The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Timewalker]

Should I be ashamed to admit that the reason I knew that, is because I'm a Corner Gas fan?

Hey, you learned it somewhere and that's what matters. I learned my capitals from an old Stompin' Tom Connors song that's out of date now (it didn't include the Territories, and we have 3 of those now; at the time of Connors' song, there were just two).

There's a mod over at CivFanatics (the forum where I spend most of my time) who was born in Ireland, came to Canada in her teens, and has been here over 30 years. A few weeks ago she went on a rant in one of the threads, complaining about the pronunciation of "Regina." No, it's not spelled like the carpet cleaner; the "i" is a long-sound.

Apparently she went over 30 years living and working in Canada without ever hearing anyone speak the name of Saskatchewan's capital city in her presence. This is rather remarkable, because while it's not often in the news in Eastern Canada, it is here due to politics and sports.

I asked how she could have avoided hearing this for the 30+ years she's lived here, and she snarked at me about the frustrations of being a nurse during the covid pandemic.

Well, excuse me, but the pandemic has only been going on since 2019. She had plenty of time before that to learn the provincial capitals.

As for Mercer: I always wondered how many of his "marks" on Talking to Americans actually answered his questions correctly and didn't fall for the joke. Although they would probably be edited out, as it wouldn't be funny.

Probably similar to Jay Leno with his "Jaywalking" segments when he was hosting The Tonight Show. My dad and I always watched on Monday and Tuesday nights because Monday had the "Headlines" segment where people would send in pictures of weird or stupid headlines they saw in newspapers.

I nearly sent a couple in myself - not headlines, but classified ads for jobs in which the person writing the ad made an unfortunate mistake. Apparently someone working in a warehouse would need wench experience, while a restaurant was hiring a Sioux chef.

I wondered how many of the people actually played dumb because they figured out that it was the stupid answers that would get put on TV. I am really hoping that these people were really not as stupid as their answers made them out to be.

As for the "Talking to Americans"... I liked the inclusion of the little kid giving the right answer, with the tone of voice of 'why are you asking me this stupid question, everybody knows _______" (I suppose the kid was either taking a unit on Canada in school, learned it from TV, or read it somewhere).

 

[Owain Taggart]

Probably similar to Jay Leno with his "Jaywalking" segments when he was hosting The Tonight Show. My dad and I always watched on Monday and Tuesday nights because Monday had the "Headlines" segment where people would send in pictures of weird or stupid headlines they saw in newspapers.

Yeah, and you have to wonder just how many of them were filmed to make up the stuff that made it on air. As someone who attended a live-taping of the Tonight Show and witnessed Denis Rodman trip and fall while making an entrance, there's much stuff that happens and just stays there not making it to air.

Anyway, LB, pat yourself on the back. There are not many Americans who'd even have a clue or care who he is

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Can I also pat myself on the back for knowing how to pronounce Yonge Street?

And on a vaguely related matter: Spadina Avenue (Toronto) is pronounced the same way as Regina, isn't it? Spa-DINAH as opposed to Spa-DEE-nah? I've heard conflicting statements on this...from bus tour hosts, no less.

Hey, you learned it somewhere and that's what matters. I learned my capitals from an old Stompin' Tom Connors song

As much as I like to blather on about watching shows like Red Green and Corner Gas, I seriously have learned a fair bit about your country just by watching them. There's this Red Green ep where they make their own version of Mount Rushmore out of machine parts, I got a LOT of names from that one.

"We had Sir Charles Tupper, then we...knocked off a real important bit, and now he's Margaret Trudeau."

 

[Timewalker]

^ Can I also pat myself on the back for knowing how to pronounce Yonge Street?

And on a vaguely related matter: Spadina Avenue (Toronto) is pronounced the same way as Regina, isn't it? Spa-DINAH as opposed to Spa-DEE-nah? I've heard conflicting statements on this...from bus tour hosts, no less.



As much as I like to blather on about watching shows like Red Green and Corner Gas, I seriously have learned a fair bit about your country just by watching them. There's this Red Green ep where they make their own version of Mount Rushmore out of machine parts, I got a LOT of names from that one.

"We had Sir Charles Tupper, then we...knocked off a real important bit, and now he's Margaret Trudeau."

Yeah, it's "Spa-DINAH".

Margaret Trudeau is off-limits now, though, since it was revealed that she had undiagnosed, untreated bipolar disorder during the years when she was running wild. She really wasn't in the headspace to be able to make good decisions back then.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Oh. Sorry, my bad.

(guess I still have a lot to learn about Canada.... )

Okay...um...desperately trying to lighten the mood here...uh...did I mention that I think Canadian money looks really cool?

(I have some in my safe deposit box, in fact. I just hope that I'll get to USE it again someday...)

 

[Timewalker]

^ Oh. Sorry, my bad.

(guess I still have a lot to learn about Canada.... )

I'm guessing this was from a really old Red Green episode. The information about Margaret came out around the time of the 2015 election, when Margaret was expressing how proud she was that Justin had become Prime Minister. A lot of information came out that most people didn't know about her before.

There were a lot of horrible things said about her in the CBC comment sections, and there was quite a crackdown. Comments aren't open very long (less than a day in most cases, IF they're open), and draconian moderation that makes no sense. Someone can post hate speech, but if I type the name "Margaret Atwood" I'm apt to get a "content deactivated" on my post.

