The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Nouvellecosse]

In my experience people just letting fly and giving their opinions when they disapprove of things that aren't any of their business tends to cause people to become defensive and less likely to have "earnest and frank discussions" more likely to cause open communication to break down be more difficult.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

In my experience people just letting fly and giving their opinions when they disapprove of things that aren't any of their business tends to cause people to become defensive and less likely to have "earnest and frank discussions" more likely to cause open communication to break down be more difficult.

This depends on the ''level" of your interlocutors.

And the opposite end of the scale simply leads to people being passive-aggressive BTW because they just keep everything bottled up inside.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

You really have that hard a time imagining that many people might find earnest and frank discussions where people freely speak their minds more fulfilling than those where people hold back for fear of offending or seeming too opinionated?

Americans being "open with their thoughts" generally means clueless people telling you their life story when you didn't ask and clearly have no interest in hearing it, or self-entitled jerks making summary comments about things in pushy and offensive ways.

Those rare occasions where you have earnest and frank discussions about issues of the day happen with people from everywhere to varying degrees, save for maybe the Japanese. But with Americans, every day is "I shall talk now and you shall listen to me" day.

I've endured enough of those kinds of days to last a lifetime, and would be happy never to be around large groups of Americans or set foot in the U.S. again. Though I have relatives and friends there, so I still go. Still, though, the way Americans relate to people on a social level really gets under my skin. It's like a pox.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

In my experience people just letting fly and giving their opinions when they disapprove of things that aren't any of their business tends to cause people to become defensive and less likely to have "earnest and frank discussions" more likely to cause open communication to break down be more difficult.

You nailed it.

[Acajack]

Some of you guys seem to have the worst luck imaginable when it comes to the Americans you talk to.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

In my experience people just letting fly and giving their opinions when they disapprove of things that aren't any of their business tends to cause people to become defensive and less likely to have "earnest and frank discussions" more likely to cause open communication to break down be more difficult.

Agree 100% Living in Japan really helps you realize how nice it is when everyone is more reserved in sharing their strong opinions and group cohesion is key.

While I primarily work with Japanese people, the company I work for is a mix of Canadian, American, British, Australian, Jamaican, etc... people.

Japan is the extreme of "keeping the peace" but within the company you really can see how much more expressive and opinionated the American employees are compared to other countries. The only employees who are more expressive than the Americans tend to be Jamaicans. There is one Jamaican employee in particular, and I am sorry, but here in your face keeping it real attitude handicaps any meaningful conversations with her. The overly expressive people don't conduct conversations, they stifle them by being completely overpowering. She is a nice girl, I like her, but being so open just throw a wrench in any group harmony.

[Acajack]

This is all very ''vanilla Canadian'', guys.

Which is fine. It's a ''way'', but it's not necessarily the only way.

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Americans being "open with their thoughts" generally means clueless people telling you their life story when you didn't ask and clearly have no interest in hearing it, or self-entitled jerks making summary comments about things in pushy and offensive ways.

Those rare occasions where you have earnest and frank discussions about issues of the day happen with people from everywhere to varying degrees, save for maybe the Japanese. But with Americans, every day is "I shall talk now and you shall listen to me" day.

I've endured enough of those kinds of days to last a lifetime, and would be happy never to be around large groups of Americans or set foot in the U.S. again. Though I have relatives and friends there, so I still go. Still, though, the way Americans relate to people on a social level really gets under my skin. It's like a pox.

lol, you summed it up nicely. As a dual-national I can honestly say it's the one thing that bothers me to no end about that country. Great weather, lots of lifestyle diversity, some really talented hard working people and some great cities, but the dumb small-town minority there sure are loud and obnoxious. People like that stand out like a sore thumb in Canada! Urban (cities not exurbs), educated Americans (a minority) tend to be very Canadian in temperament and behaviour outside that environment.

