still communicate without needing an "interpretor".
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