WEIRD sTuFf in Canada !! - humour, mmm, maybe - we all need a smile :)

[Baloo]

Open question, if you notice weird stuff or oddities about Canada, Canadian life or Canadians,  please post it here.

Let me start this off with some odd stuff to ponder and enjoy:

This may only apply to Brits - Have you noticed how Canadians often say "Bring" when they mean "Take" ?

It is illegal to climb trees on city property in Oshawa.
http://www.oshawa.ca/documents/Trees.pdf


Why do movies take twice as long to watch on Canadian TV, because there are so many ads.

Are drivers so bad in Quebec that they need to have traffic signals that are different to everywhere else in Canada?


In Canada the words Colour, Behaviour and Labour are spelt correctly

Why does a "beavertail" contain no beaver?

Canadians say "ABOOT"  when they mean about.

In a nation that is so "into" hockey, why is street hockey illegal?

I am not sure this is current but in Guelph, Ontario, the city is classified as a no pee zone!

Ontario - the Beer Store is an entire store dedicated to beer, really. Note that beer and liquor are regulated by the government, must be the only department that makes money. You can also buy them at the Beer store, or in Ontario, at the LCBO.

Finally for this post the term that I think is wonderful - "Eh?"
 

More later...

[CharlotteJ]

OMG!

I wish I had my camera to post a picture I saw in a washroom at a college the other day.

There were asking people not to stand on the toilet rim, not to pee like a dog and/or not to throw up in the toilet bowl itself plus other Oddities all being depicted and I was like " shocked" ...

Ok, I know that there are people from some Asian countries and the very very rural areas that have never seen a toilet bowl and think they have to go and stand on it and not sit on it and do their job, but that there are people who pee like a Dog!!!?? that went far beyond my imagination and I was like

Is THIS CANADA? a G8 country? ... HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

[HoneyBird2]

It weird that people are so silent when passing by for me.
From the Caribbean, its customary to say good morning or good day when entering any establishment/taxi/elevator/blah blah.
No body smiles.
No body looks up.

Anytime I go about smiling at people and saying good morning and so forth, people look at me weird.
my hubby has asked me to stop doing it cause people will think i am crazy

[Baloo]

It weird that people are so silent when passing by for me.
From the Caribbean, its customary to say good morning or good day when entering any establishment/taxi/elevator/blah blah.
No body smiles.
No body looks up.

So true

Anytime I go about smiling at people and saying good morning and so forth, people look at me weird.
my hubby has asked me to stop doing it cause people will think i am crazy

I got caught with this, the good news is that my wife thinks I will eventually make all of Canada a bit more responsive

I guess I continue to do it, because I can - LOL

[kelKel]

It weird that people are so silent when passing by for me.
From the Caribbean, its customary to say good morning or good day when entering any establishment/taxi/elevator/blah blah.
No body smiles.
No body looks up.

Anytime I go about smiling at people and saying good morning and so forth, people look at me weird.
my hubby has asked me to stop doing it cause people will think i am crazy

.
I'm Canadian and I talk to everyone (I'll say hi when I see you in the street).  I get into conversations in the elevator and my German boyfriend says I'm overly friendly and people think I'm strange

[fariza]

Thanks baloo for getting us know about the weird stuff which some of u already been experienced in Canada... Although I am yet to land but would like to follow the tid bids and how the the social life at Canada like....Just made a post to enrol myself with this thread you initiated to be able to get to know more from your experience and sharing... Looking forward to...

[spacey]

.
I'm Canadian and I talk to everyone (I'll say hi when I see you in the street).  I get into conversations in the elevator and my German boyfriend says I'm overly friendly and people think I'm strange

Haha kelkel i was going to ask were they are living... Because in Northern Ontario everyone talks to everyone. My husband is always embarrassed by me. We will walk away from people and he will be like who was that? my response is normally I have no idea... he says but you seemed to know them.

My other half is telling me to post the werid thing we do here is talk about our life stories to the grocery store clerk. I find it werid not to talk to them

[kelKel]

Haha kelkel i was going to ask were they are living... Because in Northern Ontario everyone talks to everyone. My husband is always embarrassed by me. We will walk away from people and he will be like who was that? my response is normally I have no idea... he says but you seemed to know them.

