Today in Canada

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I was getting a taxi around the city, and the cab driver (bless her soul) asked me how the war between the catholics and the protestants was going in Ireland.

I was so thrown by the question that I didn't even think of sarcastically playing along, I just gently gave a general overview of the troubles and tried not to soil myself laughing while she was driving me.

Wow.

Chong

I have to say taxi drivers in general talk utter bullsh!t. The other day I got a taxi home and all the taxi driver could do was slag off the foreigners as he put it.

Crucifix

My family once made friends with a dutch family on holidays. Once, during a fairly regular time with regards to the north, they e-mailed my parents to tell them they could send us (the kids) over to them to escape the war.

aidan_walsh

I presume he's in Canada, and it happened today.

Fun story though.

YeatsCounty

Mordeth wrote:

I was getting a taxi around the city, and the cab driver (bless her soul) asked me how the war between the catholics and the protestants was going in Ireland.

I was so thrown by the question that I didn't even think of sarcastically playing along, I just gently gave a general overview of the troubles and tried not to soil myself laughing while she was driving me.

Wow.

I've been asked some strange questions about the Troubles as well. I try to tell these people the truth.......but I usually give up and agree with what they're saying. It's easier that way.

Willymuncher

A guy here asked me "how has Ireland been since the NRA disarmed?" and he thought the whole nation was at war...

Most other people I've met don't know where Ireland is and don't care either.

YeatsCounty

Willymuncher wrote:

A guy here asked me "how has Ireland been since the NRA disarmed?"

Now that's just plain funny. The National Roads Authority was only around for 10 years before it disbanded.

It can be tough to field questions like that one alright.......

Attol

In English class last year we were studying some Irish poetry. I live in England so my class wasn't too strong on details of the famine. Basically my teacher explained that the Irish people were building roads so that trucks could get to them with more potatoes...

joejoem

LadyLotts wrote:

In English class last year we were studying some Irish poetry. I live in England so my class wasn't too strong on details of the famine. Basically my teacher explained that the Irish people were building roads so that trucks could get to them with more potatoes...

As long as they dont build roads that come over here innit, facking paddy oirish lazy bastards. God bless the queen innit

boardy

YeatsCounty wrote:

Now that's just plain funny. The National Roads Authority was only around for 10 years before it disbanded.

It can be tough to field questions like that one alright.......

Methinks that the person in question was talking about the other more famous NRA, the National Rifle Association, which is a huge lobby group in the States.

medja

When I was living in Florida a few years ago, my neighbour asked me did I know any of the stars of Xena, as he thought it was shot in Ireland, I pointed out that it was shot in New Zealand. He said that at least he wasn't too far wrong as Ireland was next store!

fischerspooner

When I was in Canada a guy asked me if Ireland was "in the US or Canada or where is it?".
There are ignorant people everywhere, in general the Canadians were pretty good with their worldy knowledge. Try asking your average taxi driver or gurrier on the street what the capital of Canada is and you wont get the right answer.

michaelanthony

Believe it or not, Ireland is not the centre of the world!

Cianos

So what is the capital of Canada?

As far as I know, there is not one spec of international history or geography on the standard high school curriculum.

projectmayhem

michaelanthony wrote:

Believe it or not, Ireland is not the centre of the world!

blasphemy!

LegacyUser

When i was 16, i went on a family holiday to portugal, and as you do at that age, made friends with loadsa kids.
They came form England and Scotland, with only one girl also coming from Ireland.
Anyhow, a week into the holiday, myself and the other irish girl are sitting by the pool, checking out the talent, and we spot this guy we fancy, he was standing fairly close to us, so in broke irish, we start commenting on how hot we thought he was. "Oh ta se go hAlain" and all that kinda jazz.
Anyhow, another english guy, who was also 16, over hears us, and asks what language we had just spoken.
We explained that we had been talking Irish, now get this, we had been palling with this guy every day for a week, and he says

:v: "YOU SPEAK IRISH IN IRELAND, YOUR ENGLISH IS VERY VERY GOOD"

he was doing that thing, you know, when people confuse being foreign with being deaf and decide to shout everything to you, verrrrrry slooooooowly!

He spoke like that for a few hours before we explained that his lot robbed us of our culture and our language, and that we all speak english in ireland on a daily basis.

