{"id":717337,"date":"2026-06-05T18:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/717337\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:34:11","slug":"9-things-canadians-dont-realize-about-their-own-country-from-a-local-who-moved-to-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/717337\/","title":{"rendered":"9 things Canadians don’t realize about their own country \u2014 from a local who moved to the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent 10 years living in the United States<\/a>, and it made me realize Canadians aren’t as self-aware as we think we are. Some things feel totally normal when you’re Canadian \u2014 and no, bagged milk will never be one of them. But once you leave, some myths start getting busted. <\/a><\/p>\n

After 10 years of living in the USA, here are 10 things I didn’t realize about our home country \u2014 and maybe you didn’t either.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize how obsessed we are with America<\/p>\n

Guys, I’m serious. I’ve lived in the USA for 10 years, and here is the complete list of things Americans know about our country<\/a>:<\/p>\n

1) We say “aboot” not “about.”<\/p>\n

2) We say “sore-ee” not “sorry.”<\/p>\n

3) We say “how-sss” not “house.”<\/p>\n

4) Our president (their words, not mine) is dating Katy Perry<\/p>\n

That’s basically it, guys. But us, on the other hand?<\/p>\n

We know their politics<\/a> better than our own! We know their celebrities. We’re fans of their NBA, MLB, and NFL Teams.<\/p>\n

I’m sorry, but as a born-and- raised Vancouverite, the Toronto Raptors are an absolute no from me. Lakers and Dodgers all the way, baby! You lost me at football.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize OTHER countries have beautiful landscapes too<\/p>\n

I’m gonna say the thing no one wants to hear, which is we don’t beat America when it comes to the beauty of our country.<\/p>\n

We have Beautiful B.C. They have the state of Washington, which is practically identical.<\/p>\n

We have the Rockies. They have those exact same Rockies.<\/p>\n

We have one “desert-like” town in Osoyoos, BC. They have Palm Springs, and then some (lots).<\/p>\n

I think Canada is super pretty in many places, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’d rather take a road trip across America. They have similar landscapes in their bordering states, but then they also have places like Louisiana and Hawaii. Taking a dip in the Burrard Inlet just doesn’t speak to me, fam.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize how much Americans love us<\/p>\n

Do not believe everything you read on Twitter, folks! Anytime I tell someone I’m Canadian, I get so much love<\/a>. People propose to me in the streets to get free health care. They have either visited or want to visit.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize Americans DON’T KNOW Ryan Reynolds is Canadian<\/p>\n

Even though yes, his IG name is literally @vancityreynolds.<\/p>\n

He is our claim to fame, and it’s ridiculous they don’t know it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m from Vancouver, where Ryan grew up. I know EXACTLY where his senior portrait is hanging up in Kits Secondary High School. Yet somehow…<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize we’re far more like Americans than we are Europeans<\/p>\n

This one may be a tough pill to swallow. I know we have Queen Elizabeth on our $20 bill, and we write “colour” with a “u”. But personality-wise? We’re partially responsible for putting the “American” in “North American”.<\/p>\n

We love drive-thrus. We wear athleisure as a fashion statement. We measure long distances in hours. We have Costco memberships, Stanley cups, suburbs, emotional relationships with processed snack foods<\/a>, and we even have our own Real Housewives TV.<\/p>\n

I’m not saying we’re Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen \u2014 I’m just saying we’re not as European as we think we are. We have Tim Hortons;<\/a> they have Dunkin Donuts \u2014 and neither of us has an “espresso for here” standing up at the bar.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize we’re not as nice as our reputation<\/p>\n

Ya’ll some of the most passive-aggressive people out there. I’m sorry. <\/p>\n

In fact, you probably don’t even realize how passive-aggressive most of your “sorry’s” are. The number of times I’ve bumped into someone at the grocery store and (through gritted teeth) they apologized \u2014 and even though it was THEIR fault, I am terrified that if I don’t apologize back, they’ll find me in the parking lot and slash my tires.<\/p>\n

Yeah, sure, we’re polite. But polite doesn’t mean nice. And nice definitely doesn’t mean kind. I’m not saying we’re all bad out there. A lot of us are definitely helpful. I’d say our greatest strength as a nation is our willingness to give directions \u2014 even if we don’t know them.<\/p>\n

We will pull up our maps and compare and contrast with a lost tourist trying to find the convention centre.<\/p>\n

But socially? I’d rate willingness to make new friends a 0\/10. Harbouring grocery store resentments are at an 11\/10.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize how much of their personality is withstanding cold weather<\/p>\n

We’re really proud of how cold Canada is, and how we’re really good at putting up with it. In fact, I’ve actually never NOT seen a Canadian try to flex on Americans by bragging about how brutal and depressing our winters are. Which, BTW, is an wild way to try and flex.<\/p>\n

“We’re really good at living indoors and battling season-long depression, unlike you losers who get to go outside and live your lives.”<\/p>\n

As if they don’t have the state of Alaska in their arsenal! <\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize we have the exact same portion sizes as Americans<\/p>\n

You know what, we low-key shame the U.S.A. And I blame the TV show, Hoarders.<\/p>\n

And listen, it’s not just us. It is actually the entire world. The whole world is addicted to hating on Guy Fieri’s America with massive portion sizes.<\/p>\n

Canadians don’t realize that the rest of the world has never had a REAL peach Bellini<\/p>\n

The greatest culture shock I’ve ever had was only several days ago. After listening to Drake’s new album, ICEMAN, I found myself missing Cactus Club, and I went out in L.A. to find myself a perfect peach bellini.<\/p>\n

When my server set down what looked like champagne in front of me, I was dumbfounded.<\/p>\n

“Where is my caloric alcoholic slushy?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“That’s not how we do bellinis here”, she said.<\/p>\n

“Well… it’s how they do it where I’m from”, I said.<\/p>\n

“Where are you from?” she asked.<\/p>\n

AND YOU KNOW WHAT I GOT TO SAY?<\/p>\n

“From Vancouver. I’m a B.C. baby”. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I spent 10 years living in the United States, and it made me realize Canadians aren’t as self-aware…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,148439,202324,295,66],"class_list":["post-717337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-travel","tag-canada-vs-us","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}