I think it's the logical-emotional dichotomy. Canadians and educated+urban Americans tend to be more logical and sober in general.

[niwell]

Although I have experienced the obnoxiousness, I'm kinda with Acajack on this one. I've never made temporary "friends for the evening" here as easily as I have been able to in the US. When I was in Chicago last month my friend and I found new people to talk to literally every place we went to, including a brewmaster, bartender and randoms who just wanted to split a table for brunch to get served quicker (that would NOT happen here). I mean, some of this happens in Toronto for me occasionally but it takes a LOT more effort. Maybe it would be off-putting if I had to deal with it on a day to day basis? Also maybe if it weren't in a cool neighbourhood in a major city...

[Delirium]

Photo by Empunktes https://www.flickr.com/photos/empunktes/15338969964/sizes/h/


Photo by Luke Sergent https://www.flickr.com/photos/72569470@N00/15955435445/sizes/h/

[saffronleaf]

Originally Posted by rousseau

This superficial friendliness and "homie culture" is part of what I hate about Americans. Being "open with your thoughts" is invariably a marker of the banal self-importance and entitlement Americans have that grate on people around the world. It's irritating and off-putting.

I think the snobbish coldness you get in Canada and the UK are better markers of banal self-importance and entitlement.

Originally Posted by rousseau

But we're completely secular now...

How do you square that with having publicly funded Catholic high schools? In fact, I had to go to one because it was going to the secular public school would have been very inconvenient.

How do you square it with continued implementation of puritanical laws, like the recent smoking ban on open-air patios of privately owned restaurants?

The US is a very large country and there are states that feel considerably more socially liberal than much of Canada.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by saffronleaf

How do you square it with continued implementation of puritanical laws, like the recent smoking ban on open-air patios of privately owned restaurants?

I don't know if I'd call that puritanical, most people (or rather, people who don't smoke) just don't appreciate eating lunch in a cloud of carcinogenic smoke.

I can see the logic behind allowing private establishments to set their own rules with regards to this, but at some point as a society, we have to draw a line somewhere. Should seatbelt laws not apply on private toll roads?

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by saffronleaf

I think the snobbish coldness you get in Canada and the UK are better markers of banal self-importance and entitlement.

We aren't cold and snobbish in Canada. Just because we don't exhibit one extreme common in the US doesn't mean we must exhibit the opposite extreme.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

We aren't cold and snobbish in Canada. Just because we don't exhibit one extreme common in the US doesn't mean we must exhibit the opposite extreme.

I'd say we are polite but reserved, not cold and snobbish.

[GlassCity]

Realistically you can't generalize something as individual as outgoingness and politeness across 35 million people.

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Realistically you can't generalize something as individual as outgoingness and politeness across 35 million people.

There's obviously an enormous amount of variation, but you can generally notice differences in the average across a population. While it's a generalization, the Japanese as a society are definitely more reserved than we are in Canada, and as an average, we are probably a bit more reserved than they are in the States.

There are outliers, but generalizing is possible if you treat it as a statistical average rather than a stereotype.

[TallBob]

^^ Speaking of 35 million..... Isn't it close to 36 million pop. by now?

[Innsertnamehere]

Probably around 35.5 right now, it'll probably hit 36 sometime in 2016.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by Procrastinational

I'd say we are polite but reserved, not cold and snobbish.

it depends what you are used to. for norwegians, we operate at a comfortable level. for brazilians, we probably seem stilted and awkward.

no country really "has it right" insofar as these things are pretty subjective. for most equatorial people, in my experience, canadians are a frosty bunch, as are scandinavians.

the united states is a very large country and in many places a hot one. because of its heritage, i think we expect it to have more in common with northwestern europe than it sometimes does. i think it is surprising that it is not even more unruly-seeming, and as it relatively declines over the next century i expect this aspect to assert itself.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Realistically you can't generalize something as individual as outgoingness and politeness across 35 million people.

Let alone 319 million people.