Canada, Eh?
In accordance with Canada's official policy of bilingualism, this page is also available in French.[2] En accord avec la politique officielle du bilinguisme canadien, cette page est également disponible en français.[3]
They all live on donuts and moose meat
Never even bring their guns to the mall!
and they leave the house without packing heat—"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Canadian Idiot", eh?
In American media, Canada is a sweet, quirky and slightly backwards version of America, eh? (Assuming it exists at all, eh?) It's as if you took everyone from Minnesota, gave them an obsession with hockey[4] (OK, more of an obsession), and made that an entire country, eh? Everybody's white (except the First Nations), eh, and everyone who isn't French has a Scottish last name, eh?
Canada basically consists of five distinct parts, eh:
- Toronto: basically
Chicago but cleaner, eh?New York but smaller, eh? Not actually the national capital, despite the fact many foreigners think it is, eh? It's actually the provincial[5] capital of Ontario, eh? - The Great North Woods: filled with trappers, lumberjacks (who usually are OK), treacherous squaws, moose, beavers, and mountain men, all of them named Pierre (even the girl), and all of them wearing flannel and furs (except in some cases), eh?
- The Atlantic region: basically Maine but even colder, eh? Full of flannel-wearing fishermen with funny accents falling somewhere between Irish, Scottish, and Pirate, eh?
- Quebec, full of artsy, stuck up French-types who hate the people in the other parts and other Frenchmen. Abandoned by France in favour of the Caribbean, but who wouldn't, ostie?
- The Arctic, full of igloos, playful polar bears and parka-wearing Inuit, quite possibly penguins, and of course cute little baby seals... at least until the polar bears and people find them. Which is awesome, eh?
Keep in mind that Canada, Eh? has no West Coast (besides all of British Columbia), no Prairies (besides a fairly large hunk of the middle of the country), and certainly no punishingly hot weather (except for Vancouver). The hot weather stops right aboot at the border (unless it presents a passport), eh!?
For more simple-minded types, Canada consists of two parts, eh?:
- Toronto: Icy hellhole, eh? Full of maple syrup, French people, moose, beavers, Moonties (who are Paul Gross clones) and people who say eh, eh?
- Not Toronto: Icier hellhole, eh? More syrup, French people, moose, beavers, Moonties (again, clones) and people who say eh, eh? And frequently called Moose Jaw, Flin Flon, Dildo, Swastika, Asbestos, and so on, eh?
Eeeeeh, Canadians eat nothing but Kraft Dinner (which is Canadian for "macaroni and cheese"), Tim Hortons, donuts, poutine,[6] and Canadianback bacon, eh? Anglophone Canadians all speak with a stereotyped West/Central Canadian English accent, putting "eh" at the end of questions or affirmations, and prominently raising the "ou" in aboot every word containing it, eh?
Our army consists of a guy with a BB gun mounted on a moose, our air force a paper airplane,[7] and our navy a guy in a canoe with a slingshot, eh?
All policemen are Mounties, and they wear their red serge dress tunics and broad-brimmed Montana Peak hats constantly while on regular duty, eh?
Canadian technology is always behind American tech, eh?[8] In fact, if it wasn't for the Americans we'd have no culture at all, eh?
Feel free to whack me over the head with a hockey stick, eh? And doon't feel soarry aboot it, eh!?
Useful Notes about non-fictional Canada now has its own page, eh?
Also see Canada Does Not Exist, eh, and Minnesota Nice for the American equivalent.
Advertising, Eh?
Anime and Manga, Eh?
- Kate from Sketchbook [[full color's]] comes from Canada (and for some reason writes "Canada" in kanji).
- In Axis Powers Hetalia, Canada looks exactly like America except for a different hair cut (his hair is somewhat longer, and his haircurl is longer with a curl near the end - kind of like the one the Italy brothers have) is extremely quiet, says "Maple" and/or "Maple Hockey" when surprised, is constantly mistaken for his brother, America, and no one really remembers him. He is usually invisible to other nations, who sometimes think the "other presence" in the room is a ghost.
- The Canadian Gundam from G Gundam is a giant wood cutter as is its pilot. All we get to see of the actual country is a forest where... there is wood cut.
- In an episode of Wandaba Style, the girls traveled back in time and saw Susumu's father leave on a spaceship to the moon. With their future knowledge that Susumu's father never made it to the moon, they assume he never returned, and when they go back in the present, they offer Susumu their condolences. Susumu replies that his father was stuck in space for five years, but is alive and well and living in Canada.
- An episode of Medabots had a Canadian medafighter travel to Japan to challenge Ikki to a battle. At one point he mentions that the completely insane blizzard Ikki's town was experiencing would be seen as pretty much nothing back home.
- One case of Team Rocket's Twinkle in The Sky exit in Pokémon ends with them landing in an indeterminate forest zone, with two onlookers dressed for warmth. The dub goes the extra mile with their accent.
- Kinnikuman
- Canadianman is so Canadian, he's even dressed up like the Canadian flag. He even wields an axe as his weapon.
- Kinnikuman Big Body is also Canadian. Since he was a Jobber in the original manga, various fighting games had to come up with a moveset for him. In the Muscle Grand Prix series and Muscle Fight fangame, one of his finishing moves is the Maple Leaf Clutch, a hold where he forces his opponent to pose like the Canadian flag.
Comic Books, Eh?
- Hong Kong comic The World of Lily Wong featured a Story Arc where Lily's no-good brother Rudy and his mates were thinking of holding up a store and wanted to get guns without paying a fee to the local Triads. The obvious answer? Ask an American! Rudy approaches his gwailo ("Ghost Man", aka Caucasian) brother-in-law, Stuart.
Rudy: Hey, gwailo, can I borrow your gun?
Stuart: What makes you think I have a gun?
Rudy: Aw, c'mon, all Americans have guns!
Stuart: Well I don't.
(Rudy returns disappointedly to his friends.)
Rudy: Bad news, lads. I think this one must be Canadian.
- Marvel Comics' Alpha Flight was about Canada's superteam, written & drawn by Canadian John Byrne (born in the UK, but raised in Edmonton, Alberta Canada - where Wolverine is supposedly from). Only one character (Puck) had the "eh" verbal tic, and it specifically didn't appear in his thought balloons.
- In the X-Men books, Canada is an outright evil place. They're the ones responsible for inhumane genetic experimentation on minorities like the Weapon X program. They've put mutants in concentration camps and gassed them, including women and children. Basically, Marvel Canada = Nazi Germany.
- It's an odd fact that if a character in the Marvel Universe (and to a lesser degree, in the DC universe) is a sociopath (Wolverine, Wyldechild), a psychopath (Sabretooth, Deadpool), clinically insane (Aurora), gay (Northstar) or an elf (again Northstar), they're from Canada. If they're gay or an elf, they're from Quebec (Northstar and Aurora).
