The differences between cruisers from different countries

[jagsfan]

Poutine.

I've never heard of it, so I googled it.

You reckon it's "delish"?? :eek:

 

Fortunately it's not made it to my village chippy

Bad enough that Americans smother theirs with ketchup :eek:, Belgians with mayo :eek:, and Brummies with curry sauce. :eek:

 

Never screw around with perfection.

Just add salt & vinegar

 

JB :)

 

 

 

Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!

(An Americanism that is true no matter the subject)

 

 

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[martincath]

Going back to the 1970s, old Finn guy, long time resident of Canada, would always say (by way of lecturing) "In Finland we do it this way....."

 

He, his wife, and one of his sons took a trip to Finland.......son related that one of the first things out of the old man's mouth when they met up with relatives was "In Canada we do it this way.."

I do find there are some cultural practises that are so utterly inefficient compared to other ways of doing the same thing (the ridiculous 'fork in the right hand except when cutting' is one of those things, especially when combined with the 'cut one piece at a time' concept - so much redundant swapping around of cutlery!) so can be very easily written-off as a 'less good' way of doing something. I'm happy to adopt the best (read 'most efficient') way of doing things when I'm exposed to a different practise, as long as it won't actually cause offence to someone when performed.

 

 

But that Finnish guy must have really liked you to talk to you so often CBP! We also had a Finnish neighbour - first winter after we moved into the 'hood I was coming home after work, saw their minivan abandoned on the street at a weird angle, still running, door open. Parked, ran over to check there wasn't anyone in the car unconscious - empty. Ran to their door and hammered on it - hubby opens. Me: "Is everyone OK? I saw the car!" Him: "Yes, fine - car slid on icy patch, wife got a shock, came to get me so I could park it." Me: "Oh. So you don't need any help?" Him (looking very confused): "No." Walks away to the car without another word.

 

 

Mentioned it to other neighbour next day (very old lady, while shoveling her front steps). She looks totally shocked. I say "No, no, don't worry, they're all fine, nobody was hurt!" She replies: "It's not that - I'm just shocked you've already exchanged more words with that whole family since moving in six months ago then I have in the fifty years we've been neighbours!"

 

I MCed a Finnish-Greek wedding - that story got the biggest laugh of the night from the Finns, while most everyone else just looked at each other (mostly Greeks, Germans, Brits, Americans).

[CrossBluePerchance]

Finns

 

When we can find them we both have a penchant for reading, (translated of course), Scandinavian, Finnish and Icelandic (primarily, but not necessarily, crime), novels.

 

The countries can be bleak, people in outlying areas are isolated, and the residents may have inclinations to be somewhat 'antisocial'......as the expression goes "alcohol may be a factor", (although pretty much none of the Finns we know/knew drink.....at this time).....I recall decades back reading a Lonely Planet (IIRC) review of Helsinki and the grabber about one bar was "Stay an hour, see a fight".

[John Bull]

Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it!

(An Americanism that is true no matter the subject)

 

 

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I've tried all of those things.

I like them all too.:)

But I don't need to try strange combos of those things to know that they don't sit well together on the tongue. :eek:

 

Cod roe in chocolate & marmalade sauce, anyone? ;)

 

JB :)

[navybankerteacher]

I've tried all of those things.

I like them all too.:)

But I don't need to try strange combos of those things to know that they don't sit well together on the tongue. :eek:

 

Cod roe in chocolate & marmalade sauce, anyone? ;)

 

JB :)

 

Well put. There are countless things and combinations of things which I will avoid trying -- and will, in some cases, loudly "knock" without trying.

 

The peanut butter and clam sandwich came to mind.

[jagsfan]

Ummm, all very interesting, and possibly you haven’t been to the US, but because we do have so many roads and streets without sidewalks, we are also all taught to walk facing traffic. And on escalators and airport moving sidewalks to stand on the right and pass on the left. Your Underground escalator system is familiar to us. The poster who was talking about it had, I believe, his tongue firmly in cheek.

 

 

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[Velvetwater]

Poutine.

I've never heard of it, so I googled it.

You reckon it's "delish"?? :eek:

 

Fortunately it's not made it to my village chippy

Bad enough that Americans smother theirs with ketchup :eek:, Belgians with mayo :eek:, and Brummies with curry sauce. :eek:

 

Never screw around with perfection.

