To continue this off-topic discussion on "Americans" . . .
When I was a teen (way back in the Dark Ages), I spent 3 months touring Mexico and Central America with my parents and younger sister. A month of that was spent living in Costa Rica near their Pacific coast port of Puntarenas. (Our motorhome broke down with transmission problems and it took that long to get parts.) Anyway, when I was asked where I was from, if I responded with "America" they would respond heartily that they were Americans, too... so I learned to tell them I was from "Estados Unidos."
So maybe Canadians don't like to think of themselves as "Americans," but those south of the US border, do.
Technically, all South, Central & North American's are considered American's.
Canadian's tend to travel a great deal (mush more per capita than American's) and deny the fact they are "American's" as they are usually treated badly for a host of reasons. Personally I think most of the world is envious of the United States of America, and this is why most American's get treated badly when they travel. In fact, there are many travelling American's who will actually sew a Canadian flag on their back packs just to vaoid confrontation.
I did spend a great deal of time in the tourist business, and my observations were (and I am not trying to be insulting here) quite confrontational in nature, and not at all scared to voice their opinions. I am not saying this is a bad thing, its just that a lot of people consider this a rude thing. (Australians are probably number two on the list). Now I have met a lot of American tourists that while in another country, expect to be treated just like they would be in the U.S. and of course you can understand how that goes over. I have also met many more very nice American tourists than bad ones, but of course you always remember the bad ones.
Now I have a passport filled with the stamps of many countries, and I have been mistaken as a U.S. resident many times. Usually it's not a warm greeting as that person has a bone to pick with the US over some policy issue. Now most Canadian's would rather avoid a confrontation as they can't be bothered spending their holiday arguing with some ditz about why America is in Iraq for instance, so it's just easier to say, "I am not American".
There is a "hate America" thing begining to happen in Canada with the teenage & 20 something crowd. (but of course that age group hates everything) Wenever I hear that I personally get pretty red & the face and aske them if they would rather have China or maybe North Korea as neighbors.
But really, Canadian's do love American's.
Topic: New Bandit (Read 5527 times)