My other half is telling me to post the werid thing we do here is talk about our life stories to the grocery store clerk. I find it werid not to talk to them

That sounds so like me.  I'm originally from a smaller town so maybe that's why I tell my life story to everyone.  I'm very open,  German's like my bf not so much :p

[MikeUK]

Open question, if you notice weird stuff or oddities about Canada, Canadian life or Canadians,  please post it here.

Let me start this off with some odd stuff to ponder and enjoy:

This may only apply to Brits - Have you noticed how Canadians often say "Bring" when they mean "Take" ?

I've never noticed this one!  So instead of "take me to the movies" we say "bring me to the movies"?

It is illegal to climb trees on city property in Oshawa.
http://www.oshawa.ca/documents/Trees.pdf

Canada's overprotective nature at work.  Won't someone PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!

Why do movies take twice as long to watch on Canadian TV, because there are so many ads.

I'll miss the BBC!

Are drivers so bad in Quebec that they need to have traffic signals that are different to everywhere else in Canada?

Traffic lights are a provincial thing I think.  They're wacky in New Brunswick as well.  And in BC a flashing green light doesn't mean the same thing as it does in Ontario.  Found that out after a few honks  

In Canada the words Colour, Behaviour and Labour are spelt correctly

So true

Why does a "beavertail" contain no beaver?

Because it's shaped like a beaver's tail!  Don't go messing with beavertails Baloo!  

Canadians say "ABOOT"  when they mean about.

For the same reason we say BAYzel instead of BAHzel, orEHgano instead of oreGAHno, uRIN instead of urEYEne and alumiNUM instead of aluminIUM...it's the drugs.

In a nation that is so "into" hockey, why is street hockey illegal?

IS IT??  Since when?  I played street hockey every day when I was a kid.  I guess it's not too hard to believe.  Canada being overprotective again...

I am not sure this is current but in Guelph, Ontario, the city is classified as a no pee zone!

LOL!

Ontario - the Beer Store is an entire store dedicated to beer, really. Note that beer and liquor are regulated by the government, must be the only department that makes money. You can also buy them at the Beer store, or in Ontario, at the LCBO.

Quebec and Alberta still sell it in privately owned shops AFAIK so different province by province.  I like the dedicated beer store!  It's like a wonderful dream

Finally for this post the term that I think is wonderful - "Eh?"
 

More later...

Great post Baloo  


For anyone looking to familiarize themselves with weird Canadian sayings, have a look at this site: http://www.coolslang.com/in/canadian/index.php .  Some mildly offensive language.

[Baloo]

Because it's shaped like a beaver's tail!  Don't go messing with beavertails Baloo!  

I guess that you can always ask for beaver topping, it is Canada

IS IT??  Since when?  I played street hockey every day when I was a kid.  I guess it's not too hard to believe.  Canada being overprotective again...

CBC reported it was illegal recently, but who knows, it is the CBC !

Quebec and Alberta still sell it in privately owned shops AFAIK so different province by province.  

LCBO have a special device in all their stores, it detects when I want to buy alcohol, warns the manager, who closes the store two minutes before I arrive
My secret weapon is - I live in Ottawa and the Quickie mart in Quebec is only 15 minutes drive away ( they seem to sell alcohol at all hours of the day).

I was going to ask were they are living... Because in Northern Ontario everyone talks to everyone.

Actually you are right, I lived in North Bay for a while, and it took ages to walk anywhere - because lots of people said hello

[MikeUK]

I guess that you can always ask for beaver topping, it is Canada

A killaloe sunrise with a side of beaver please!  I remember skating up to the beavertails stall on the rideau canal for my first beavertail experience and they had 3 flavours: sugar, sugar & cinnamon and sugar, cinnamon & lemon.  When the wife and I came to Ottawa for her first visit, the beavertail stand in the market was definitely on the list and I was shocked to see how many new concoctions they had on the menu!  I still went with my killaloe but she had one smeared in chocolate and peanut butter and covered in reese's pieces!  Too rich for my Canadian sweet tooth, but she certainly seemed to enjoy it!