Just add salt & vinegar

 

JB :)

 

It really is good! The slightly sourer cheese curds with their squeaky texture set off the buttery gravy and crispy chips/fries.

 

I'm an experimental eater and will try anything often finding its tasty...Durian,Hakari or Natto anyone?

 

Now I am a huge British fish and chips fan and adore my 'chippy' chips like nothing else but if it wasn't for gastronaut experimentalists of the past the salt and vinegar would never have got onto the chips. ;)

[iancal]

I have not had really good, authentic Poutine since I moved from Quebec. Perhaps we are not going to the right places.

[Yukonjake]

He told us when he was first learning English he kept getting confused between

F**** You and Thank You.

 

:eek:

 

My daughter is a Russian adoptee. She asked my wife for some Scotch. Being as she was only 14 at the time, it seemed like an unreasonable request. Come to find out that that is what Russians call scotch tape and she needed some for a school project.

[CrossBluePerchance]

My daughter is a Russian adoptee. She asked my wife for some Scotch. Being as she was only 14 at the time, it seemed like an unreasonable request. Come to find out that that is what Russians call scotch tape and she needed some for a school project.

 

That takes me back.....in the 1960s, on a ship from Australia to (eventually) England, there was a very attractive blonde Australian girl looking to work in advertising in London.

 

Now, in Oz, they do, or used to, call Scotch Tape 'Durex' - in England however Durex is/was a brand of contraceptives......she later related that, for an ad involving a pack of sausages, she wanted to ensure the pack didn't collapse...so asked in a loud voice if anyone "Had any Durex to put on the sausages?"

[martincath]

I have not had really good, authentic Poutine since I moved from Quebec. Perhaps we are not going to the right places.

Where did you move to? If it's Vancouver or Toronto I can offer some suggestions of both authentic and good (not necessarily always the same thing - just 'cos you fly in your curds does not mean your fries and gravy will be top notch!)

[iancal]

Calgary now. Often in Vancouver (lived there for 20 years).

 

A good smoked meat is also on our list since Metro in Calgary closed up. We used to go to a place in New West, on 6th. Operated by a lady from the townhips.

 

May be back this summer. We always have smoked meat, steamies, and poutine, (not together) and we get to enjoy real bagels baked in a wood fired oven.

Edited March 27, 2018 by iancal

[jagsfan]

If they eat poutine in heaven, they get it from Brownstone Restaurant in Kamloops

 

 

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[navybankerteacher]

Poutine is a special kind of comfort food - like Scotch eggs or biscuits with sawmill gravy - which defies explanation. Profoundly questionable when read about of discussed objectively, but truly wonderful when in the right mood and surroundings.

[martincath]

Calgary now. Often in Vancouver (lived there for 20 years).

 

A good smoked meat is also on our list since Metro in Calgary closed up. We used to go to a place in New West, on 6th. Operated by a lady from the townhips.

 

May be back this summer. We always have smoked meat, steamies, and poutine, (not together) and we get to enjoy real bagels baked in a wood fired oven.

All the Quebecois folks I know prefer Belgian Fries on the drive for authenticity of preparation - despite the name! Personally I think the best, though not so authentic, is Edible Canada - one of very few kitchens to double-fry in duck fat, and if you've ever had any kind of fried or roasted tater with duck fat it's the bees knees. Nice rich gravy, and the takeout window that opens in summer (look for the cheesy looking 'fake food truck' painted on the wall) serves basically just fries and donuts - but the sitdown resto does a very nice breakfast poutine and occasionally a fancier dinner poutine with interesting meat & cheese. The bar menu only poutine in Chambar (Belgo-Moroccan) is also damn fine. Just like in Europe, the Belgians make the best 'French' fries here;-)

 

Unfortunately Dunns is the least-bad Smoked Meat spot I know of... but there are some contenders for best bagel! Siegels (Joe trained in Montreal) and their sort-of spinoff Rosemary Rocksalt (Joe's daughter) do very Montrealesque bagels; Solly's is the go to for all my Jewish acquaintances locally - but they're more Brooklyn style. I also hear good things about Mount Royal Bagel Factory in North Van, but I've yet to visit (and as the name suggests, they're definitely trying to make Monteal style bagels!)

