I am Canadian. People in Europe would always ask if I was American after hearing me speak, and their faces would always lighten up when I told them I was Canadian.
In Spain it was the worst. I would sometimes overhear service staff tell each other I was American and proceed to get awful service. It got to the point that I started going in to random stores to try to (unsuccessfully) find something with a Canadian flag on it.
I will try my best to be obviously Canadian next time.
I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but anytime abroad I tell people I’m from Jersey. First and foremost I identify as. New Jerseyan. “American” and “Canadian” are so incredibly broad. Are you from Vancouver? Toronto? Are you a Newfie or from Edmonton? Shit, are you Quebecois? The same applies in the US, I don’t for a second begin to think of any of the regions as being remotely similar. Northeast, Atlantic, Midwest, West Coast, all very different places with very different people. I didn’t include the South because they’re the worst.
So yeah, I’ve kinda always just led with that. Maybe us people from Jersey are just like that though, I dunno. I won’t lie, sometimes it leads me to saying things like “I’m an hour outside of New York.” I leave off “city” because New York State may as well not even exist, it’s essentially a barren wasteland of former mining towns that are in a depressed death spiral of long, gray winters and trips to the finger lakes.
You understand differentiation for demographics in certain areas, but no one else does, it just confuses people abroad when you talk about what city you’re from. Like if I started talking about Melbournites, vs sydnesiders you wouldn’t be able to chime in on the conversation.
New York City generally gets folks understanding where I’m from, but I have the benefit of living an hour outside of arguably one of the most recognizable cities in the world.
I get what you’re saying, and I kind of use it as a tool to continue conversation. Any time I meet folks from somewhere else, I tend to ask them about it. I’ve had some long conversations about places I never knew much about with Uber drivers or waiters, and I suppose I project that onto people too, that perhaps they’re interested in the minutiae of life in northeast American suburbia. It definitely pales in comparison to people from war-torn African countries, but it is what it is.
I completely agree, it’s entirely fascinating, if you have time to converse with someone about the culture of the specific areas of where you live, that would make for brilliant conversation. It’s just that people won’t know the culture, without that conversation, so they might know some of the names of the cities and states, but they wouldn’t know what the people are, generally like, in those areas. If you’re talking with someone who is more familiar, they would understand you’re communicating your beliefs and culture, but anyone outside that lived knowledge, doesn’t understand that, if you mention you’re from a certain place, that means you align with certain beliefs. Although I can certainly understand still leading with that, and maybe more people will get a feel for it, the more you explain and get chances to have those conversations.
You sound like a yank. The international bias is against all of us. You might be able to get a different bias if you assert that you’re Californian, but a random Spaniard doesn’t know what a Midwest or a new jersey is and is annoyed that Americans expect everyone to know.
It’s like if a Mexican were to assure you that they’re from Chiapas when you ask if they’re Mexican. Firstly the average American doesn’t know what Chiapas is, and will probably assume it’s either a city or country, not a state, but even if they know it’s a state in Mexico they don’t know what the hell that means because most Americans don’t know shit about Mexican internal politics and safety.
The fun part about when someone tells me they’re from a place I’ve never heard of is that I get to ask them about that place now. I enjoy it. I don’t expect everyone to know it, but maybe I do expect them to be interested in conversation.
I am Canadian. People in Europe would always ask if I was American after hearing me speak, and their faces would always lighten up when I told them I was Canadian.
In Spain it was the worst. I would sometimes overhear service staff tell each other I was American and proceed to get awful service. It got to the point that I started going in to random stores to try to (unsuccessfully) find something with a Canadian flag on it.
I will try my best to be obviously Canadian next time.
I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but anytime abroad I tell people I’m from Jersey. First and foremost I identify as. New Jerseyan. “American” and “Canadian” are so incredibly broad. Are you from Vancouver? Toronto? Are you a Newfie or from Edmonton? Shit, are you Quebecois? The same applies in the US, I don’t for a second begin to think of any of the regions as being remotely similar. Northeast, Atlantic, Midwest, West Coast, all very different places with very different people. I didn’t include the South because they’re the worst.
So yeah, I’ve kinda always just led with that. Maybe us people from Jersey are just like that though, I dunno. I won’t lie, sometimes it leads me to saying things like “I’m an hour outside of New York.” I leave off “city” because New York State may as well not even exist, it’s essentially a barren wasteland of former mining towns that are in a depressed death spiral of long, gray winters and trips to the finger lakes.
You tell me you’re from Jersey, I’ll ask you about a tiny island in the english channel.
heh, my thought, exactly.
You understand differentiation for demographics in certain areas, but no one else does, it just confuses people abroad when you talk about what city you’re from. Like if I started talking about Melbournites, vs sydnesiders you wouldn’t be able to chime in on the conversation.
New York City generally gets folks understanding where I’m from, but I have the benefit of living an hour outside of arguably one of the most recognizable cities in the world.
I get what you’re saying, and I kind of use it as a tool to continue conversation. Any time I meet folks from somewhere else, I tend to ask them about it. I’ve had some long conversations about places I never knew much about with Uber drivers or waiters, and I suppose I project that onto people too, that perhaps they’re interested in the minutiae of life in northeast American suburbia. It definitely pales in comparison to people from war-torn African countries, but it is what it is.
I completely agree, it’s entirely fascinating, if you have time to converse with someone about the culture of the specific areas of where you live, that would make for brilliant conversation. It’s just that people won’t know the culture, without that conversation, so they might know some of the names of the cities and states, but they wouldn’t know what the people are, generally like, in those areas. If you’re talking with someone who is more familiar, they would understand you’re communicating your beliefs and culture, but anyone outside that lived knowledge, doesn’t understand that, if you mention you’re from a certain place, that means you align with certain beliefs. Although I can certainly understand still leading with that, and maybe more people will get a feel for it, the more you explain and get chances to have those conversations.
You sound like the type of people OC is being confused with.
You sound like a yank. The international bias is against all of us. You might be able to get a different bias if you assert that you’re Californian, but a random Spaniard doesn’t know what a Midwest or a new jersey is and is annoyed that Americans expect everyone to know.
It’s like if a Mexican were to assure you that they’re from Chiapas when you ask if they’re Mexican. Firstly the average American doesn’t know what Chiapas is, and will probably assume it’s either a city or country, not a state, but even if they know it’s a state in Mexico they don’t know what the hell that means because most Americans don’t know shit about Mexican internal politics and safety.
The fun part about when someone tells me they’re from a place I’ve never heard of is that I get to ask them about that place now. I enjoy it. I don’t expect everyone to know it, but maybe I do expect them to be interested in conversation.