Also, on that same holiday, my mam made friends with this woman from Essex, who asked my mam to tell her all about the bombs and the war.

We live in Dublin!

fischerspooner

ottowa is the capital of Canada, Alanis Morrisette is from there I think, and that little irritating pop star "why you have to go and make things so complicated".

joejoem

fischerspooner wrote:

ottowa is the capital of Canada, Alanis Morrisette is from there I think, and that little irritating pop star "why you have to go and make things so complicated".

Bryan adams?

fischerspooner

No Mr Acne-Scars is from Vancouver

projectmayhem

joejoem wrote:

Bryan adams?

avril lavigne

Dermington

michaelanthony wrote:

Believe it or not, Ireland is not the centre of the world!

burn the witch!

lodgepole

Cianos wrote:

So what is the capital of Canada?

As far as I know, there is not one spec of international history or geography on the standard high school curriculum.

Ottawa. Canadians are very knowledgeable about the world. They're incredibly well travelled and more of them have their passport then don't.

SprostonGreen

Lodgepole wrote:

Ottawa. Canadians are very knowledgeable about the world. They're incredibly well travelled and more of them have their passport then don't.

And they all have the Canadian flag on their backpack.;)

Incidentally, the Canadian Immigration website got its highest ever hits on the day the Bush was re-elected.

lodgepole

SprostonGreen wrote:

And they all have the Canadian flag on their backpack.;)

Incidentally, the Canadian Immigration website got its highest ever hits on the day the Bush was re-elected.

Holy **** does this mean you saw Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo as well?? I watched in the Paramount theatre in downtown Toronto. Needless to say me and my English friend laughed heartily at all the Canada jibes.

Gandhi

One of my wife's friends thought that Ireland was in North America somewhere, not in Europe. And this chick had been to Ireland!!! Apparently had not noticed the 3,000 miles of ocean she had flown over to get there.

Not surprisingly, a huge supporter of Dubya, the same woman.

YeatsCounty

Gandhi wrote:

One of my wife's friends thought that Ireland was in North America somewhere, not in Europe. And this chick had been to Ireland!!! Apparently had not noticed the 3,000 miles of ocean she had flown over to get there.

Not surprisingly, a huge supporter of Dubya, the same woman.

You have to be kidding me.

She must have thought she was flying over one of the Great Lakes. :rolleyes: C'MON!!!


Just referencing Arrested Development there. Don't mind me.

KazDub

Me 'n the fella, Alcatraz, listening to the tour guide. He asks where everyone is from. So the usual, 'hands up if your from outside the states'. We didn't want to be the only ones in a small enough group not to take part in this oh-so-fantastic-and-just-what-we-paid-for fun, so we told him we were from Ireland. So, fair enough, he asks was there anyone from Northern Ireland, even cracks a joke about us being from the 'real' Ireland. A middle aged couple said they were indeed Northern Irish. This oul wan, in a shell suit, crisp white trainers and a baseball cap grabs her poor old fecker of a husband and yells, 'oh god honey, move away quick, there might be a fight between them'. She thought that the fact that the Southerners and Northerners had just discovered each other on the tour, we were going to start baiting the ****e out of each other. Ah bless!

YeatsCounty

KazDub wrote:

Me 'n the fella, Alcatraz, listening to the tour guide. He asks where everyone is from. So the usual, 'hands up if your from outside the states'. We didn't want to be the only ones in a small enough group not to take part in this oh-so-fantastic-and-just-what-we-paid-for fun, so we told him we were from Ireland. So, fair enough, he asks was there anyone from Northern Ireland, even cracks a joke about us being from the 'real' Ireland. A middle aged couple said they were indeed Northern Irish. This oul wan, in a shell suit, crisp white trainers and a baseball cap grabs her poor old fecker of a husband and yells, 'oh god honey, move away quick, there might be a fight between them'. She thought that the fact that the Southerners and Northerners had just discovered each other on the tour, we were going to start baiting the ****e out of each other. Ah bless!

Haha, that's actually kinda sweet. :v:

FatherTed

It's amazing the amount of people here in the US who ask me what part of Britain is Ireland. And then they usually proceed to tell me that they're "Irish". I usually follow up by asking "really? so what part of Ireland are you from?".

