Saturday, June 30, 2007

Happy Birthday, Canada!


Welcome to my blog, everyone. It's going to be very exciting, I know, however.
HAPPY CANADA DAY! Canada turns the big 1-4-0 tomorrow! I'm so excited to be able to sit on my back porch, my dog on my lap, drinking one of my 4 beers per year, and watch my Canadian Flag fly in the cool evening breeze while fireworks are being exploded all over the place. Happy Birthday!

So... onto the blog entry that does have a great deal to do with Canada and my country's stereotypes.

I was listening to the radio the other day, and Weird Al came on with his parody of Greenday's American Idiot, aptly named "Canadian Idiot". Yes, I enjoy a good parody when I get the chance to listen. Let me, however, clarify a few things for those who may think that Canadians all live in igloos and drive dog sleds.


1) We do not all eat Moose meat.

2) We do not all enjoy beer. However, on a hot day a nice Alexander Keith's or a Moosehead beer is enjoyable.

3) We don't ALL say "eh" after every sentence. However, I do realize that I do say it more often than I should. That's like those Southern States people - saying y'all 7 bazillion times a day.

4) We have changing seasons! They are known as Spring, Summer, Autumn (or Fall), and Winter. We don't have snow in 3 of four of those- usually just in two.

5) We don't all enjoy back bacon. Back bacon is salt cured pork rolled in cornmeal.

6) We don't all sit around at doughnut (or donut) shops having a smoke talking about how to vamp our 68 camaro. However, some people do that. In Canada, there is a smoking ban in public places, so even if we wanted to, we can't smoke indoors. Outdoors - as long as the covering structure is not attached to a building - is "acceptable".

7) It's pronounced about, (as in the opposite of in) not aboot.

8) The most famous Canadian to come out of Canada is NOT Celine Dion. There are many, many more famous people that have come from Canada - and they don't sing songs that will go on and on. The couch jumper himself, Tom Cruise is from Ottawa (though we don't really like to admit that). Alex Trebek of Jeopardy fame is Canadian, Michael J. Fox, Kirk Cameron, Captain Kirk, Wayne Gretzky, Matthew Perry, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, Pamela Anderson - all from Canada.

I have a quiz to post for everyone to take. I encourage you to take this quiz and test your knowledge of Canadian history!

http://www.yourlibrary.ca/citizenship/

Happy Canada Day everyone!

6 comments:

Gurnal said...

Somehow I knew it would be just a matter of time before you entered the blog-o-sphere. It will be something else for me to read on a regular basis. I look forward to great things.

The Zookeeper said...

gee... who could this possibly be?

How are ya, Mr. Gurnal!

Gurnal said...

I'm good. I haven't taken the quiz yet. I plan to...but don't expect me to ace it or anything.

Jen said...

Okay, I finally get to leave a comment, and I'm not even the first! Ah, well. It's the nicest person I know, so that's okay! *grin*

The Zookeeper said...

Hey - as long as you get the answer to the "what year did Canada enter confederation" question (there's a clue in the entry!) I'll be a happy girl. If you do the whole thing - which I did - it's about 120 questions. After question 100 or so, there's very specific questions about the Province of British Columbia - where this specific test originated - Richmond (not Virginia) B.C.

I'd be anxious to know how Jen does - being a former Canuck and all - though she still is technically. :)

Rhodester said...

RE: #8, you mustn't forget Avril Lavigne! Oh my goodness, no!!