ALPF has informed me that Canada was ranked the second best country in the world, behind only Australia. This is according to the Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index, "the only analytical ranking of the world's nation brands". (Um, nation brands?). Anholt-GMI surveyed 10,000 people in 10 countries, asking questions about 25 countries in areas such as investment, tourism, people and culture.
Canada, a new country in the poll, overtook second place from the UK, which ranked number two in the first NBI in May 2005.So to all those nasty wingnut commenters: nyah, nyah, I'm moving up in the world!
In most areas -- best places to work and live, expand business, people, and governance -- Canada came in right after Australia, showing that the country's positive reputation continues to remain strong.
Unlike Canada's neighbor and close ally the United States, which ranks 11th; globally, the government is seen as neutral, with the majority of those polled describing the government as trust-worthy. Adding to this perception, is the fact that Canada ranks number two, after Switzerland, on overall governance, as well as on how much people around the world trust the country's government to make responsible decisions and uphold international peace and security. But, it might appear that a large part of the world's perception of Canada can be attributed to how they feel about Canadians: the people came in second place in the hospitable category, right after Australians.
34 comments:
"You're supposed to chant that in the "U-S-A" style, pumping your fist and sounding like a gorilla."
We don't really do that up here... Which is part of why we're #2 and the US is #11. :)
Exactly.
We don't really do that up here
Come on, James. You and I both know that's not true.....unless, of course, you've never been to a hockey game.:)
"Come on, James. You and I both know that's not true.....unless, of course, you've never been to a hockey game.:)"
To be honest, I haven't. :) I'm a baseball person.
It must feel nice to yell out loud: I AM CANADIAN!!!
From a Molson Canadian commercial a few years back:
Hey
I am not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.
I don't live in an igloo,
or eat blubber, or own a dogsled,
and I don't know Jimmy, Suzy, or Sally from Canada,
although I am certain they are really, really nice.
I Am Canadian
I have a Prime Minister, not a President
I speak English and French, not American
I pronounce it "about" not "a boot"
I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack
I believe in peacekeeping, not policing
diversity, not assimilation
and that the beaver is a proud and noble animal.
The toque is a hat,
A chesterfield is a couch,
and "Z" is pronounced "zed" not "zee", "zed"
Canada is the second largest land mass,
The first nation of hockey, and
the bast part of North America!
My Name is Joe, and
I am Canadian!
We don't really do that up here... Which is part of why we're #2 and the US is #11. :)
isn't that what you just did, and then you posted the molson rant.
stupid insecure freeloading canadians.
grow up.
stupid insecure freeloading canadians.
WTF is this and why are you posting it on my blog, insecure anonymous poster??
A person who indulges in anonymous name-calling is telling other people to grow up???
Get a fucking life, and stay away from this one.
James, I love the Molson rant. My only quibble - many of you have heard this before - is that you do say "aboot". We hear it in even the most Americanized Canadian's speech, from Alex Trebec to Peter Jennings, that ever-so-slight aboot. It's there. It's nice! And it's there.
"isn't that what you just did, and then you posted the molson rant."
I didn't say we don't cheer ourselves; I said we don't do it by "chanting and pumping our fists and sounding like a gorilla". Canadian jingoism is much more passive-aggressive than the US stuff (outside of hockey games), as in Colin Mochrie's famous "Apology to the United States":
http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/mercer.asp
"My only quibble - many of you have heard this before - is that you do say "aboot". We hear it in even the most Americanized Canadian's speech, from Alex Trebec to Peter Jennings, that ever-so-slight aboot. It's there. It's nice! And it's there."
If we say "aboot", it's only because you pronounce "boot" strangely. :) There are details at this web page about the phenomenon of "Canadian raising", which relates to how Canadians pronounce "ow" sounds in different contexts:
http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/troberts/raising.html
Basically, Canadians change vowels sound if they are followed by a "voiceless obsturent" like p, t, k, s, or f. So "knife" has an abrupt "i", but "knives" has a longer one. Likewise with "lout" or "about" (abrupt "ou") vs "loud" (elongated).
