Stupidest Things Asked

great thing about working at the trade and convention center is that I have a million stories from vacationers:
They second most funny was an asian gentleman you upon approaching we took out and japanese/ french dictionary started talking broken french to me with a japanese accent. I thanked him in French and then informed him in my limited japanese that we speak english here as well. He looked to the ground and turned to his friends who were all howling laughing behind him and then said in great English that he was sorry for wasting my time and the had just gotten off the cruise ship from LA. Apparently they told him that we only speak french here so all the way up the coast he had been brushing up on his french.

On the other side of it...

I've had the following said to me by Canadians when they learn I'm from California:

1) "Do you know (name)?"

Considering California and Canada have about equal populations this is pretty silly.

2) "Do you know a lot of movie stars?"

See my comment after item #1.

3) "Aren't you afraid of all the guns?" to which I replied ,"No, we need them in our war against Mexico."

It scares me when I get a knowing head-nod on that one. I prefer to think only Americans are this oblivious.

4) "Have you been to Los Angeles? I've always wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge."

And in about one hundred million years the San Andreas fault will have moved Los Angeles 350 miles north to where it will be due west of the Golden Gate Bridge. I'll send a memo when that happens.

5) "Are you gay?"

Yep. Everyone is gay here. That's why there's thirty five million of us.

6) "How do you stand all the global warming down there?"

How do you stand it up there? Or is Canada

7) "I've always wanted to see New York!"

So have I. Maybe some day I'll travel the 3,000 miles to the other side of the country and go see it.

"Los Angeles..."

Is only a relatively small part of the state. Many of us think of Los Angeles and Angelenos the same way many Canadians think of Quebec and Quebecers. We also get offended when compared to LA people.

My general point here is that no one and no country has a monopoly on ignorance.

I have two stories: the first was in Port Angeles, Washington. It is across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, and you can see it from here. I was exchanging money at the Safeway (seems strange now) and she asked me where the "colourful money" was from. I was able to point out the window, at Victoria, and say, "I'm from there... Victoria... Canada."
The other was in a strip club in Waikiki. I told the stripper I was from Saskatchewan. She said "Oh, we have a restaurant like that just down the street!" I said, "Saskatchewan, NOT Szechuan!"
True stories, I just shake my head.
There was also the time in San Diego. I told the waitress I was in the Canadian Navy. She said "Wow, Canada has a navy?!" San Diego is our most common port, I don't even know how many times I've been there. Or Hawaii either, been there at least 15 times.

Having been to LA several thousand times I can concurr. very funny....LOL You guys should be Canadian... well with X amount of stars being canadian your halfway there. And after that last election......

In 1995 I was in LA for a week coming back from Mexico. I walk into the Hyatt Allicante, the hotel I was staying at. Because it was a little cold (just coming back from southern mexico.. everywhere is cold.) I am wearing my Edmonton Oilers track suit. The Concierge behind the counter all of a sudden starts panicing yelling at me that I missed the bus.. airport team left 5 minutes ago. So the guy is trying to get me a shuttle or a taxi or something to get me to the airport. Great service though. I finally got him calmed down enough. They were trying to get ahold of the bus company to turn around and come back for me. I explained to him that I just came back from mexico and asked what was going on, why the panic?. He looks at me and says thank God... the Oilers were just here and left no more than 5-10 minutes before I arrived. They though I was with them and just went for a walk around the building or went for coffee or something and missed the bus to the airport. We all had a great laugh. But I tell you for that next week I had the best service I have ever received at a hotel and It is the only place I stay now when I go to LA.
Here's the big question for me if the managed to turn the bus around... What would I have had to say to Sather? Next time wait for me.

It wasn't a question directed at me, but it was incredibly stupid.

Two years ago I was coming back from a summer trip to Mexico. A girl of about fifteen was sitting next to me. She was from Houston, Texas and was visiting a friend in Calgary (where I live). As the plane was landing she glanced out the window and gasped loudly. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I didn't know Calgary was a city! I thought the only cities were in Ontario!"

It seems she was under the impression that Calgary was a tiny villiage that just happened to have its own international airport.

...Right.

Thank God only a few Americans are as ignorant as she was.

I was playing City of Heroes, and of course, people aske me how cold it is in Canada. I had to explain to them that Canada is not cold all year round.

The next group I teamed up with were especially stupid and ignorant. I ended up telling them that we have a military, a navy, and an airforce. They said:" WOW!!! You guys have an army?!?!?! I thought all you had were cops!!!!! I told him that we needed a Military to defend our borders from the invading Danish people. The scary thing is, they actually believed me. One of them said:"Oh my god, Canada's in a war?!?!?! Holy Shit!!!" To which I replied:"Oh yeah, but we're winning because the Danish can't see us because it's dark all year round in Canada."

Was skiing in Lake placid....guy say's..you come down from Canada...no I said..I come up from Canada..no he say's, you people live thousands of miles North, why did you come down here for the snow.

Took him into the chalet and showed him a map, I lived in Windsor at the time which is south of Lake Placid. He said that's a Canadian map and is drawn wrong.

Go figure.

Do you know Bill from Edmonton? We went to college together in Boston?

Bill bill... oh my god yes I forgot all about Bill.. he was william when I new him... oh the things he would do and the places he would go.. you know in school he was voted the most likely to... hmm can't seem to remember.. but Bill yes hmm lost track of him heard that after he went to school.. in boston right.. yes well he seemed to have slipped away into the mass of 350 million people we have living in North America.. hmm funny you should mention Bill....LOL there's a response for you.....if it should ever happen again oh and it will...

[font=Arial] [/font] Recently I was involved in a conversation with a customer's secretary and it came up that I was from Canada. She asked what part and I responded Saskatchewan, she looked at me strange and asked if that was anywhere near Alaska. I replied no and with my standard response said it was right above North Dakota. OHHHHH she said, and then asked what my family did for a living????? (ah oh ok whatever LOL) I responded that my family farmed, she looked at me with the straightest face and asked "OH what do they farm? Isn't it too cold to grow things up there?" After almost almost spitting my Tim Hortons coffee (that my mom sends to me) through my nose I responded with " No we plant winter wheat, EH!" Her response, not noting the sarcasm of course, was "well what good is frozen wheat!" I had to walk away, quickly!

more of a comment, i got called ignorant by an american after telling him to go back to his rocking chair and drink more jack after his possum dinner..

i mean c'mon an amrerican calling a canadian ignorant... for fuck sakes if you watch air-farce the episode of talking to americans they actually believed our prime minister was Tim Horton.. i mean wtf..

LMAO oh gawd I miss Air Farce. I am in the south, not even the deep south but I remember in school learning about America and its history and my son is starting school this year, and I made sure to tell his principal that if she would like me to come and speak about Canada and its history I would be more than willing to do so. I get truly uneducated ignorant comments all the time like, you don't look like a FOREIGNER (ummm I'm from Canada, duh!!) and did your family ever live in an igloo? (yup and it had running water too!! LOL) and my husbands personal favorite was when we got our marriage license from the local court house the lady actually mispelled Canada (twice) even after I slowly spelled it out for her C-A-N-A-D-A The people at Immigration here even laughed at that when they seen our marriage license LOL