- Omega Flight seemed to strive to be as un-Canadian as possible to the point of having US Agent on the team, and making the current Guardian (as in, the guy with the maple leaf on his outfit) a former US postal worker. Only two members of the team were actually Canadian.
- Wolverine of the X-Men was their first Canadian member, and very proudly so, though he hardly advertises the fact. It's made complex because John Byrne made him Canadian, and Marvel didn't care because at the time, they didn't think he'd be a major character. As his popularity grew, Marvel repeatedly tried to retcon his history to make him American, with no success. He's now generally recognized as Canadian in the comic.
- A discarded version of the "Wolverine: Origins" story line had Wolverine born and spend his early life in the Southern States and move to Canada after the reveal causes tragedy in his family. It was eventually decided that his Canadian origin was at this point too integral to his fan recognition to ignore.
- One issue of X-Men: First Class plays this straight, showing Wolverine to be a dedicated hockey fan ("It's my moral right as a Canadian!").
- Another issue had him describing to Kitty an early mission he had with Alpha Flight where he had to rescue the Governor General. His attempts to explain to Kitty who the Governor General is was hilarious.
- An issue of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew mentions the "Cornadian border" (Earth-C's Canada being named "Cornada", which in real life is also a bullfighting term).
- The Scott Pilgrim series, based in a surreal video game version of Toronto, averts most of these stereotypes (it should be noted the author, Bryan Lee O'Malley, is Canadian himself), except for the occasional "eh." Also, American characters' dialogue will be spelled with words like "flavor," while the Canadian cast says "flavour."
- The film, with American audiences in mind, lampshades this trope in the intro, saying that the story takes place "In the faraway land of Toronto, Canada".
Fan Fiction, Eh?
- The unlikely setting for Sunshine Temple's Fuku Fic The Return.
- In XSGCOM Canada is described - admittedly in jest to simple-minded offworlders - as a Death World. ‘They say [Sharp's] homeland is a frozen wasteland where the icy wind would cut you to the bone and where water only ever falls as snow, like it does here upon the mountaintops yonder... ‘It is said the forests there are full of ferocious beasts with huge teeth and claws called bears, and that you must prove yourself worthy by defeating one with a traditional weapon of his tribe they call a hockey stick’
- Quite a few Canadian references are present in His Lie in April, the Your Lie in April alternate story fic: Kaori becomes a fan of the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders, which was instilled by a new character, her uncle Seiya, who happens to live and work in Canada; in addition, Kaori also eats (and loves) the Canadian dish called poutine.
Film, Eh?
- The persistent mentioning that shots need to contain "more Canadian content" by the director in Windigo serves to spoof the Canadian obsession with having expressly Canadian movies to maintain their identity.
- Misconceptions of this type form the backbone of Michael Moore's satirical film Canadian Bacon.
Mountie played by Steven Wright: I don't know what you're talkin' aboot.
Roy Boy: We have ways of making you pronounce the letter O.
- Strange Brew, the movie that first stereotyped Canadians.
- Most likely the Trope Namer, eh?
- Rumble in The Bronx. The Bronx apparently has a mountain range. (It was shot in Vancouver, BC.)
- The Whole Nine Yards averts this, taking place in Montreal because it was filmed there, but generally lacking in Canadian stereotypes, except for Bruce Willis's rant about how Canadians put mayonnaise on hamburgers.
- Taking Lives is an American thriller set for no particular reason in Quebec City, which you can tell because everyone speaks French from France and there's an establishing shot of the Château Frontenac. Having the Chateau Frontenac in Montreal is the equivalent of showing the Statue of Liberty in Washington.
- In The President's Analyst, when the titular individual goes on the lam, along with being stalked by the FBI, the CIA and The Phone Company, he runs afoul of the Canadian intelligence service. They are very polite about abducting him and drugging him for classified info.
- Canadian cities are sometimes seen as interchangeable, even by other Canadians. For instance, the movie A Problem with Fear is set in Calgary's underground subway system. Unfortunately for the film, Calgary does not have and has never had an underground subway system; the film was shot in Montreal, as the French-language ads in the background of many shots will attest. (And to be honest, having French-language ads in a movie supposedly set in Calgary is actually weirder than inventing a subway system.)
- David Cronenberg's films are often set in his hometown, Toronto, which he naturally portrays quite realistically. A realistic Montreal crops up occasionally, too. His 1986 remake of The Fly is shot in the downtown core of Toronto, and several prominent stores are visible during some of the scenes (such as Toronto City Hall, and, when Brundle walks down the street eating a chocolate bar, he passes he most random places.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, set in Toronto. For more on this, see the comic book entry.
Literature, Eh?
- British author Dick Francis' thriller The Edge, set on a cross-Canada train trip, which is generally respectful and affectionate but also features a character who literally does say 'eh' at the end of every freakin' sentence.
- How To Be A Canadian, by Will and Ian Ferguson, is a novel-length deconstruction, subversion and general send-up of every Canadian stereotype in existence.
- The Trolls has Aunt Sally both poke fun at and provide true facts about Vancouver. For the record, no one in her stories say 'eh?'.
- After the airliner hijacking at the beginning of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is foiled by John Clark and his son-in-law, the plane touches down in Gander, Newfoundland, and the protagonists are met on the tarmac by a "Royal Canadian Air Force" officer. Canada's air forces were not referred to as the "RCAF" between 1968 and 2011. Particularly egregious for such a military enthusiast.
- Hollywood's Canada, by Canuck media legend Pierre Burton, thoroughly and hilariously deconstructs Canada's image in American film (hint: most of the flicks mentioned were marketed as 'cool and refreshing' viewing for hot summer days). Contains, among others in the same vein, this wonderful quote from British actor Arthur Treacher: "I say, you'd have to be a pretty virile bloke to live there, wouldn't you?"
- The Coyote Kings of the Space Age Bachelor Pad is set in Edmonton, and is notable for having a cast made up largely of black people. Then again, the author is a black Canadian who lives in Edmonton.
- Peacebreakers by Canadian-American writer Mindy Mackay both exemplifies and subverts this trope - set in Montreal, the book is aboot a bunch of terrible people who take over the country. Although they don't fit friendly Canadian stereotypes, they're all obsessed with hockey, poutine, and saying "eh."
- In Percy Jackson and The Olympians, it turns out that everyone in Canada is secretly a Laistrygonian. They even have bizarre names like "Marrow Sucker", "Skull Eater" and "Joe Bob".