Also "ice" vs "eyes" and "couch" vs "cows".
Even odder is "house" (noun) with an abrupt "ou" and "house" (verb) with an elongated one, because the "s" sounds "s" in the first and "z" in the second.
And remember, the proper pronounciation of "Toronto" is "Trana", as in the old Knigs song "The Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide":
"Little Donna - still wanna? You said I could look you up when I was in Trana"
When my mother was at UofT, the football team cheer was "Gimme a T! Gimme an R! Gimme an A! Gimme an N! Gimme an A!"
To the moron flamer: I am an American, too. People like you are the reason I'm leaving. Please go away.
Just a quick point in semi-defense of the anonymous flamer: Canadians often *are* insecure about the US. Pierre Trudeau put it best: "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly or temperate the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." We're always worried about what'll happen should the elephant roll over...
Trudeau quotes:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau
Assholes know no nationality. They come from all backgrounds.
Nice link there James. Good old Trudeau, the last great Prime Minister.
"I've been called worse things by better people."
comment about being called "that asshole" by Richard Nixon
On another note, wait until you go to your first NHL game in Canada. Then you will know what it means to be Canadian.
There's no defense of those a-holes. But if Canadians are supposedly insecure, think of how insecure Americans must be! Why else would they have to run around proclaiming how great they are? That's a hallmark of insecurity.
I don't care what anyone says: I hear aboot. It's not a very hard oo, but it's there. I hear it.
I've heard Tranna - also something that sounds like Tronto. Toronto minus one o.
"I've been called worse things by better people."
comment about being called "that asshole" by Richard Nixon
That's cool. Who's the person who was insulted because he didn't make Richard Nixon's Enemy List? Can't remember, I'll have to check on that... damn seive brain... mutter mutter mutter...
On another note, wait until you go to your first NHL game in Canada. Then you will know what it means to be Canadian.
Oh man, I can't wait! I'll have to work on scoring a couple of tickets. We'll love that!
By the way, I deleted a few posts from that guy. (Gee, why do I think it's a guy...) Suffice to say he thought I was Canadian and he didn't approve.
"I've heard Tranna - also something that sounds like Tronto. Toronto minus one o."
I'm a "Tronto" type, myself, though sometimes slip into "Tronno".
Of course, if you really want odd Canadian pronounciations, you have to go to Newfoundland. :) My SO was raised by Newfies, so I get exposed to it a lot.
I hear "aboot" too...
The American About has the same vowel sound as prow and ouch. Ours is much weaker, but it still rhymes with ow, not ooo.
This *may* be a central Canadian thing, though.
This blog/discussion is funny! L-girl, you seem QUITE pissed of at that flamer. I don't even think people like that are worth the calories it takes to write them a response...
Bored at work now:(
I don't even think people like that are worth the calories it takes to write them a response...
You're right - but sometimes it just feels good to let loose.
Plus he was saying really nasty things about Canadians, I had to come to their defense! :)
Plus he was saying really nasty things about Canadians, I had to come to their defense!
It's ok. He's mostly right. Canadians are stupid and insecure. I take issue with the "freeloader" part, though. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and toil to keep this country going (but luckily, not too much intelligence or self-confidence).
James is right. :) I've never in all my life heard anyone say "Tranna", except either people trying to characterize how we say it, or people from the high Midwest who are prone to say "Gad" for "God".
It's "Tronno", folks. :)
As for "aboot"... I've heard the sound people are talking about; I've even caught myself at it once or twice. It's more common among people over 50, though, whose speech was less prominently shaped by Sesame Street. But it's not "oo". It's a diphthong formed by a high "eh" (like in "get") that is then shaped by "ow" (like in "cow"). The sound is "a-BEH-owt". It's more common for Americans and Canadians under 50 to pronounce the first sound like "ah", so you get "a-BAH-owt", which is what you ordinarily hear these days. In essence, the funny "aboot" Americans hear is a sound that starts higher in the mouth than the typical North American pronounciation.