People are STILL spreading the lie that Justin Trudeau is really Fidel Castro's son (just because adult Justin resembles Castro in a couple of respects). But the truth is that Margaret and Castro didn't meet until Justin was almost school-age, and if you compare side-by-side photos of adult Justin and his parents, it's obvious which facial features he inherited from both of them.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm guessing this was from a really old Red Green episode.

Yeah, it was during the 4th season (1994).

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if I type the name "Margaret Atwood" I'm apt to get a "content deactivated" on my post.

Geez, even The Handmaid's Tale is considered hate speech?

 

[Timewalker]

Yeah, it was during the 4th season (1994).

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Geez, even The Handmaid's Tale is considered hate speech?

It's not hate speech. It's "Liberal". As in somebody among the moderating staff hates Atwood, or her name is on a list of forbidden words, or however they do it - CBC outsourced the comment moderating to some company that doesn't even follow CBC's own guidelines. They are completely unaccountable, and the only way to get things said is to hopefully catch the "content deactivated" notice before the comments close and repost it, trying to guess wtf tripped the censor and work around it.

Sometimes it's "Gilead" that trips the censor. Whatever it is, it's not hate speech. Someone just hates Atwood and all mention of The Handmaid's Tale.

Margaret Atwood is generally despised by the right-wing supporters of Canada. She is a feminist who is articulate, her books sell, and she is not afraid of taking politicians to task for whatever reasons she deems worth the effort. One of her op-ed pieces was censored during the election of 2015 because she called Stephen Harper out as a hypocrite, and while she didn't exactly use the word "coward" or call him a criminal for his shady dealings, it was obvious what she meant. She also mentioned her exasperation with the Reformacons' obsession with Justin Trudeau's hair (the "nice hair" political ad). I still shake my head at having to listen to that 3 times/hour, every weekday when I was watching my soap opera. I finally found an online site to watch it, because I was not going to put up with two more months of it.

Somebody at the newspaper (don't recall offhand if it was the National Post or the Globe and Mail) didn't like what she said about Harper and deleted it.

The reason I know what she said is because someone retrieved it from the internet archive (archived even though it was less than two days old) and posted a link to that version (not sure if CBC ever "deactivated" that post).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Just heard that the Blue Jays will be back in Toronto by the end of this month. Linky

 

[Timtamttime]

Hi fellow Canucks! I’ve been living abroad for the past four years, so it’s nice to check in on what current Canadian culture is at the moment. Reddit is a bit depressing after a bit. We tend to be rather hard on ourselves, I find. But any time I mention I’m from Canada, people light up and only have good things to say about us, which is not the case with certain other anglophone countries. So keep striving to be great!

 

[Timewalker]

Hi fellow Canucks! I’ve been living abroad for the past four years, so it’s nice to check in on what current Canadian culture is at the moment. Reddit is a bit depressing after a bit. We tend to be rather hard on ourselves, I find. But any time I mention I’m from Canada, people light up and only have good things to say about us, which is not the case with certain other anglophone countries. So keep striving to be great!

Welcome! Fellow Canadian, from Alberta.

 

[Timtamttime]

Welcome! Fellow Canadian, from Alberta.

Me too!

 

[Marc]

Hi fellow Canucks! I’ve been living abroad for the past four years, so it’s nice to check in on what current Canadian culture is at the moment. Reddit is a bit depressing after a bit. We tend to be rather hard on ourselves, I find. But any time I mention I’m from Canada, people light up and only have good things to say about us, which is not the case with certain other anglophone countries. So keep striving to be great!

A Canadian with an Australian biscuit for a username
(ex-part Australian who's been in the great white north since 2009 and citizen since 2015 but still occasionally buys Tim Tams).

 

[Timtamttime]

A Canadian with an Australian biscuit for a username
(ex-part Australian who's been in the great white north since 2009 and citizen since 2015 but still occasionally buys Tim Tams).

Yes, but only because it was given to me as a nickname by a friend who spent a few months in Australia. But Tim Tams exist in Canada, too. Just not as much selection.

 

[Marc]

But Tim Tams exist in Canada, too. Just not as much selection.

I think they're imported but I have looked closely enough to check.

They have the original and that's all the matters - as for some of the variations well lets pretend they don't exist and leave it at that

btw if I buy some next time I'm out shopping I'm gonna blame you

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I know Tim Horton's only carries their own brands,, but they should make an exception and have a rack of Tim Tams. They look delicious.

 

[Timtamttime]

“Tim” is already in the name. Shouldn’t be too difficult! I’d be all for that!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Just heard that Canada's opening up the border to US travelers next month, and to everyone in September.

Good to hear. All my vacation time is taken for this year, but next summer, I'm making plans.

Just hope Toronto's Union Station will finally be done.

 

[DEWLine]

I think Toronto Union Station is just about ready to go to work again...?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think Toronto Union Station is just about ready to go to work again...?

Well, yeah, of course it's running, it just seems like the renovations will never end...and this was even before the pandemic hit.

I also heard that SkyDome is slated for demolition in the next few years. I think I'm a bit sad about that. I just hope that wherever the Jays play next, there's still an attached Marriott, because I am VERY fond of staying at the one next to the stadium.

(it's nice not to have to deal with subway crowds after a game)