LCBO have a special device in all their stores, it detects when I want to buy alcohol, warns the manager, who closes the store two minutes before I arrive
My secret weapon is - I live in Ottawa and the Quickie mart in Quebec is only 15 minutes drive away ( they seem to sell alcohol at all hours of the day).

LOL!  The easy access to out of hours (an sometimes underage) alcohol in Quebec was definitely something we took advantage of back in the day.  Another service we took advantage of from time to time was alcohol delivery.  I don't know if they still exist, but dial-a-bottle would sometimes operate out of normal LCBO hours if you ordered something basic.  They tend to keep a supply on hand.  Either way it sounds to me like you need to have a stern word with the manager of your local LCBO!  That or start stocking a bar at home for when the mood strikes

[AllisonVSC]

I could go on all day on this topic (and start again tomorrow on pronunciation oddities).

My first visit to the Beer Store in Ontario was a bizarre experience. No beer, just a big sign with prices, two conveyor belts, and matching cash registers. I was like a wide-eyed child in some strange part of Willie Wonka's factory! Of course, where I come from drive thru windows at the liquor store are still common and alcohol is sold in gas stations too. In one US state where I lived there were "dry" counties (no alcohol sold) and "wet" counties (alcohol sales permitted) and dry parts of wet counties and wet parts of dry counties. So oddities are not exclusive to Canada, lol.

Here a sign that reads "Squeeze left" means Merge.

The lack of greeting others is also odd to me. I'm enrolled in school with other adults and when I walk in class I say one blanket "good morning" and smile to everyone in the room and individually to people walking toward me in the hallway. Boy did I get some strange looks at first. Now, they've gotten used to it and greet each other when they walk in the room. I think they realize it is a great way to start the day.

Had my first (and maybe last visit) to Swiss Chalet last week. What is that substance they call sauce? Yuk!
I asked a Canadian friend if that is the same stuff people here put on French fries and she said basically, yes. And, she said most Chalet customers love that sauce!

I've also had a first and last visit to Timmies (don't shoot me...I'm not a coffee drinker anyway) but I don't understand how it is acceptable (or even legal) to queue for the drive thru while your car is still on a busy 4 lane road.  It is not uncommon to see 4-5 cars lined up on the street just waiting to turn into the Timmie's parking lot.

Using a coin to get a grocery shopping cart is new to me, but I think it's a great idea.

[fariza]

Thanks Allison for your sharing.. Life has all its charms so long as the new day, people, experience could keep amazing us..
We also do a refundable coin operated shopping trolly here in Australia for some of the superstore unless you have your own shopping carrier

[fleo]

Are drivers so bad in Quebec that they need to have traffic signals that are different to everywhere else in Canada?

Why yes, yes they are

Seriously, I've driven all across the globe and I've never seen the level of confusion and completely random braking (in the middle of a bridge, for instance) that could compare to this. (But at the same time cars will always stop and let pedestrians cross first.)

My first trip to the SAQ (which I'm guessing is a Quebec equivalent of LCBO) was also a very chocolate factory-like experience, and I still prefer it to depanneurs unless I'm in a hurry, wine selection can't be compared.

One truly odd thing I've encountered here is waiting for a bus - in a neat line, one person behind the other, tickets ready, and not so much as moving a foot for as long as it takes. Talk about discipline, huh.

Clerks in smaller grocery stores keep trying to teach me recipes with food I'm buying. No one ever seems to cook (but that's probably generally NorthAmerican?). Everyone I meet is either an artist of some kind or works for a telephone company  

I'm sure more things seemed weird in the beginning but now I'm semi-used to them; I'll have to think and expand this.

[toby]

So true

I got caught with this, the good news is that my wife thinks I will eventually make all of Canada a bit more responsive

I guess I continue to do it, because I can - LOL

I think it depends on whether you are in a city or a small town; people tend to be friendlier in the towns.  This observations applies to many countries I have been in.

I wonder, too, whether there is a geographic factor.  I found the people in the streets of Ottawa more distant than in Kitsilano, Vancouver, where they readily meet your eye and say "Hi".  Maybe the gentle climate of B.C.  makes people more friendly?

Yet if you break the ice and talk to someone -- no matter where he/she is -- he often opens up and chats in a friendly manner. This is truer in Canada than in countries of Latin America where they tend to fear that you are after their wallet!!  :-)