Yankee Go Home

serlingrod: 19th Aug 2007 - 16:22 GMT

my friends advised me to sew a Canadian flag onto my bookbag before visiting, lol. are there alot of americans in this part of town?

CE: 19th Aug 2007 - 18:29 GMT

A Canadian flag wouldn't do you much good in Quebec.

EvilGentleman: 19th Aug 2007 - 20:27 GMT

The simple reality is, Americans are welcomed warmly by most Montrealers, and generally disliked but tolerated by the rest. And that dislike is often because they are getting mistaken for Torontonians, or other English-speaking Canadians.

Dislike of Americans is more likely to occur among the English speakers, but when faced with a live, breathing bona fide Yank, they will usually be nice to them, because the dislike is not generally directed against the individual American, but towards Dubya.

That man is so unpopular in Montreal, it is phenomenal. I have never seen anything like it before. We were pretty neutral to his dad, but Dubya seems to piss off English Montrealers and French Montrealers alike. It is one of the few things English Canada and Quebec are strongly united on. Just make sure you make it clear that you do not like Dubya either, and you will find yourself making new friends like crazy.

If you happen to actually like Dubya, it is probably wisiest to keep that information to yourself, unless you are really sure of the opinions of the majority of the people around you. And using 9/11 to get sympathy for the war on terror will usually offend people, unless you can prove you really come from New York City or Arlington, VA. In that case, our true hatred of terrorism will bubble to the surface and surprise you.

If you want to make friends, attempting to speak a little French will go a long way towards making a good impression, sometimes even with the English Montrealers, oddly enough. But whatever you do, do not yell at people to "Speak American!", or someone will have to call the cops to rescue your sorry ass.

serlingrod, as far as your questions go, I would have to say there are a lot of Americans around in pretty much every area of the city except perhaps the East end, out past the end of the Metro system at Honore-Beaugrand Metro station. And even then, you are likely to find Americans around the oil refineries of the East end. But the highest concentrations of Americans are usually found in the touristy areas, such as Old Montreal, the Plateau and the downtown core, as well as the West Island area, especially Dorval, due to the proximity of the airport.

And as far as flags go, CE is correct. American and Canadian flags are treated about the same here in Quebec. Neither will usually piss people off, but they won't bring crowds of admirers, either. I think the flag story most likely comes from Europe, where Americans often pose as Canadians in order to avoid unwanted attention.

But if you get homesick for the Star-Spangled Banner while visiting Montreal, just head across the Mercier Bridge to my hometown of Kahnawake, where American flags outnumber Canadian ones 100 to 1. Heck, even US Marine Corps flags outnumber Canadian flags 20 to one in Kahnawake. Mohawk Indians are quite pro-American as a rule, heck, our men built the WTC. But even there, praising Dubya may not be wise.

Hope all the info helps prospective US tourists. Be welcome, don't be afraid, just use your common sense. And for God's sake, don't praise Dubya or the war in Iraq, unless you are 100% sure you know what you are doing.

EvilGentleman: 19th Aug 2007 - 20:53 GMT

You know the great irony here is that the graf reads "Yankee Go Home", yet it actually directed towards George W. Bush, who is not a Yankee, but a Texan. But then again, he was born in Connecticut, so maybe he is a Yankee after all.

This graf could potentially hurt tourism, I'll bet it gets buffed ASAP.

Chiamattt: 19th Aug 2007 - 22:13 GMT

The irony is that Americans are, as a nation, known for not traveling abroad. I wish more did. Perhaps they'd understand the world better. There should be more "Yankee Leave Home" grafs out there.

Georges: 26th Aug 2007 - 17:30 GMT

"The simple reality is, Americans are welcomed warmly by most Montrealers, and generally disliked but tolerated by the rest. And that dislike is often because they are getting mistaken for Torontonians, or other English-speaking Canadians.

"

Jeez, Montrealers still have that provincial little prejudice? Time to grow up. And yes, you will find a lot of open anti-Americanism in Montreal. More so than in other parts of Canada, which is not to say it's not more prevalent in other regions but it's just more polite.

Gwen: 26th Aug 2007 - 17:36 GMT

I used to find Montreal a lot mof fun when I was in college. Now whenever I go back to visit friends I'm so bored after 3 days. It's very much he same whereas the rest of the world has changed and grown up.

EvilGentleman: 30th Aug 2007 - 13:56 GMT

Georges, The predominant prejudice in Montreal is still language. As an English-speaker, I seldom notice anti-Americanism among the French Quebecers. This may be due in part to my not being to understand most of what the French are saying, but if I am not able to see it, I doubt most American tourists are, either.

Gwen, Montreal has not grown up. This both holds it back, and adds to its quaint charm. Old Montreal and the Plateau preserve different parts of the past. A few old neighbourhoods still exist in their classic state. For many Montrealers, the 1960's are still alive and well. We probably have more Hippies than San Francisco and Vancouver combined. We still have never-ending language debates that go nowhere. Racism is slow to fade. There are many things in Montreal that I agree have no business existing anymore in a vibrant modern society. But I wish we really were slower at growing up. We have Best Buy and Starbucks everywhere, and "urban renewal" (read blatant commercialism and condo development) is scarring our historic areas as well.

serlingrod: 30th Aug 2007 - 15:00 GMT

Montrealers seemed very tolerant of my girlfriend and I whenever we asked to speak English, for Englsih menus, etc. They would start off in French, notice the confused looks on our faces, then switch to English. We always presented ourselves as Americans. I got the impression that they believed Americans who were cultural enough to visit Montreal were guaranteed to dislike Bush. It's was as if we instantly had something in common. One three seperate occasions we held conservations similar to this:

Montrealer: "so where are you from?"
us: "we're visiting from Philadelphia."
Montrealer: "ugh Bush! so you hate Bush too? he's a monster! a criminal!"

