When I say "Canada", what comes to mind?

a red maple leaf

Strong beer? Well, stronger than US beer I suppose but that's not saying much.

ski ski ski - going to Whistler tomorrow! ...oh, and my honeymoon in Banff was cool, and and Ottawa was um... Ottawa. I dig Canada.

wheelchair assassins

Obnoxious anti-feminists.

obnoxious feminists

An image of the Canadian flag.

Ginger Ale

The canadian flag, and the joke about how do you spell Canada.

getting queer-bashed at a Burger King, frankly

I should add that after that, probably "figure skating," since I'm a fan of Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Josee Choinard, Bourne & Kraatz, and many other Canadian skaters.

That's probably tied with the maple leaf image.

And this joke my Canadian housemate used to tell. Seems there was this nationwide competition to fill in the blank in the phrase "As Canadian as __________ " (in parallel with "As American as apple pie") and after much deliberation the winner was "As Canadian as possible, under the circumstances." :)

hunter - I'm gonna have to ask you about that one sometime!

actually I guess what I really think of when I think of Canada is mistaking the border station for an all night supermarket, and the immigrations folks being very unamused about it (but when they let us turn around and go back to the US, the US officials were very amused)

Skiing. Hope Bill & Jen and Glen and Tim are having fun!

A large, sparsely populated country a couple hundred miles north of here.

Bob-n-Doug, eh. Rush, eh.

Toronto... it was the most interesting place I experienced when I visited.

romkey... I can imagine they wouldn't be amused :)... I was quite buzzed when I crossed the border and they weren't very amused by my vague answers to their questions.

people coming down here, taking our jobs and not even having the decency to speak our language. when there are a bunch of them together speaking "french" in the workplace i want to shoot them all.

'our' language? There isn't a national language for the United States is there? Isn't the United States supposed to be a melting pot of different cultures anyway? I don't understand why people get angry about foreigners coming into the country. Nobody's 'taking our jobs' either. Whoever's qualified gets it. Take a reality check.

Anon #1..the only thing that insults me about your post is the fact you don't consider Canadian French to be the real thing; its in fact more French that Parisian French. We don't say "le fastfood" up here..or "un hotdog" as in France.

Je suis desolee que nous ne sommes pas unilingue ici..excusez-nous! =p

north79 - i wouldn't say any form of french is 'more' or 'less' french, just different. we do have 'canadianisms' that are unique to quebecois french, and watching the french channels and programs produced in quebec in french class, yes, some people DO in fact say 'un hotdog' or 'un hamburger'... but i'm just being picky. i will agree that the anonymous comment reeks of xenophobia and is totally unfounded. outside of quebec, only a very small percentage of canadians speak french as their primary language.

man, that spell checker hates it when i don't use capitals.. :)

Toronto!

Frogs, eh hoser?

Shadow - The Quebec government goes to extraordinary lengths to purge and intrusions of "anglicisms", which is why I consider it "more" French.
Also, according to Statscan, a full 3 million people speak French outside Quebec? Not too shabby!

Bob and Doug McKenzie

having lived in northern Vt most of my life, I think of french canadians before any other. Also, I am always reminded of the question posed to a friend of mine "how'd you know I was from Canada, ay?"
so.. those two equally.

A vague sense of being North, and of being like the US, only different.

north79 - i didn't say 'a small percentage are CAPABLE of speaking french'.. i said 'as their primary language'.. my point was the concept that all canadians will go to the states, steal jobs and only speak french is wack; not that no canadians speak french.

also, i've always wondered WHY the quebec government is so anti-anglicism.. i've always thought the way a language stays alive is by evolving. the 'pure' french seems more like an 'us against the anglos' than anything else.. but i live in ontario, so i suppose i can't really understand..

whups.. just realized you could've meant that 3 million people are primarily francophone outside of quebec.. remembering my history/french/geography lessons about acadia and the metis in alberta..

i've been trying to find statscan information but can't seem to..?

Home.

Shadow..I have it in hard copy from the 1996 census. I understand your point though, both about primary language and anti-anglicism in quebec.. I agree with you totally on the evolution of the lnaguage thing..just look at English! But then, I'm from Ontario too =)

North79...lnaguage? ;)

the flag

**they..its Canadian for "language", eh? ;)

Pristine wilderness. Cute men. What hunter said about figure skating! Go Elvis (I think he is truly awesome and doesn't get the credit he deserves because he has a non-classical body type and style).

Yeah, unfortunately, just as I think he was starting to get credit, his injuries are threatening to end his eligible career. I think you can see the acceptance he won in the judges' very different reaction to Michael Weiss in recent competitions.

trees

A map of North America

Rivers: St. Croix, Port Neuf, Ashuapmushuan, Bonaventure
Places: Montreal, Old Quebec City, St. Georges Bay
Sounds: French, waterfalls, pontoon planes

A whole bunch of future states when Quebec leaves their union.

Oh, and a WONDERFUL book my father used to read to me (and has also been made into a play) called "The Happy Time", by Robert Fontaine.

Forest

Vancover.
I use to think " Grand Canyon " was in Canada until I realised it wasn't

American defectors, hiding out to avoid being drafted.

The Canadian flag is the first thing that springs to mind...

Bob and Doug Mackenzie and kd lang