It's ok. He's mostly right.
But that's for Canadians to say, and to argue about. You are at least basing your opinion on a lifetime of observation. What is his based on? Thin air?
It's "Tronno", folks. :)
Yes, but um, then you're saying James is not right...
But it's not "oo". It's a diphthong formed by a high "eh" (like in "get") that is then shaped by "ow" (like in "cow"). The sound is "a-BEH-owt".
Yes, that's closer. I always say it's not quite as hard an "oo" as "aboot" but nor does it sound like "abOWt". I guess "aboot" is the closest imitation most people can muster.
"'It's "Tronno", folks. :)'
Yes, but um, then you're saying James is not right..."
Like LP's comments about "aboot", "Tranna" is an older pronounciation. You'll hear it more in the rural areas around Toronto now than you do within the city, where it's moved more to "Tronno".
Most of the land around Toronto was settled by Scots, which accounts for the nasal "a" sound in Tranna.
"Where-ever Scotsmen travelled,
There were two things that they brought:
Whiskey, and containers -
The containers were the Scots."
-- more Bowser & Blue
Of course, with over 80 languages spoken in the city, you hear a *very* wide variety of pronounciations these days...
I'd have to say that Maritimers tend to call it "T'ranna" whereas Torontonians call it "T'rono". I don't really know about Westerners, it's been too long since I've been out west.
On my recent trip to Boston, I delibertaly listened for differences in accent from Vermont on down.
To a Canadian's ears, Americans seem to draw out the "ow" sound for too long. The American says "out", but I hear "owww-t".
One of the things that really confused me when I lived in the midwest was the term "'cussing". I had never heard that before.
Oh, the other thing that drove me nuts was "nuh-uh".
Settlement from particular areas of Scotland has featured prominently in some of the peculiarities of the English of northeastern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley, such as the pronounciation of "film" as "fil-um". It's pretty interesting what winds up preserved and what gets lost.
For those interested, someone's written an extensive article on the curious characteristics of Canadian English on Wikipedia. Particularly interesting to me was a characteristic of slurring supposedly particular not just to Toronto, but North York, that involves dropping the "th" from words like "this", "these", "them,", "those", etc., when they fall in the middle of a sentence and follow a strong consonant. I was aware of it but not that it was geographically particular.
I'd have to say that Maritimers tend to call it "T'ranna" whereas Torontonians call it "T'rono". I don't really know about Westerners, it's been too long since I've been out west.
Thanks to that stupid rap song, everyone calls it T-Dot these days. It makes me want to stick a fork in my ears.
"Thanks to that stupid rap song, everyone calls it T-Dot these days. It makes me want to stick a fork in my ears."
I have never heard this. I guess I got lucky. :)
I've heard people call Toronto "T-dot" on occasion, but I don't think it's currency is going to be firmly minted. Calling Toronto "T.O.", on the other hand, goes back to when I was in high school at least, and people still banter that one around. I think the telling point is that "T.O." is easier to say than "T-dot". :)
"Calling Toronto "T.O.", on the other hand, goes back to when I was in high school at least, and people still banter that one around. I think the telling point is that "T.O." is easier to say than "T-dot". :)"
Yeah, that's still current. The government of Tonga makes some money selling *.to domain names to Toronto websites.
"Hogtown" and "The Big Smoke" seem to have gone the way of the buggywhip, though.
According to the Wikipedia page for Toronto, another nickname was "Methodist Rome". Not so applicable anymore. :)
Hey L-Girl. Its ALPF
I am ashamed that a fellow Canadian could be that rude. Anyway...
We have a new Head of State in Canada. An excellent choice if you ask me.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/08/04/Jean-GG-050804.html
BTW
My 4 year old calls it "Trundo"
I am ashamed that a fellow Canadian could be that rude.
Imagine how I feel every day! :)
I am way behind on your links. Hoping to catch up tomorrow.
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