- In The Trolls, Aunt Sally tells her nieces and nephews about her life growing up with their father and the rest of the family on Vancouver Island. A lot of things she mentions, like a violin-playing test that's Serious Business, she claims are normal for life on the island. Early on, she jokes that people in Canada have parties all of the time, but keep it a secret because they feel like they're "ghosts" and that America has a proper culture.
Live-Action TV, Eh?
- The Daily Show covered the Canadian election.
- Two words: Lumberjack Song. Though, seeing as it was from Monty Python's Flying Circus the stereotyping was there for irony, and was also greatly subverted by the whole transvestitism thing.
- Degrassi did a self-parody of this when Kevin Smith guest-starred, making a movie titled "Jay and Silent Bob Do Canada, Eh. (Smith is a fan of predecessor Degrassi Junior High)
- The Red Green Show both embraces and pokes fun at nearly every Canada, Eh? stereotype.
- There's a scene in The Movie where Red and Harold are crossing the border, and engage in this exchange with the customs officer, played by Dave Broadfoot:
Customs Officer: Citizenship?
Red: Canadian. Need proof?
Customs Officer: Nah. It's pretty obvious.
- Subverted in Due South in which all of Canada's officials are irritated by how polite and upstanding Mountie Benton Fraser is.
- In real life, sometimes the RCMP aren't that polite and upstanding. And during the Red Scare the RCMP did many, many things that were questionable. Such as inventing a "Fruit Machine" to try to identify homosexuals, whom they felt could be blackmailed by the KGB to reveal state secrets. Yes, really.
- Parodied in the Rick Mercer's This Hour Has 22 Minutes sketch (and eventual special) "Talking To Americans", in which he interviewed American citizens, playing off their ill-conceived notions of what life is like in Canada (i.e. asking people if they would visit "Canada's national igloo", making them believe the Canadian time zones run on 20-hour clocks, convincing them that moose are being pelted with Tim Hortons Timbits, having them think Canada goes through a period of nocturnal darkness every year, etc.) One of his favorite traps is to try and get U.S. politicians to say that Toronto is the national capital.
- Another Rick Mercer production, Made in Canada: Inverted whenever dealing with characters who are American. Often Americans are portrayed as dumb, culture-unaware, and occasionally gun-loving. The Vice President of NBC is a good example of being a Fake American when Richard visits Los Angeles. But then, Canadian show business is no better.
- In addition to the "Great White North", any parody of Canada done by SCTV mocks the preconceived notions of the country held by...well, just about everyone else. One specific episode had the SCTV channel picking up a signal from Canada to play on their channel due to a strike at the station building. These programs include fake commercials for the Canadian Broadcasting Channel, their take on the "Hinterland Who's Who" (little vingettes during commercial breaks, mainly during children's programming, about wildlife), and a parody of the seminal Canadian classic, "Goin' Down the Road" (featuring appropriate speech patterns, woodchucks and Stompin' Tom Connors). What's it all aboot?
- In Stargate Atlantis, Rodney McKay is a brilliant Canadian scientist, arguably the smartest person on the show. While many Canadians will use "zee" instead of "zed" while mostly around Americans, McKay always uses "zed". This leads the Zero Point Module to be called "Zed-Pee-Em"—even, on occasion, by American characters. During an episode where the team has to travel to Canada to track someone down, McKay states that CSIS ("see-sis") is assisting in the search, much to John Sheppard's amusement.
Lt. Col. Sheppard: C-what now?
Dr. McKay: Canadian Security Intelligence Services. They're kind of like your CIA.
Lt. Col. Sheppard: [sarcastically] CSIS, that's the best you guys can do, huh?
- Mike and the 'bots of Mystery Science Theater 3000 once had to suffer through a Canadian film called The Final Sacrifice, which inspired them to write an "homage" to their northern neighbor.
Tom Servo: Enough! There's been too much Canada bashing for far too long! I say no more!
Mike Nelson: Don't you mean, "No more, eh?"
- Episode 606, Zombie Nightmare, was also panned, with lines like:
Tom Servo: This is either America ten years ago or Canada today.
- Servo has also speculated that Space Mutiny may be Canadian-made ("it's just rife with the smell of back-bacon"). Poor Tom Did Not Do the Research; the film was actually made in South Africa during The Apartheid Era, which may explain why everyone on the ship is white.
- CBC's long running sketch comedy series, Royal Canadian Air Farce, poked fun at bunches of these.
- Varies considerably in How I Met Your Mother, thanks to Robin being Canadian.
- On one end of the spectrum, Ted and Robin have this discussion:
Ted: You guys are weird and you pronounce the word 'out', 'oot'.
Robin: You guys are the world's leader in hand gun violence, your health care system is bankrupt and your country is deeply divided on almost every important issue.
Ted: [pause] Your cops are called 'Mounties'.
- On the other, The Eighties didn't get to Canada until 1993, the characters have made fun about Canadian Thanksgiving being in October ("What do Canadians have to even celebrate aboot?") and, when Robin got drunk once, she became "Super-Canadian," and started playing hockey in the apartment.
- They also love playing with Canadian stereotypes, such as they are. There was a whole episode on the stereotype that Canadians are afraid of the dark.
- Robin has a habit of mentioning Canadian celebrities or pop culture icons as if they should mean something to her friends, on one occasion leading Barney to ask, "What's the opposite of 'name-dropping'?"
- On one occasion, Robin checks she's in a Canadian bar by walking into the back of someone else; he promptly apologises and demands he buy her a drink to make up for it. Also offers her a doughnut... on the hoose.
- Another episode has her criticise Lethal Weapon as being a rip-off of a fictional but apparently iconic Canadian action movie, McElroy and LaFleur involving a renegade mountie whose horse has been shot by American gangsters. We don't get far enough into the description to find out if the plot also involves a heroin-smuggling operation run by an ex-Vietnam War era special ops unit.
- Robin tends to drop Canadian sayings that don't actually exist.
- One of the most recent ones was in Season 5, where Robin and Barney end up in a Tim Horton's in Toronto (Dunkin Donuts being the rest of the world's answer to Tim Hortons). The restaurant is a very authentic replication. The moment gets funnier when Barney goes out of his way to insult every Canadian in the restaurant, which results in a little kid barring the door with a hockey stick and Barney getting the snot beat out of him.
- "Robin, I'm proud of you, eh."
"USA! USA! USA!"
"CANADA! CANADA! CANADA!"
"SHRIMP FRIED RICE! SHRIMP FRIED RICE!"
- One segment from E!'s 101 Hollywood Secrets was about the number of Hollywood actors from Canada.
- Twin Peaks, set in north-west USA, featured Canadian drug dealers dressed as lumberjacks and speaking with French accents.
