the Unexpressed Advantage

Well my Grandma is turning 85 this week, And under the suggestion of a wise friend I will be giving her a nice bottle of genuine Canadian Maple Syrup to represent my experience here and my love for her. The process made me realize that I've been up here for a good while now, and I wondered just how Canadian I have become.

To answer this question I took one of the common, "You Know You're a Canadian When", lists off of the internet and gave myself a run down. See how many apply to you…

You Know You're a Canadian When

You're not offended by the term, "Homo Milk."

I'm not sure why this is significant. But I'm not offended by this phrase.

You understand the phrase, "Could you pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine, on the chesterfield."

"Can I have a napkin? I just dropped my food on the carpet."

You eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.

I eat neither, they are too expensive up here.

You drink pop, not soda.

Mostly water. They call it pop in Michigan where I used to live.

You know what a Mickey and 2-4 mean.

I think a mickey is a certain amount of liquor. What is a 2-4?

You don't care about the fuss with Cuba. It's a cheap place to go for your holidays, with good cigars.

I'm still American so no cuba for me.

You know that a pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway.

A turn-pike is part of a highway though.

You drive on a highway, not a freeway.

yep

You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.

at first I thought no, but then I checkec upstairs. Yes.

You know that Casey and Finnegan were not part of a Celtic musical group.

Um… No.

You get excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.

They show American Television up here? I thought all that was on was Hockey and Davinci's Inquest

You brag to Americans that: Shania Twain, Jim Carrey, Celine Dion and many more are Canadians.

I don't, but Canadians do this incessantly.

You know that the C.E.O. of American Airlines is a Canadian!

I din't know what.

You know what a touque is.

I have several of these.

You know that the last letter of the English alphabet is always pronounced "Zed" not "Zee".

This one still irks me. Especiall when somebody refers to a car like a Nissan "350-zed"

You know how to pronounce and spell "Saskatchewan."

I can do this but I'm a good speller, I don't think it has to do with Canadian-ness.

You perk up when you hear the theme song from "Hockey Night in Canada."

no

You were in grade 12, not the 12th grade.

I was a senior.

"Eh?" is a very important part of your vocabulary and more polite than, "Huh?"

This is true, it's hard not to pick up.

Winter. Whenever you want it. And then some.

Winter Rain. Whenever you want it. And then some.

There's German food, Italian food, Chinese food, Armenian food, American food, but NO Canadian food.

There's no such thing as Canadian food. There's no such thing as Mexican food in Canada.

You call a "mouse" a "moose".

not me.

You like the Americans a little because they don't want Quebec either.

I don't like Quebec and I've never even been there and I don't know anything about it. It's contagious.

Everything is labelled in English and French.

This drives me nuts.

Milk comes in plastic bags as well as cartons and plastic jugs.

???

Mountain Dew has no caffeine.

This would explain a lot.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Canada.

Well, I wrote about them on my Blog. That is probably worse.

On the whole, I guess I'm less Canadian after two years than I thought I was. That's probably a good thing. There is influence though, got to be careful.

Enjoy,

Dan