Ivo: 30th Nov 2007 - 17:37 GMT

Funny, my comment here was deleted... (this popped out in the 'From the archives' menu.)

I guess someone didn't like the deductions I made after reading EvilGent's posts.

EvilGentleman: 30th Nov 2007 - 20:51 GMT

Beats me, Ivo. Do you remember the gist of what you were saying? I know I hate it when someone says something that is borderline offensive, I reply, and then the editors delete the comment I replied to, often making it look like I am some nutjob who talks to himself.

Born and Raised in NYC: 12th Apr 2008 - 23:08 GMT

Incredibly condescending comments but coming from a Canadian I'm not surprised.

Never judge the majority attitude of any given place by graffiti since the majority population are seldom represented in the sentiment expoused it's usually drawn/written by a local art school student or goofy college kid.

I know Montreal fairly well and in general at least among Quebecois (not the punks in the college ghettos around Montreal) it's english speaking Anglo Canadians who're disliked not Americans. Many Anglo Canadians from outside Quebec have difficulty accepting this so they make a big song and dance about anti-Americanism.

I have and do travel ALL OVER THE WORLD extensively and I've never,ever known an American to pretend to be Canadian ..... most people even in Europe generally like Americans and are very curious when meeting one ... it's the British who're universally disliked.

EvilGentleman: 13th Apr 2008 - 08:22 GMT

To Born and Raised in NYC:

Sorry to ask, but exactly who made the condescending comments, and which ones in particular are you referring to? I just re-read everything here, and the general vibe I get is pretty much in line with what you are saying. I know most of my comments say the same things you do, albeit with different words.

As far as the bit about Americans pretending to be Canadian, this is a common story I would hear when I was growing up on Canadian military bases. It was apparently most common among American servicemen in Cold War West Germany, where many American servicemen would have small velcro strips sewn above and below the American flags on their uniforms, so they could slap a Canadian one there, if they deemed it to be necessary.

There are Americans making money off of this concept, by the way. T-shirtKing.com of Mountainair, New Mexico sells the "Go Canadian" kit for Americans travelling abroad.

Here is the MSNBC article on it: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6666338/

In case the page eventually gets deleted, here is a screen capture from MSNBC...

I must admit, the kit seemed to have been sold more for political protest purposes than actual use overseas, and a quick check of t-shirtking.com shows that it is no longer offered, but it is still something to make you think.

Born and Raised in NYC: 14th Apr 2008 - 04:11 GMT

Alright Evil I was a little harsh .... the Americans pretending to be Canadian story gets under my skin ... again I've never hear a serious case of an American pretending to be Canadian (people may JOKINGLY wear a maple leaf or pretend to be Canadian and I'm sure Canadians have been confused with being American)... and I served in the army in Germany and this never occured.I think it's more of an urban myth/joke than anything else and of course someone is making money off of it I mean Jesus selling bottled tap water is a big business !

I stand firmly by my observation everyone hates the British ... British tourists make Americans look like saints.

Born and Raised in NYC: 14th Apr 2008 - 04:21 GMT

Here's a little Montreal story: I remember very well as a little boy being with my family in Montreal at a flower expo located in the old Expo fair grounds ... I was standing with my mom holding her hand and a little middle aged man in a suit came by and stopped ...I remember thinking it was fummy he wore a tie because it was very hot... he was French and my Mom spoke French and English with him ... he was very friendly and polite and lit up when he heard we were Americans ... ever hear of Rene Levesque? I met Trudeau also after he was prime minister...Levesque seemed like a nicer guy.

CE: 16th Apr 2008 - 02:25 GMT

I have a friend who recently travelled through Europe for a few months and on a few occasions she said that there were people who were less than pleasant with her because they thought she was American. When she tried to say she was Canadian they would accuse her of being an American who was pretending to be Canadian so Europeans wouldn't give her a hard time. Every time she proved them wrong by showing them ID, they would apologise profusely for assuming she was American as if it might have been the worst insult possible.

EvilGentleman: 17th Apr 2008 - 19:49 GMT

As far as the urban legend aspect of things goes, how could we get a website like www.snopes.com to have a look at it, and see what they dig up? I am really curious about this one.

I cannot really say much about the British, since I have seldom met their tourists, and never noticed any boorish behaviour from them. Mind you, the British football clubs do not play soccer on our side of the ocean, so maybe that is why. Perhaps arrogant behaviour is a trait of the nations of the Anglosphere, which would include the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

Both Trudeau and Levesque had reputations for being very friendly and charismatic. I would imagine Levesque would have had more need of American friends than Trudeau, since Levesque would have been hoping to one day set up trade relations between an independent Quebec and America.

CE, my mother had similar experiences in Paris and Casablanca.