Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau
I used to think that Winnipeg was the closest thing we had to an American-looking city (midwestern/plains), but now I wonder if Saint John couldn't more easily be transplanted across the border into New England with no one the wiser.
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I'd argue that you're framing the whole question wrong. There are much stronger regional similarities north-south across the Canada/US border than exist east-west within each country.
If one says Saint John looks American because it looks similar to cities in New England one can conversely say that Portland, Maine looks Canadian because it looks similar to cities in the Maritimes. The point is that it isn't a Canadian aesthetic that the US imported or an aesthetic we imported from them, but one that developed together and at the same time in the Maritimes/New England. Same goes for Manitoba and the adjacent region to the south in the US. Saint John doesn't look American, it looks like an Atlantic Canadian/New England city.
There seems to be an assumption that if something exists in the US that it must be a US thing, or US in origin. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's entered the US from another country, and sometimes it's something indigenous to 2 or more countries (the US being just 1 of them).
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