Was watching the news last night (which is something I don’t usually do. To depressing) but with all the Olympic frenzy going on I feel compelled to watch the news for two reasons: to give my brain a break from constantly watching the Olympic coverage and hey, a girls gotta know what is going on in the hood, right? Anyway, there was a report about a certain comedian calling Canadians “Syrup sucking ice holes”. For about 2.5 seconds I chuckled. Mostly because the word “ice hole” is super funny. Now, I am as a rule pretty tolerant of others humor, bad or good. I, in my Canadian laid back glory, also feel that people are entitled to their own opinions etc. etc. and all that crap. This time I was actually offended. I have not quite put a finger on it yet but the first thought in my head was: “What the hell, I don’t even like syrup”. I don’t think the dude has ever been to Canada because I know after I parked my snowmobile in the driveway and went out back to feed my polar bear I was still a little put off about this uneducated remark.
Sort of reminded me of the time I was in Dallas, crammed in a little cab that was going so fast I thought the cab had inadvertently moved onto an Indy circuit, and had a very enlightening conversation with the driver (who was from New York – which I might mention here may, or may not be all that far from Canada.) The driver of course noticed my bizarre accent and asked where I was from. After duly explaining that I was from Vancouver, Canada NOT Vancouver, Washington (something I have done a thousand times – especially in Portland at the marathon. I ended up just saying we were from the “other Vancouver”. Most of the people asking got it) I had to explain to the gentleman that I did not live in an igloo and in fact I did not even own a snow shovel. He was so seriously shocked about the snow shovel thing I had to tell him a few times (please refer to blog blot dated February 10, 2010) So I proceeded with the secondary tactic that is used when people don’t know much about Canada – I asked if he had ever heard of Seattle? (Thank you Grey’s Anatomy) Oh yeah, broke through the cultural barrier there! I explained that we were just a couple hours drive from Seattle and that in fact we drive there to see baseball games. For the day. We then go home after. Really. (Ok, only if we did not drink a beer an inning.)
So I suppose you are wondering if I am going to fire off an email to someone expressing my dismay about this serious injustice? Nope. Not going to do it. I try to make an effort to only email nice stuff – like thanking people and that jazz. I want to be one of those people who buck the trend and actually take time out to be kind. It’s a work in progress. So what am I going to do? File this sucker away in the “Burn” file in my brain and will most likely, in the years to come, try to work the word “ice hole” into a conversation. Seriously.