- USA Network showed a pilot for a series (Underfunded) that would involve a character working for the "Canadian Secret Service" (CSS). In addition to not being particularly well-researched (Canada's foreign intelligence service is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS), the end of the pilot involved the main character being assigned a semi-permanent post in Washington, D.C., thereby rendering the whole exercise pointless. It was not picked up for a full series.
- In one episode of The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Little Pete attempts to run away from home by riding a riding mower to Canada. A mountie catches him at the border, hitches the mower to the back of his horse and drags him home that way.
- On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Michael Eddington carries a "lucky Loonie" (one-dollar coin), which would seem to imply Canadian background. He's a lot more hardcore than the national stereotype. SRSLY. He also seems to have a kind of reactionary attitude towards the Federation, much the way some Canadian nationalists and jingoists have towards American influences.
- On Lost Ethan claims to be from Canada when talking to Hurley, to which Hurley replies "Cool, I love Canada! They've got great... Uhh..." Cue Ethan's good-hearted laugh. Of course, he was actually born on the island and was lying. Everything involving Canada was synonymous with lying, except in Nathan's case, but that was to fool the audience into thinking he was lying.
- Red Dwarf: Robert Llewellyn apparently based his performance as Kryten on a Canadian accent. Of course, Canadians claim they don't sound anything like that.
- Robert Llewellyn later admitted that what he eventually came up with was a bad Canadian accent.
- In one episode of Malcolm in the Middle, the family discover their granddad's second family who live in Manitoba. Cue funny accents, a very prim-and-proper Canadian grandmother who keeps everything bottled up (as opposed to Malcolm's violent Ruritanian grandmother), and a family who are essentially them but better and happier. Also, Reese loves it because he can go out shooting small animals.
- Played hilariously straight in That '70s Show when the guys travel to Canada to buy beer, and are detained by a couple of Mounties (played by Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas) when Fez misplaces his Green Card.
- A similar situation occurred on Frasier, when during a road trip the group crosses the border into Canada, much to Daphne's horror—she doesn't have her green card yet.
- On News Radio Dave's office mates are shocked and horrified to learn that Dave was actually born there (though raised in Wisconsin). He mentions a childhood fear that his family would be mistaken for spies. Canadian spies.
Jimmy: You poor misguided Canadian bastard.
- Jeopardy!'s emcee, Alex Trebek, was born in Ontario, and never hesitates to throw in an "eh?" or some other Canahen he comes in.
- The eco-thriller mini-series Burn Up, jointly produced by the BBC and Canada's Global Television, stars Calgary...as Calgary.
- Saturday Night Live: A sketch from early 2011 depicts "Celebrity Scoop", a fictional Canadian entertainment news show based in Winnipeg. The hosts are so nice that they miss the entire point of this kind of show.
Edna Ledouf: First up in the gossip world, Celebrity Scoop has received some red-hot photos of Ryan Philippe and Amanda Seyfried canoodling.
Thomas: Yeah, yeah, that's right, you know. But we're not gonna show 'em, you know, 'cause that's private.
- An episode of Corner Gas involves an American tourist accidentally arriving in Dog River. One towns person (Hank) instantly goes on the defensive and mocks the American for supposedly believing stereotypes about Canada. The American turns out to be very well versed in Canadian politics, and any stereotypes that do come up turn out to be true (such as Lacy knowing his friend from Toronto).
- In another episode, Oscar is revealed to be American born, though trying to hide it behind a cool facade (mostly saying "jackass!" a lot). Brent senses a potential prank and runs with it, convinces Oscar to act out every possible Canadian stereotype to "convince the CRTC that he really is Canadian," culminating in trying to have him sing the national anthem in public knowing he'll mess it up. Brent ends up singing the anthem instead due to his mother's interference, and he screws it up entirely as he sings the canadian anthem's lyrics to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner.
- One game on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, "Foreign Film Dub," involves two of the actors faking a foreign language while the other two "translate" for them. One time, the "foreign language" given to them to fake and translate was "Canadian." In addition to the "film" being entitled "Oot 'n' Aboot," the "Canadian" language as faked consisted of nothing but the word "eh," interspersed with words like "hoser," and various hockey-related terms.
- In JAG, Clayton Webb getting assigned to a station in Canada was considered punishment for leaking classified information, and Harm expresses sympathy that he was getting assigned there, despite Canada's status as a first world country that's culturally a fair bit like the US, speaks the same language, and is a short flight from his home in the DC area.
- In NCIS, McGee is up at the border working with the Mounties on a joint operation, and when seen in the background they're wearing the scarlet tunics, and obviously traveled on horseback.
- Nadia, From the Bitchin' Kitchen DOES finish most of her sentences with "eh", though it's more of an Italian thing than Canadian.
Music, Eh?
- The Canadian band Barenaked Ladies occasionally plays up this stereotype for fun in their songs, like in "If I Had A Million Dollars", which contains the line "We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner--" "But we would eat Kraft Dinner?" "Of course we would, we'd just eat more." "And buy really expensive ketchups with it..."
- As does the Canadian group The Arrogant Worms. (1, 2, 3, 4)
Worms: We've got rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees and trees and rocks and rocks and trees and trees and rocks and... water!
- The semi-satirical, mostly serious folk/rock band of the 90s called Moxy Früvous notably averted the "stereotypes", despite singing about Canada in a great deal of their songs. It didn't stop them from taking a dig at both Spain and Canada on of their most famous songs.
- By the way, that's Jian Ghomeshi with the longest hair (known to much of Canada now as the previous host of the program Q on CBC Radio).
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's song Canadian Idiot parodies the stereotypes.
- Rush are national heroes in Canada, eh?
- (As much as any one band is - YMMV.)
- "Take Off" by Bob & Doug McKenzie (like, those hosers from SCTV's "Great White North", eh?) with guest vocals from Geddy Lee of Rush.[9] Ten bucks is ten bucks, eh?
- The Crash Test Dummies (who are from Manitoba) music video for their cover of "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" (used in the film "Dumb And Dumber") makes fun of this. It starts with main character Harry walking down a street trying to talk to Canadians: "Bonjour, eh? Oh Canada, eh? Man, I thought Canadians were supposed to be friendly!"
- Five Iron Frenzy's "Oh, Canada" mentions lumberjacks, Mounties, yaks, lemmings, venison slurpees, milk in bags, and William Shatner.
- they say 'eh' instead of 'what' or 'duh' that's the mighty power of Canada
- The Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, with their notable hits, such as "Little Bones", "Wheat Kings", "Queen of the Furrows", "Bobcaygeon" (actually named that because it was the only town they could think of to rhyme with "constellation"), "Courage (For Hugh MacLennan)", and "Three Pistols" (which starts with the line "Tom Thomson came paddlin' past"). Popular in Canada, too - their farewell concert preempted live Olympic Games coverage.
