Being Polite
This story got me thinking about how Canadians are stereotypically polite. One of my manuals, So You Want To Be Canadian states that the correct response to someone bumping into you, spilling your coffee, tripping you, and causing a minor concussion is: "Sorry! Sorry. My fault. Very sorry."
Actually, I haven't noticed any difference between Victoria and South Carolina. But of course 4 South Carolinians will stop at a 4-way stop and simply motion to each other to go for the next 1/2 hour until a New York visitor shows up to honk their way through.
One of my professors is from Italy and repeatedly insists that the Canadians are way too polite. She complains that people don't correct her English mispronunciations, but just figure out what she means and forget about it. Really though, I don't see a difference in the level of politeness. So I don't know how this stereotype came about, nor the related one that Americans are rude. Perhaps there are other part of Canada that are more polite. Or maybe I am just comparing it to one of the most polite parts of the US.
And that reminds me that I had no occasion to wear my Halloween costume. I was going to dress up like an American: a fat, rude, egotistical guy with a Texas accent and a mission to dominate the world. Because, you know, we're all like that.
posted by Sean @ 5:10 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Americans get a bad rap for rudeness. Some of it is deserved, some of it isn't. I'll illustrate through the power of story telling.
Some years ago, I was travelling in the Netherlands. At the airport on the return trip, I had to stand an hour in a huge line to get my passport checked. Like most sane travellers, I arrived well in advance of my flight, accepted what I couldn't control, got in line and waited patiently.
About half way through my wait in line, having advanced perhaps 10m in 40 minutes, a lady and her husband came out of nowhere and jammed themselves into the line directly in front of me. I was somewhat ticked off, but seeing as I was at the airport several hours early, waiting another two minutes because these two people (and their huge entourage of luggage) decided to be rude.
But things got worse. From there on in they decided to complain long and loud, to everyone and no one about how terrible it was to have to wait in that line, how the line was indicitive of a poorly run country, and how they would never be forced to stand in line back in the United States (obviously ). Well, that and how they only had 10 minutes to catch their flight.
These people were loud, and they were obnoxious, and worse they attracted other loud and obnoxious Americans who stood around with them agreeeing about how terrible the line was, and how they never had to stand in line at an American airport to have their passport stamped (apparantly, they have never tried travelling through a US airport as a foreign citizen).
But here's the crux of it -- based on this, one migght assume that Americans are loud and obnoxious and rude. However, there were a few hundred people in this line. So far as I know, there could have been 50 other US citizens standing in this line who were just as disgusted by their behaviour as I was. However, because they weren't standing around being obnoxious, putting down another country, and talking up the US, one would have no way of identifying them from anyone else.
So I think it's a case of a minority creating a bad rap for the majority. I've been to the US a number of times, and have a number of family members who are American citizens (some distant relatives who trace their roots in the US back hundreds of years, some closer relatives who have emmigrated fro Canada for one reason or another), and I know for a certainty that there are lots of perfectly good and polite Americans out there (Sean being a prime example :) ).
Mind you, I do have one biased opinion: I think the worst of the rude Americans out there tend to be a whole lot nastier than the worst of the rude Canadians up here :).
One funny aside about my trip to the Netherlands -- even though I wore my Canadian flag pin on my jacket lapel everywhere I went, I was routinely mistaken as being Dutch (and I don't speak Dutch, nor am I aware of any Dutch heritage in my blood). I only ever once had someone ask me if I was an American. However, you do tend to get treated quite well there when you tell them that you're Canadian :).
That's very true. Most people only notice the bad.
And, by contrast, Americans are rude because they won't even get off the cell phone while robbing a bank.
I'll have to agree that it's probably becuase you are comparing a deep south state instead of a ruder part of the country. In Kentucky it seems that people are generally polite, but even I notice a difference when in South Carolina. People are just nicer there, and as a result, the jerks stand out.
Wow Sean, you've got everybody fooled...
I don't recall seeing (or hearing) any rude Americans when I spent time in Europe, although I know second hand that there was somebody from where I did my undergrad who said a lot of things while she was in England that did not win her any friends, nor did it help the image of Americans as a whole.
Based on the various regions of the US where I've lived - there is some truth to the stereotype. For example, when I lived outside of Philly, I never would have thought I was rude. Rather I talked and joked just as anyone else did and none would have thought anything different. Only upon moving to Tennessee did I realize that back in PA, I was essentially an a$$hole (some might say that hasn't changed but you'd be surprised) but again thats just the way people speak. So yes there is something for southern hospitality, etc. A lot of that holds true for the northeast US - but to someone from the northeast, its just how they are and its not taken as rudeness. As for a comparison - there are definitely some other rather rude cultures out there, Europe has its fair share but who doesn't?
In respect to the cell phone robber, you can look at the polite canadian robber.
Oh James, your observation skills astound me. (Read the first 2 words of the post :))
I guess the consensus is that Canadians are like southerners!
Well in my defense - I only briefly read your post - I usually go straight for the comments :). I saw the cell phone thing in the comments but didn't bother clicking the links in the main post. And I'm glad you've got those Canadians fooled on that polite thing Sean ;)
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