Weird Things Americans Have Said To/Asked Me

[Malrothien 6]

Hmm okay. American living in Canada stories to begin!

The two places I have worked, any time anyone says anything bad about the US or makes fun of Americans, they immediately go, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

The "z" thing boggles my mind. Hubby and I had a talk about this just a few days ago. You go from English w, x, y and then, BAM! Greek with the Zed. Was talking to a mutual friend of ours about his 350Z. I said to him, "So how's the Z?" He looks at me all funny. "Your 350???" "Ohhh!! The Zed!"

Also, what's with there not being Mini Ritz with peanut butter not being available here???

Whenever I talk about Florida with people they always say to me, "OMG, what about the hurricanes???"

Whenever I talk about winter here with my family in Florida, "isn't it snowing?" Or my aunt who lives just about 1.5 hours south of us is always asking how different the weather is. WHAT?

[trailmix 77]

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

That may just be a Windsor thing. Or it is that you never noticed it. lol. The rest of Ontario says zed.

Yeah I agree, we always said zed too and I never watched sesame street

The mini ritz with peanut butter was banned due to the fact that it sounds really gross.

Edited September 23, 2009 by trailmix

[Sparky&Me 0]

This thread is great!! My husband and I always bicker about lieutenant vs. l- EFF- tenant . We finally agreed that if we’re talking about an American soldier we’ll call him/her a l-EWW-tenant, but if it’s a Canadian we use the Canadian/British pronunciation.

[Malrothien 6]

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

That may just be a Windsor thing. Or it is that you never noticed it. lol. The rest of Ontario says zed.

Yeah I agree, we always said zed too and I never watched sesame street

The mini ritz with peanut butter was banned due to the fact that it sounds really gross.

Pfft. Celery and cheese wiz is nasty! Celery and peanut butter > all!

[familyguy 2]

Also, here is the connection between beanie/toque/watch cap

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beanie

Wow, how many names can we have for one item?

Umm it is a monkey cap.

[redmen99 1]

omg, Bill and I fight about the "zed" "zee" thing everyday, its hilarious!

You know those little suggary candies you get in a roll? In Canada we call them rockets. Here they call them smarties. But smarties are chocolate! We also argue about that daily.

I've learned a trick down here. Whenever I mispronounce a word, mess up an expression, or just screw something up I can say... "Well thats how we say it in Canada," and nobody questions it. They just say, "oh really? weird"

Yes, my husband and I argue about this too! We went to a market before we went camping and he had to point out the Rockets to me.

We also had the "Zee" and "Zed" conversation. Depending on how he is using it, he will say both. I find this very amusing.

He found it extremely amusing that you could purchase beer to go from any bar here in the States. To the point that he always took pictures of beer prices to show his friends and went so far as to take a picture of a bartender putting a 6-pack into a paper bag for a patron to take home. The bartender didn't look quite as amused as my husband did.

[lgg 2]

Puke to anything on celery.

Puke to celery.

Mal... based on this, am reconsidering friendship!

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

That may just be a Windsor thing. Or it is that you never noticed it. lol. The rest of Ontario says zed.

Yeah I agree, we always said zed too and I never watched sesame street

The mini ritz with peanut butter was banned due to the fact that it sounds really gross.

Pfft. Celery and cheese wiz is nasty! Celery and peanut butter > all!

[Malrothien 6]

Puke to anything on celery.

Puke to celery.

Mal... based on this, am reconsidering friendship!

I never really remember it ever being called Z'ed' in Canada until the 90's. Maybe I never noticed or maybe people just never said it, but growing up in the 70's and 80's even in Southern Ontario everyone I remember called it Z (zee).

Maybe a lot was because I was brought up on the rhyme from Seaseme Street and this was before Canada hijacked the show and induced 'Canadian Content' changing the letter from Z to a Zed or something.

I just know it just sounds really odd and strange to hear it called Zed, though now when I visit Ontario, it seems everyone now says it that way. It was like everyone in the early 90's jumped on this whole Canada kick and started trying to show they have a unique identity or something and started using the British term for it more. No clue. Still sounds really weird and foreign...

That may just be a Windsor thing. Or it is that you never noticed it. lol. The rest of Ontario says zed.

Yeah I agree, we always said zed too and I never watched sesame street

The mini ritz with peanut butter was banned due to the fact that it sounds really gross.

Pfft. Celery and cheese wiz is nasty! Celery and peanut butter > all!

You wouldn't ditch me even if I was sprayed by a skunk 10 times!

[Peachey 10]

Last year my fiance asked me what we eat at thanksgiving because I was going to be there for Thanksgiving and his mom wanted to make me a proper thanksgiving meal...

I get asked strange questions daily when I'm down there.

Varba's grandma asked me if I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to the culture down there. I forgive her tho, she's elderly and didn't travel much in her lifetime.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Last year my fiance asked me what we eat at thanksgiving because I was going to be there for Thanksgiving and his mom wanted to make me a proper thanksgiving meal...

I get asked strange questions daily when I'm down there.

Varba's grandma asked me if I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to the culture down there. I forgive her tho, she's elderly and didn't travel much in her lifetime.

At least she asked a valid question - the culture is different down here ! Yay Grandma for being sensitive

[CanAmCharlotte 0]

I'm in a business where we talk about Patone colours alot. For the life of me, I can't seem to say 'mauve' the American way. They say it with an 'aw' sound. In Canada I always said it so that it rhymes with 'stove'. Just curious, anyone know how the Brits say it?

My neighbour is a well-educated woman with a high-paying job. When she found out where I was from (Toronto), she asked if I knew this guy named Fred who lives in Hamilton. I humoured her and asked his surname. She couldn't remember but said, "Oh, he works in I.T." like that bit of information was going to cinch it for me. I used to hear these stories all the time when I lived in Canada but I thought they were like urban legends.

[Danu 19]

My future MIL has told me that when she thinks of Canada she doesn't grasp it. She thought my closest neighbour was like 10 miles away, in a land all covered in snow, and that there are polar bears everywhere. On the flip side my mom thinks everything in california is dead and that its like super hot all the time.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I got another one just today. When I was getting my hair trimmed my hairdresser had a notice up saying she was going to be away from October 22 to November 19th, so I asked her if she was going to be on holidays during that time. She looked at me kind of strange and said, no, she was going on vacation!

[Malrothien 6]

I got another one just today. When I was getting my hair trimmed my hairdresser had a notice up saying she was going to be away from October 22 to November 19th, so I asked her if she was going to be on holidays during that time. She looked at me kind of strange and said, no, she was going on vacation!

OMG, LOL. I ALWAYS say vacation here and get weird looks!

[Rustbelt 0]

I'm in a business where we talk about Patone colours alot. For the life of me, I can't seem to say 'mauve' the American way. They say it with an 'aw' sound. In Canada I always said it so that it rhymes with 'stove'. Just curious, anyone know how the Brits say it?

My neighbour is a well-educated woman with a high-paying job. When she found out where I was from (Toronto), she asked if I knew this guy named Fred who lives in Hamilton. I humoured her and asked his surname. She couldn't remember but said, "Oh, he works in I.T." like that bit of information was going to cinch it for me. I used to hear these stories all the time when I lived in Canada but I thought they were like urban legends.

Steve's wife again: Mauve rhymes with stove in England. Plus it's not that awful dark pink colour that Americans call mauve, it's a nice lavendar-ish sort of colour in England.