I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting on the blogging. Stuff has been happening, but amidst essays, presentations, exams, packing, etc. I haven’t had much time. I just finished my last exam. One more class to go in a couple hours, and then I’m DONE!!! I promise I will do my proper updates soon, but for now, while I have some time to kill I want to share something that hasn’t really been bothering me but it’s been on my mind.
So during my last Japanese class today, a guy in my class mentioned that there were a lot of Americans in the class, also referring to me. I jokingly responded with アメリカ人じゃないよ！カナダ人だよ！ (I’m not American, I’m Canadian). Then he said I’m アメリカ人だけど、米国じゃない (I’m American…but not from the United States, therefore also including Mexico since I was sitting beside a girl from Mexico). We had a good laugh and a bunch of us exchanged are US vs. Canada jokes. It was all in good fun, so this post is obviously not towards the boy & other US people in my class (who are all absolutely awesome by the way).
Now that that’s out of the way…
Yes, I am Canadian. Canada is located in North America therefore making me American. I remember in a Spanish class I took at my home university, my Spanish teacher (from Argentina) mentioned that to him, “American” refers to a person from North, Central or South America. Fair enough. I’m not going to argue with the technical fact that I can be classified as American being from North America.
However…
There is the (unfortunate?) fact that people from the United States of America do not have a specific name to refer to themselves other than “American”. I can be Canadian, a girl can be Mexican, a boy can be Brazilian, someone else can be Peruvian. You get my point. But if I, being Canadian, go to a foreign country and call myself an American, people are going to assume I come from the United States of America. It’s funny because one girl once said to me that it should make sense that I get grouped with Americans because I’m from North America. Well then, what country would you think I am from if I tell you I’m American if I met you for the first time?
I’ll be honest. I have absolutely nothing against (most) Americans. I say most because every nation has its idiots, Japan and Canada included. But why do people have to hold my pride for being Canadian – and not “American” – against me? People from the United States are seen as being very patriotic, and being from Toronto I have seen my share of media and real life examples of people from the United States saying that they are proud Americans.
What about Mexicans? If you are going to go so far to tell me that “by American, I mean Canada too because Canada is part of North America,” does that mean you are willing to include people from Mexico as well? I know I have seen my share of people from the United States who would probably hang me for calling Mexican people American. In general conversation, there is always a distinction made between people from Mexico being Mexican and people from the United States being American, so why does Canada have to be grouped in with being American? Perhaps if the United States of America had a different name, this problem wouldn’t be happening.
Yes, Canada and the US have many cultural similarities, but we also have our cultural differences. In fact, our countries are so friggin huge, there are huge cultural differences within the country. But we are two separate countries for a reason. We love to poke fun at each other. Canada is the hat of America. Canada is the 51st state. Everyone hates Americans, so Americans have to pretend to be Canadian when traveling. Just check out “Talking to Americans” for a good chunk of jokes making fun of people from the US. My friends from the US and I have these silly fights all the time purely out of fun. My university profs who are from the US often jokingly apologize for being from the US. Honestly, while there are certainly negative sides to all this joking and poking fun, it’s better to just laugh about it in the end.
All this does not stop the fact that I was born and raised in Canada and I am proud to be from my country. I’m sure there are millions of people who feel the same way about their home country. Japanese people don’t like to be called Chinese, Chinese people don’t like to be called Korean, people from Taiwan are not Chinese. The list goes on, and I’m sure it could apply to European, African and South American countries as well.
Maybe because Canadians make a big deal out of it, others make a big deal out of proving otherwise. Maybe it’s the other way around. But at the end of the day, I will always call myself Canadian, and I will always politely correct you if you call me American.
And by the way Wさん, 確かに、私は米国じゃないのアメリカ人だけど、if I introduced myself as アメリカ人 to Japanese, they will wonder what part of the United States I am from. It works the same way in Japanese. But you are full of awesome nonetheless ^_^
P.S. Please don’t leave any unnecessary or mean comments. But amusing Canada vs. USA jokes are more than welcome!