- Canadian band The Birthday Massacre talked about this in this fanmail video, where they were asked: 1, do they speak with a Canadian accent, and 2, is saying 'eh' at the end of every sentence a regional thing. They answered that 1, they don't think that they speak with a Canadian accent, but in Canada nobody cares if you have an American accent, whereas in America they've been teased for their accents and saying stuff like 'aboot' for 'about' and 'soary' for 'sorry', and 2, it's not a regional thing but more a polite thing, indicating that it's the other person's turn to talk.
- Darkthrone, with their stirring anthem Canadian Metal. This song caused some controversy among Canadian metalheads when it was first released, as for some it is hard to tell if it was meant as mockery or a genuine tribute. In interviews from around the same time they clarified that yes, they actually really like a lot of Canadian metal bands, and the lyrics are taken from song titles of classic Canadian metal bands.
- The band Great Big Sea likes to highlight their Canadian origins - fully half of their songs reference Newfoundland (specifically, St. John's) or other areas in Canada, or else are old British drinking/sailing songs with the lyrics redone to reflect Canadian sensibilities. (Played straight, too - no tongue-in-cheek.)
- Vancouver based folk-rock band Spirit of the West exemplified the 'soary' ideal in their song "Far Too Canadian". They also celebrated the Canadian-Scot heritage in "The Old Sod", and touched upon canadian life in many other songs.
- Jon Lajoie, who is Canadian, parodies this in his song "WTF Collective 2" with MC Canadian Stereotype:
Hello, I'm MC Canadian-Stereotype
I'm aboot to get started so let me get off the ice
But I don't want any trouble and I am always polite
Now lets hop on my snowmobile and I will tell you what I like
But first I'll turn off curling and turn down Avril Lavigne
Et je vais dire une phrase en francais, parce qu'ici on est bilingue [10]
Oh boy, I fell off my igloo and I hurt my knee
Let's go to the hospital! Don't worry, here in Canada it's free, eh?
- Classified's Oh, Canada has been declared as the Canadian hip hop National Anthem.
- Aside from Arkansas-born drummer Levon Helm, all of the original members of The Band hail from Canada.
Newspaper Comics, Eh?
- In a story line in Peanuts, Charlie Brown runs away, but Sally finds him camping out on his pitcher's mound. When she asks him why he didn't go someplace farther from home, such as Canada, he tells her he was afraid of getting hit by a hockey puck.
Professional Wrestling, Eh?
- Oddly enough, Professional Wrestling completely averts this trope (well, almost completely; after all, WWE did have a Heel mountie in full dress uniform for a while; ironically, WWE wasn't allowed to use him in Canada at all), even though they embrace every single other stereotypical ethnic trope out there. This may be because half the wrestlers in North America (at least the well-known ones) are from either Canada or Texas. In fact, professional wrestling may be the only form of popular fictional entertainment where Canadians can be portrayed as jerks or outright evil.
- No irony about the Mountie - the uniform is trademarked.
- While Chris Benoit, in the latter period of his career when he usually played a face, was often described (truthfully) as "residing in Atlanta, Georgia", shows in Canada always reverted to describing him as being from Canada. Benoit himself tried to hide his Canadian accent on the mic (usually straining to say "uh-BOUT" rather than "uh-boat").
- Happened with Chris Jericho too. He was born in New York (his father Ted Irvine played for the NY Rangers), raised in Manitoba, and then moved to Orlando. He was billed from "Manhasset, New York" during the Y2J era, wasn't billed at all during the first few years of his return as the "Saviour of WWE", and then was billed from "Winnipeg, Manitoba" circa 2010.
- Canadians tend to have their own stereotype within Professional Wrestling involving superior in-ring skill and charisma ranging between "average" and "a wet slab of concrete." This is likely due to the fact that most notable Canadian wrestlers came from the infamous Hart family Dungeon whose graduates tended to fall into this stereotype. Notable exceptions include Edge and Christian, who are from Ontario, and Chris Jericho, who did train with the Harts but is simply a straight-up subversion.
- In his autobiography, Chris Jericho mentions during his run as a heel in WCW, he'd play up his Canadian-ness heavily, including putting strong emphasis on certain words to sound more Canadian, such as the "ain" part of "again".
Video Games, Eh?
- Kingdom of Loathing features the zone Little Canadia, as well as the effect "Canadianity", which randomly adds 'eh?' and changes 'about' to 'aboot' in chat.
- A donation of $10 USD will get you a Mr. Accessory, often abbreviated to "Mr. A". $10 Canadian, on the other hand, will net you a "Mr. Eh?" which gives a bonuses to your stats based on the current exchange rate between the Canadian and American Dollars. Sadly, the KoL people have said that in the event that the Canadian Dollar is worth more than the American one (as it briefly was in recent years), the bonuses granted by the Mr. Eh? will not exceed those granted by the Mr. A.
- In the Advance Wars series, Blue Moon resembles Canada about as much as it does Russia. Its national anthem, sung by Olaf in one of his winquotes, starts out "O, Blue Moon, my home and native land..."
- The Judge's brother in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is Canadian, or at least has a Canadian accent. He occasionally replaces his 'u's with 'oo's or uses the stereotypical 'eh' and is also a fan of hockey. The first time he shows up, he calls Phoenix a hoser. Mia's inner monologue comments that he sounds Canadian, if the player couldn't tell from the (text only) context. This is because the Judge's brother trained at a law school in Canada.
- Sailor Moon: Another Story had a chapter where Sailor Jupiter goes to Canada to find Nephrite's Hi Stone, which is at the top of the Protection God's Tree.
- Averted in The Nameless Mod: The Protagonist, Trestkon, (Who is voiced by a German) is Canadian, and while he does doesn't speak with "oo"'s or "eh"'s, the fact that he is Canadian is mercilessly snarked about by King Kashue though.
- The real Trestkon doesn't do it either, going by video interviews with him.
- Punch-Out!! has Bear Hugger, shown above. He's a woodsman from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, who drinks maple syrup, chops down trees, plays hockey, and hugs bears. When not being trained by one. He talks like a stereotypical Canadian in the Wii game, often saying "eh" and calling Little Mac a hoser. Incidentally, that installment was developed by Canadian developer Next Level Games.
- In fact, the reason he's from Salmon Arm is because that's where Next Level has its studio.
- In Sam and Max: The Bright Side of the Moon Sybil gets the job as the Queen of Canada, she gives a 100 billion Canadian dollar bills with the images of Celine Dion.
- And several item referring to Canada have "eh?" added to their regular description.
- The Konami shmup Otomedius Gorgeous has Canada as a level as a featured ice world full of penguins.