Vorsprung

I did a summer in Vancouver a few years ago, the woman we rented the flat off was a paeds ICU nurse, so an educated woman. We asked her if putting 6 in it would be ok, she was bang on so didn't think she'd refuse. She was a bit anxious at first, but agreed, saying that we were probably used to have 7 or 8 people in our homes. Think she thought we were still in the Famine...:o

Gandhi

YeatsCounty wrote:

You have to be kidding me.

She must have thought she was flying over one of the Great Lakes. :rolleyes: C'MON!!!


Just referencing Arrested Development there. Don't mind me.

Deadly serious. Though this chick is a complete nut job in general, with a very shaky grasp on reality. Normally in a harmless, entertaining way though. She is the only person I know under the age of 105 who calls everyone "Toots".

4Xcut

FatherTed wrote:

It's amazing the amount of people here in the US who ask me what part of Britain is Ireland. And then they usually proceed to tell me that they're "Irish". I usually follow up by asking "really? so what part of Ireland are you from?".

oh yes the " my grandfather's freind's cousin's grand uncle once saw a potatoe so that means i'm irish. I'm looking for my ancestories."

jaggeh

sitting in a bar in new york with 3 of my mates last year this black guy started talking to us and this is how it went
Black guy : So Where Y'all From?
Mate 1 : Ireland
Black guy : Where Dat?
Mate 2 :you know.....ireland, its and island near england.
Me : In Europe
Black guy : Y'all get the train?
Mate 1 : its about 3000 miles away we had to get a plane
Black guy : oh right, i donts got my geographies.

Endurance Man

Was in America on holiday a few years ago and a cashier recognised my accent and asked me if i had seen many lions and zebras lately? Chatted to him a bit more and he was under the impression that in "Africa" you had lions and zebras roaming around your garden :rolleyes: .

cooperguy

If a Canadian ever asks what which of Britian is Ireland just reply "Its not part of Britian its a separate state but dont worry all you Americans mix it up" They NEVER like that one!!!

Nephew

I was at a cfl game during the summer. I got stuck talking to a tard and his wife for the whole game, he asked me did we have ice cream in ireland amongst other stupid questions about omagh, lockerbie and any place he heard of being bombed in the news. The funniest was when he asked was in I in the IRA, not once but twice. When I said no, he asked were any of my mates members. Of course, it was ok to tell him because he wouldn't tell anyone. I didn't have the heart to tell him we were in the U.V.F.

boardy

cooperguy wrote:

If a Canadian ever asks what which of Britian is Ireland just reply "Its not part of Britian its a separate state but dont worry all you Americans mix it up" They NEVER like that one!!!

You mean ............. Canada is not part of America. But they all talk the same. And dress the same. And play Baseball.

lodgepole

cooperguy wrote:

If a Canadian ever asks what which of Britian is Ireland just reply "Its not part of Britian its a separate state but dont worry all you Americans mix it up" They NEVER like that one!!!

They actually get quite annoyed (along with South and Central America) that "America" refers to the United States. Canadians are very proud North Americans.

YeatsCounty

Lodgepole wrote:

They actually get quite annoyed (along with South and Central America) that "America" refers to the United States. Canadians are very proud North Americans.

That is very true. They just love to beat the US in hockey and in the Winter Olympics. They're gearing up for Turin '06 in February right now. It's beginning to be advertised repeatedly on most channels here, especially CBC.

carpothepunk

Hehe,there is a region in America called Ireland,name stealing backstards

lodgepole

YeatsCounty wrote:

That is very true. They just love to beat the US in hockey and in the Winter Olympics. They're gearing up for Turin '06 in February right now. It's beginning to be advertised repeatedly on most channels here, especially CBC.

They've been getting ready for that since I moved to Toronto in October of '04...

Hehe,there is a region in America called Ireland,name stealing backstards

To the north west of Montreal is a place called Shannon on which you can drive down Dublin Street. All of the streets are named after Irish town and cities Terribly dull place though, other than an impressive river.

Rockee

Was living in Sweden for a couple of months before christmas. Was in Burger King over there and some guy heard my accent...'Oh, so you're Irish???' 'Yes, I am indeed' the guy then said 'So, what would happen if I sang god save the queen to you'....You don't want to know what my reaction was! Another time a Swede was shocked to discover that we didnt use British Sterling. Its not just in Canada/U.S.A. that ignorance prevails!