akeyoftime | I should be le studying.

http://www.zompist.com/amercult.html

Perhaps the most apt “You know you’re Canadian when...” list I have ever seen. Painstakingly, I narrowed the list down to the ten that made me giggle most, but go see them all people!

10. If you have an appointment, you'll mutter an excuse if you're five minutes late, and apologize profusely if it's fifteen minutes. An hour late is almost inexcusable. You get more leeway in the winter, however. Snow is fun, but it slows everything down. There should have been a subtle army reference somewhere in this thing.

9. You either watch or listen to CBC television and radio, or you don't. That fact tends to make a difference in your view of the world. Somehow, this is true. (I <3 Stuart MacLean!)

8. You'd be hard pressed to name the capitals or the leaders of all the nations of Europe. You can probably name all the capitals of the provinces and territories, though... except for Nunavut. (What's that? Vancouver, Calgary, and Saskatoon aren't capitals?)

7. You went over Canadian history in school. You're also used to seeing those 30-second government sponsored "Heritage Minutes" on TV, and maybe watched the CBC History of Canada series. You also got some U.S. and European history. You get a kick out of the fact that Canada (OK, well, Britain) is the only nation besides Viet Nam to win a war against the U.S.-- in 1812, when the U.S. tried and failed to invade Canada, and the White House was burned down. I have a tape with all the minutes on it :P It’s outdated now, since it wasn’t even available on DVD when we got it. And not only have I SEEN the History of Canada series, I was IN it. /dork

6. You expect the military do peacekeeping, not fight wars. (It's way too underfunded to do any fighting.) There’s more, but that’s the important part. Really now.

5. You measure things in litres, kilograms, and kilometres, except when you use feet, pounds, and gallons.

4. If you're a woman, you have the right to go to the beach topless, but you don't. I remember when that woman in Toronto was being sued for going topless in the city on a blistering summer day and ever since, ALL Toronto women have earned the right to go topless on such days. I have never seen on take advantage of it.

3. You're well aware that your country speaks two major languages-- but you yourself don't, unless you live in Ottawa or Montreal, or one of the francophone communities outside Quebec. You probably learned some of the other language (French or English) in school, but don't remember much of it. If you live in English Canada, you find French interesting but irrelevant; if you live in French Canada you find English useful but annoying. So true. So so true.

2. You think most problems could be solved if only the three levels of government would put aside their differences and work together. Amen! Too bad Hell will freeze over before they stop squibbling over money. Can anyone say TTC for me? ^^*

1. ...you are of course not American. You're fascinated by minute differences between the U.S. and Canada, and a bit annoyed at Europeans who can't tell you apart. Welcome to Canadian identity, wherein we define ourselves by how unlike the Americans we are. Oh, and hockey. And that beer commercial. Y’all know which one I mean.