- In The Sims 2 DS, Bigfoot will always greet you with a "tira mah, eh?".
- In Anachronox, the Canadian Dollar became the standard currency of the galaxy due to "a freak of galactic economics".
- In the second installment of the Sly Cooper series, the Klaww Gang member Jean Bison is a Canadian lumberjack, and his levels feature all sorts of Canadian stereotypes, such as log rolling, lots of snow, moose, accents, and flannel.
- Although there has never been a Canadian Street Fighter Darkstalkers has Sasquatch the Canadian born big foot monster from the Rocky Mountains, complete with snowman buddies and Lumberjack like stature.
- This is how the Bumpties from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door speak, with "you betchas" thrown in.
- Combat Mission: Shock Force features the Canadian Forces as a playable faction in the NATO expansion pack.
- Champions Online has a perpetually snowbound zone about half the size of New York City, populated by Native Americans, snow beasts, dinosaurs, aliens and militia members, which is alleged to be Canada. Some players took to calling it "The Small White North".
Web Comics, Eh?
- Northern Idenau in the fantasy satire The Fourth.
- MAG-ISA—In this comic, a school shooting occurs in an unnamed school in Toronto.
- The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob has had guest appearances by the comically sinister Rogue Canadian Scientists (in a Shout-Out to Wolverine's backstory in the X-Men) as well as the Saskatchewanian Sasquatch from Saskatoon.
- Calamities of Nature comments on how Canadian currency shamelessly copies American currency.
- Kate Beaton, whose webcomics focus mostly on historical leaders and political figures, is from Canada and has plenty of strips about it. Who knew that John Diefenbaker could be funny? See this one in particular for Canadian stereotypes.
- Sluggy Freelance features the Canadian mafia, led by Snideloni Whiplashi, who smuggled evil Canadian drugs into the United States until Oasis killed them all.
- Ménage à 3 is set in Canada (probably because so is the creator).
- In Antihero for Hire, the Canadians have conquered a decent portion of America in the backstory. With genetically engineered dinosaurs. The first Canadian met was a local superhero looking like a human tank. Also, apparently chainsaw dinosaur jousting is a national sport or something. Put simply, don't mess with Canada in Antihero for Hire.
- Scandinavia and The World has Canada being polite and America's hat.
- Spinnerette has the Legion of Canadian Superheroes. Their big entrance features Katt o' Nine Tails providing a French translation of Green Gable's big speech. Green Gable himself is the first male in the costume, making him a Wholesome Crossdresser, and the third member of the team is a wolfman in a Nice Hat known as The Werewolf of London, Ontario (London for short).
- Subnormality may not explicitly be set in Canada, but there are enough maple leaves and hockey references imply that it is.
- Bibliography is set in the fictional town Tiltstone, in Canada. So far, it seems to be averting most of the stereotypes.
- Manly Guys Doing Manly Things has Canadian Guy, who dresses like a lumberjack, speaks with a ludicrously exaggerated Canadian accent that contains practically no consonants, and constantly does stereotypically Canadian things like living in a specially cooled area of the office, wrestling moose, riding moose, gutting deer and hunting beavers. According to Commander Badass (who arguably isn't the most objective judge of Canadian Guy), this is the basic state of all Canadians and the soft-spoken people the Americans see in Canadian cities are red herrings to throw them off from the 'true' nature of the nation.
Web Original, Eh?
- Captain Canada! at Whateley Academy in the Whateley Universe pretty much runs on this trope whenever he tries to psyche himself up to use his powers. The other Canadian students hate him for this.
- Arkada of the Desu Des Brigade enjoys playing up his nationality, to the point of Memetic Mutation where he's claimed for being responsible for holding Narwal population in check by punching out the huge beast to make peanut butter from their skulls
- Loading Ready Run does a Canada Day special once per year. Some specials will be in-jokes directed at their countrymen, but others play on Canadian stereotypes for laughs:
- "Canada is Sorry" plays to the perception that Canadians are the most instantly contrite and apologetic beings in the known universe.
- "Canadaman" builds a mythology around a song by The Arrogant Worms. Graham portrays Canadaman in aboot the most outlandish voice he can muster, eh, and Paul plays his Quebecois archenemy.
- In Canada, milk comes in bags. (N.B.: True, but only in Eastern Canada (excluding Newfoundland) and not to the exclusion of cartons; milk can be purchased in bags in many places, including some localities stateside.) (Actually, I used to get milk in a bag in BC. I freaked out when I couldn't get it that way after moving to the Prairies. Didn't know what to do with a carton. Seemed so much more wasteful.) (Cartons are recyclable at the bottle depot now!)
- All the hosts of Video Games Awesome are Canadians, and so love anything set in said country. Their fanbase, in turn, loves teasing them about it.
- Phelous. In his early Mortal Komedy videos, characters frequently spoke of having to travel to "Oatworld."
- Andrew in Sailor Moon Abridged speaks with a stereotype Canadian accent and ends every sentence with "eh?", although he denies being Canadian. (He's North Mexican)
- EPICMEALTIME takes place in Canada. In fact, Muscle Glasses' dad is a lumberjack.
- Derek the Bard of Warning! Readers' Advisory is from Canada, and points it out in the episode where he mentions "World War Zed".
- "Yes, I said 'zed.' I also say lef-tenant instead of lou-tenant, and I have Thanksgiving in October. I'm Canadian. Get over it."
- Sips from the Yogscast is from Canada. You can occasionally hear him slip in an "eh?" in his videos.
- Rock Lee is Canadian in Naruto the Abridged Series. Two Sound ninja were able to distract him by offering him maple syrup and a hockey stick.
- From Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series, we find out that Bandit Keith is ironically Canadian.
- Lieutenant Jee from Avatar: The Abridged Series has a stereotypical Canadian accent as well.
Western Animation, Eh?
- Canada in South Park. The Movie subverts it, however, as the Canadians, as a race, form the Only Sane Man. But don't even get us started on Steven Abootman, head of the WGA (the World Canadian Bureau) and his ridiculous Canadian Strike. For some reason, Canadians in South Park have a distinct affinity for big musical numbers. When the main characters went to Canada, ("It's Christmas in Canada") it was portrayed as positively Oz-like ("Follow the Only Road! Follow the Only Road!".) Along the way they encounter several national stereotypes, such as a Mounted policeman forced to ride a sheep, an oddly talkative Québécois mime distraught over wine being outlawed, and a guy from Newfoundland upset over recent laws prohibiting him from having gay sex. All of these were due to the new Prime Minister, Saddam Hussein. Ka-kow! But despite all of that, the Canadians are generally portrayed in this episode as decent, friendly folk... Except for Scott. He's a dick.
