Americans pretending to be Canadians abroad?

Question

I have chatted with Canadians online who always say that when I go abroad that I should sew a Canadian flag to my backpack because everyone just loves Canadians. That makes me laugh whenever I hear it but they say Americans do it all the time. I have never met one, have you?

Personally, I have never had a problem abroad being an American. People are able to seperate the government from the people and most people say we are really polite and respectful.

No I haven't been living under a rock. I said they ARE able to seperate the government from the people.

Answer 1

Anti-American feelings, as you said, are headed towards your policy and your president, not specific individuals/tourists. I can speak for Greece, where I live, although we are very much against the wars and foreign policy of the US, American tourists here have a very good time and enjoy a warm hospitality by everyone.

Answer 2

Greetings Patrick from footprintsdownunder here - Firstly I can tell you with only 10% of Americans having a passport there really ain't many of them backpacking - also there are huge VISA restrictions in OZ for Yanks - When you do come across an American traveller you are faced normally with one of two scenarios. First one They are so quick and loud to let the whole world know they are American, I have experienced two Americans in a travel park you would of thought there were 30 of them. Or we have the second variety rare, often seen in later years sporting boating shoes, these Americans are the total opposite educated and tolerant to the world and do not believe the world focuses around them. We all know Europe runs the world. America - Shut your mouth get a Passport see the World Yea there is one out side the US - Try it some time you may learn something and stop annoying other country's. Sorry for the Rave was not much of a question any way so why not!!

Answer 3

I was actually born in Canada and going abroad get told I'm "American!!" just like that, TOLD not asked, the minute I start speaking English (West Coast, that's why. I hear that Torontonians and Newfies have definitive "Canadian" accents at least according to the world's stereotypes. I'm also told that Albertans "sound just like Colorado.") I got that for 2 damned years in the UK trying to get back the Maths teaching job I'd gotten offered over the phone before I got there which got taken back when they saw me and saw the colour of my skin (suddenly I was "not qualified after all" i.e. "not what we want teaching our kids Maths...") My problem with this is, that yes job applications in other countries DO ask for your "passport nationality" and place of birth on the application in addition to where you went to college, grad school, etc, and theoretically the paper-readers CAN read with understanding and discern the life story. Job applications in Canada never give me a place to put where I was born, so since my education was all "in the States" like they so snidely put it, when I apply for a job back in the country I was BORN in I get treated like a "foreigner from overseas" or an "American."

So, in a nutshell, Americans actually pretending to be Canadians overseas are the ones who really have no Canadian birth certificate to show for it. Not just "Red Indians" or "blacks" with dark skin who have a Canadian birth certificate but US higher education. Now, too, as of very recently the Canadian government has decided to gouge those of us who are "abroad" and charge literally two and a half times for a passport what they charge if we are applying back in Canada, making it so in the near future Canadian-born-but-educated-elsewhere citizens will have no choice but to carry only our "other" passport, in most cases it's the one based on either parentage or marriage. The Canadian government not only encourages that but has decided to force our hands in it via price gouging.

So needless to say, I get treated like I'm "American pretending to be Canadian" all the damned time just because of my skin colour and this "West Coast 'accent'". Overseas I've met more actual Canadian-born people, albeit white people, who were raised in California or Washington than I've met Americans "pretending" to be from, say, Vancouver. Or Whitehorse or Yellowknife.

Answer 4

As an American that travels abroad I have no problem saying where I'm from, nor have I ever encountered anyone that disliked me because of that. I also have never met anyone that pretended to be from Canada.

Answer 5

I would do that too. We have a madman in charge right now, and until that changes next year, we are a world-wide embarrassment. Have you been living under a rock for the last 2 terms?