- For the record, Steven Abootman is not Terrence and Phillip's buddy, guy.
- There's also the episode about the Canadian Royal Wedding, a clear parody of the British Royal Wedding. When the wedding resumes at the end of the episode, we see that it's "tradition" to rip the bride's arm off and wave it around.
- Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy once did a self-parody, calling turkey basters "Canadian Squirt Guns".
- Other than that, there are more references to where the show originated. In Take This Ed and Shove It, Jimmy's job was a lumberjack, and he wore a cap with a maple leaf on it.
- In one scene of Who's Minding the Ed? Ed was dressed in what was supposedly a hockey uniform, which is actually a hockey jersey, a scuba mask, socks tied around his neck, shorts, and one of the shoes on his feet is a sandal, while he was holding a tennis racket.
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode Test of Time, Billy, Mandy, and Irwin are studying book reports. Mandy had Drums of the American Revolution, Irwin had The Canadian Revolution, and Billy had A Not-So-Brief History of Time. While Billy was goofing off and not studying at all, Irwin called him on the phone 3 times. The first time, Billy was eating pie and Irwin was dressed as a Mountie. The second time, Billy was watching a monster truck show and Irwin was dressed as a lumberjack. The third time, Billy was taking a bath, and Irwin, oddly enough, instead of wearing an outfit stereotyping Canadian culture, wore a Little Bo Peep outfit.
Billy: Do you know what language they speak in Canada?
- In "The Secret Snake Club", Lake Ontario was the home of the legendary 8 km long snake Shnissugah, who would protect the nerds from bullies by swallowing them whole. It turns out that Shnissugah isn't as mighty as the Secret Snake Club thought as it is 8 cm long, and can't eat the cool kids because Shnissugah says they're full of "trans-fatty acids".
- When Meatwad enlists himself, Frylock, and Master Shake in the Marines, Frylock refuses and goes to Canada, which leads to a Saw parody where he is captured by a man in a hockey mask inside a barn with "CANADA" painted on it. The motto was "Come for the crepes, stay for the curling."
Shake: They should focus more on the natural beauty instead of the horror.
- From Dan Vs. "Canada":
Dan: Here's what I know about Canada. England and France had a baby out of wedlock, and that baby was Canada. Now, as for Canadians, first, they drink maple syrup directly out of the bottle. Second, most canadians are at least half-bear.
Chris: I don't think they're actually half-bear, Dan.
Dan: What do you know about it?
Chris: A little bit, actually.
Dan: Okay, Prime Minister, you tell me.
Chris: Canadians thrive in cold climates. They live in the shadow of a massive glacier, blissfully unaware of the horrific fate that would befall them, should the glacier ever collapse. [...] You could put a Canadian in a line up with a bunch normal people, and you wouldn't be able to tell. You have to wait until they drop "eh" or an "aboot," or (this is a good one) they say "sor-y."
Dan: You're right! Normal people never apologize!
- Bob and Margaret (a cartoon series made in Canada), originally set in London, moved to Toronto during a corporate switch to air the show on CanWest Global networks. The rather neurotic and stereotypically British titular couple began a new Fish Out of Water life with the "colonists". Canadian characters on the show are portrayed as varied individuals, some who exhibit these Canadian tropes and many who subvert them. Bob also learns that Indo-Canadians are just as plentiful, and make as good a take-away curry, as Anglo-Indians.
- Bob and Margaret had a pair of Canadian relatives that were the epitome of this trope, constantly looking for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese all over London. This is especially amusing since the cartoon was created in Canada.
- Chilly Beach does the same, even to the point where the titular town is built on an iceberg.
- Bob and Margaret had a pair of Canadian relatives that were the epitome of this trope, constantly looking for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese all over London. This is especially amusing since the cartoon was created in Canada.
- In The Simpsons:
- "I know we don't call as often as we should, and we aren't as well behaved as our goody-two-shoes brother Canada - who by the way has never had a girlfriend... I'm just saying."
- Homer, when asked if the family can visit Canada:
"Canada? Why should we leave America to visit America junior?"
- This is followed by the Simpsons visiting Toronto. They are seen on a bus with an RCMP officer, a hockey player, and a Sasquatch.
- "I moved here from Can-a-da, and they think I'm slow, eh?"
- "Boy Meets Curl" featured the 2010 Winter Olympics, and the ceremonial release of the beavers ("the Canadian dove"). Also featured was Bart's new friend, Milhoose ("your sister's loonier than a one dollar coin, eh").
- The Ren and Stimpy Show:
Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting beef carcasses
And we have to clean up after them
And our saddle sores are the best
We proudly wear womens' clothing
And searing sand blows up our skirts
And the buzzards they soar overhead
And poisonous snakes will devour us whole
Our bones will bleach in the Sun
And we will probably go toHell
And that is our great reward
For being the Roy-oy-al Ca-nadian Kilted Yaksmen!
- Worth noting is that one magazine article previewing the RCKY episode stated that Canada's greatest natural resource would be revealed, and that "No Canadian authorities will be happy." Turns out Canada's greatest natural resource is ... dirt.
- It's also a land chocked filled with wieners separated from America by a river of beans in the episode "Wiener Barons".
- It also helps that some of the episodes are done in Canada by Carbuncle Cartoons, and that John K himself is from Canada as well.
- Jacob Two Two (the Canadian animated series) probably qualify as a Weird Canadian Thing. It's got everything: a specific setting (Montreal), hockey obsession, overstuffed jackets, a token Quebecois, and homework assignments on Canadian explorers (in which Jacob is assisted by the ghost of a bumbling French-Canadian trapper). In fact, other small instances of Canada, Eh? are common on shows made by Nelvana.
- Rutt and Tuke from Brother Bear play this trope like there's no tomorrow.
- Seeing as they're based off of (and even voiced by) SCTV's most notable characters, Bob and Doug, this is to be expected.
- The Fairly OddParents: Crocker's Uncle Albert is from Canada, eh?
- Also, from a comic story in which Timmy wishes for Cosmo and Wanda to conjure up a cousin for him to justify a lie he told:
Vicky: How come I've never met [him] before?
Timmy: Because he lives in, uh, Euro...Litha...Bulga...Slavia.
Vicky: A Canadian, huh?
- In one episode, they visit the North American Museum of Pencil Pushing, conveniently located about five feet from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls; in the same episode, Cosmo refers to Canada as the Greatest Country on Earth, because they have a leaf on their flag!
- Norm the Genie wants to destroy Canada because "they've had it too good for too long". Which is hilarious because Norm the Genie's voice actor, Norm MacDonald, is Canadian.
- The Histeria! episode "North America" gives half its focus to Canada in the form of the Kid Chorus singing a song about it, a countdown of the 5 greatest people in Canadian history (with Wayne Gretzky taking both #5 and #1), and Loud Kiddington doing a Cal Worthington-type ad for the Gold Rush and then playing a Mountie who has to get rid of some Native Americans.
- Johnny Bravo, the "Yukon Yutz" episode.
- The DuckTales (1987) episode "Ducky Mountain High" is set in the Great North Woods and parodies many of the region's stereotypes, especially with the local Beagle Boys.
- Ezekiel from Total Drama Island is a walking example o this. Thick accent and all, eh.
- Canadian references are found all through the Total Drama series, particularly in locale-specific Total Drama World Tour. Also found in 6teen, or really any cartoon from maker Fresh TV.
- In the Kick Buttowski episode "Luigi Vendetta", Kick is tired of Brad messing with him, so Kick was suggested to go to Foggetaboodit, an Italian-Canadian restaurant where he meets Luigi. He is Italian, but his henchpeople are Canadian stereotypes.
- In an episode of Kim Possible, a top secret Canadian spy who's actually Joe the Janitor introduced earlier ends his explanation speech with "eh", but it's delivery makes it sound like it's mocking the trope.
- Kim also uses the trope earlier in the episode, commenting "Canada, eh?" when she's told that Drakken is in Canada.
- The Blizzarians in Storm Hawks. "Who needs all that dirt and rock when you can have nice, cold snow, eh?" The show was made in Canada, so it was probably tongue-in-cheek.
- Most of Nelvana, YTV and Teletoons produtions are like this.
- One of Ricky Sprocket's friends has a Canadian accent.
- Camp Lazlo had some exchange campers from Canada in one episode.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Snails in the duo of unicorns Snips & Snails is a good, slightly more subtle example. He speaks at first with a lightened version of the stereotypical accent, to the point where it's ambiguous whether it's a Northeast American one or Stereotypical Canada, Eh? one. Confirmed finally when he in one scene adds the 'Eh?' to one of his sentences in frustration. (Possibly an inside joke as the show is produced in Vancouver)
- In the Bobby's World episode "Fish Tales", the family travels to Canada, where everyone says "Eh?" constantly. Bobby meets the Mooseheart brothers, two guys who dress like lumberjacks, own a log trailer, and teach him how to be Canadian. (There's not much to it besides liking maple syrup and hockey.)
- In The Hub's Pound Puppies series, the episode "Homeward Pound" introduced the Royal Canadian Pound Puppies. Extremely good-natured and polite, occasionally self-deprecating, and dressed in red sweaters with a white maple leaf on them.
- King of the Hill had a family of Jerkass Canadians who were rude and inconsiderate to everyone. The episode was filled with insults to Canada as the americans were reveling in how better the US was at everything. Also Boomhauer hooked up with a french Canadian because they're everywhere in canada, didn't you know?
- Phineas and Ferb has a pancake restaurant called Paul Bunyan's. Its jingle:
"Paaaaaaul Bunyan's! Where the food is good!" "But not too good, eh?"
- In an episode of El Tigre, White Pantera gets depressed and can do nothing but lie on the couch and watch "Canadian soap operas". ("Don't talk to me aboot love!")
Other, Eh?
- Badass of the Week's article on Ernest "Smokey" Smith both lampshades this and mocks it in the first paragraph:
"Canada gets a bad rap these days, with many Americans looking down on them as our pussier, slightly-British neighbors to the North, but anybody who's ever watched footage of the 1970's Philadelphia Flyers teams knows that Canadians can be some seriously hardcore motherfuckers who would just as soon cold-cock you in the chops as slash you between the legs with a goalie stick. These crazy bastards have an underappreciated history of badassery, and nowadays we don't really respect the fact that Canadians can be hard-drinking, hard-fighting, lumber-jacking motherfuckers who destroy all who oppose them in a flurry of bare knuckles, bizarre accents, and the Metric System."
- The Niagara's Fury attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario begins with a featurette starring a number of woodland creatures endemic to Canada (at one time or another,) including a polar bear and a team of hockey-playing wooly mammoths, all of whom speak with a thick prairie accent and pepper their speech with "eh?"
- On the Nobody's Listening Podcast, there are frequent jokes about the Canadian host, Trevor.
- Gleefully played with in the Vancouver 2010 Closing Ceremony. Canadians apologizing excessively? Check. Giant bobblehead mounties? Check. Guys in canoes and girls wearing maple leaf kites? Check. Giant floating moose and beavers? Check. Even the organizer threw in a gratuitous "Now you know us, eh?" for the crowd. The whole thing could be summed up as an exercise in squeezing as many Canadian stereotypes as possible into 15 minutes of show.
- Canada: America's Hat eh?
- "Canada is like having a loft apartment over a great party."
- An old joke is that Canada was originally spelled Cnd. However, Sir John A. MacDonald had an American secretary when Cnd first became a country. He asked her to write up the documents on the new country, and she asked him how is was spelled. The Prime Minister replied "C, eh. N, eh. D, eh."
- Ever heard an angry French Canadian swearing in French? Even if the words themselves are beyond your grasp, the emotion and passion in their delivery will make it impossible to miss their intent. To expand, English swearing basically has "fuck", "shit", and a few variations of "damn" which express generic anger. French Canadian has pretty much the entire Church vocabulary bastardized to sound terrifying. "Fuck" is actually a fairly mild word in comparison - francophone children who use it are rarely corrected by their parents. Note that this is also a completely different system of swearing to that from France, which generally sounds mildly comical to French Canadian ears.
- When Michael J. Fox joined the Screen Actors Guild, the name "Michael Fox" was already taken. He considered using his real middle initial, "A," but he thought it might remind people that he's Canadian (Micheal "Eh?" Fox) so he went with a "J" instead.
- John Garand invented the rifle that bares his name and an icon of the American military in World War II. He also emigrated from Qubec as a teenager and had a very thick French Canadian accent as a result.
- ↑ Eh?
- ↑ As translated with Babelfish. And without the examples section. Language equality? Ha! They won't even put up the money for a decent translator.
- ↑ Traduit avec Babelfish. Et sans les exemples. Égalité linguistique? Ha! Ils ne sont même pas prêts à payer pour un traducteur acceptable.
- ↑ Anyone who thinks this should be clarified to "ice hockey" will be stiffly beaten by the RCMP, with a hockey stick.
- ↑ "provinces" are Canada's version of States, ya hoser.
- ↑ French fries with cheese curds, and enough gravy to partially melt the cheese
- ↑ And the Avro Arrow. Never forget, eh!?
- ↑ Except of course, Canadarm, ATI, Alexander Graham Bell...
- ↑ He produced the album.
- ↑ and I will say a sentence in french, because here we are bilingual