[Reina del Mar]

I MAY have posted once or twice before about differences in terms and conditions between USA and other countries.

 

Would love to have the opportunity to re fare/ cancel cruise without charge and take advantage of the many offers such as 'Sip and Sale', 'Free grats ' etc.

 

Another huge difference is attitude towards tipping. We leave gratuities but not always at 20-25% recommended in some places. We have spoken to many Americans who insist this is unnecessary and some who leave virtually nothing. Some pay daily gratuities then tip on top.

[pacruise804]

snip

 

TL;DR - for folks who are not Canadians the best way to quickly grasp our provincial pride and rivalries is to figure out whatever obscure sports channel in your area will show The Brier curling championships. If you can find a local bar popular with Canadians to watch, even better - watch the crowd rather than the game unless you're a Scot, from the far north of the US, or one of the other few dozen people from elsewhere in the world who actually know the game;-)

 

On the surface it's a very gentle game, and all the fans of every provincial team are very polite - but look at the crowds faces when an opposing skip misses an easy clearance or draw and you'll see the fire burning behind their eyes!

 

Thanks for your perspective, very interesting.

 

We love our obscure sports channels for curling and also Premier League Darts. We watched both the Scotties and the Brier (mostly I was in the room while my husband watched). We think we might want to take a land trip some year to watch, especially if on the East Coast again. Yes, we are strange people that would go North at the end of winter when were already complaining about the cold here:') Our local junior hockey team is part of the Ontario Hockey League and one of my friends has season tickets. I'd joke with her that we were watching the 'kinder, gentler' Canadian ice sport.

 

I grew up on the Pennsylvania side of Lake Erie but we would get Canadian channels from our antenna. I sometimes feel more at home in Canada than parts of the US.

 

Poutine.

I've never heard of it, so I googled it.

You reckon it's "delish"?? :eek:

 

Fortunately it's not made it to my village chippy

Bad enough that Americans smother theirs with ketchup :eek:, Belgians with mayo :eek:, and Brummies with curry sauce. :eek:

 

Never screw around with perfection.

Just add salt & vinegar

 

JB :)

 

We don't have Poutine near us, but Pennsylvania Dutch have done fries with gravy for years. While I agree that a good fresh french fry doesn't need anything (except maybe salt & vinegar), there can be a time and place for good sauces too.

[SRF]

Ah, I misunderstood your confusion.

 

The signage is for tourists and new immigrants who have not acclimatized yet - I literally cannot remember a time in the UK when locals did not already do the 'stand right, walk left' thing, but tourists get confused and clog the escalators (especially in busy tube and train stations). As to which side to stand on - you are confused because you are an American and thus assume driving is the normal way to travel, and I wager you've never walked along the side of a road that did not have sidewalks.

 

It's drilled into Brits as soon as we can walk, that you always walk on the right - anybody you saw 'walking left' on roads is a tourist. This means you are looking at approaching drivers which is safer for two reasons - first, it's a proven psychological trait that making eye contact with drivers makes pedestrians safer (they are forced to acknowledge you are there and you are a fellow human being) and secondly if the driver is distracted you can SEE that they are coming right at you and have a chance to jump out of the way!

 

Your follow-up question at this point might be - but if we drive on the left, and thus overtake on the right, why do we overtake fellow pedestrians on the left? Because the slower-walking person should be hugging the far right hand side of the roadway, thus it's impossible to overtake them on the right unless you want to climb a hedge or wall. Even in cities there are plenty of roads without any sidewalks, or with ridiculously narrow ones that only one person can fit on - it's a fundamental problem of so many buildings and roads that predate automobiles...

 

So basically you are saying the Brits cannot make up their mind. :D

 

Every other country, the walk and drive on the same side.

 

And as I said, in most cases I remember, the left escalator is the one to the other floor in the UK, where as in the countries the drive on the right, the right hand escalator is the one you take.

 

Again, can't make up your minds. :)

[SRF]

I do find there are some cultural practises that are so utterly inefficient compared to other ways of doing the same thing (the ridiculous 'fork in the right hand except when cutting' is one of those things, especially when combined with the 'cut one piece at a time' concept - so much redundant swapping around of cutlery!) so can be very easily written-off as a 'less good' way of doing something. I'm happy to adopt the best (read 'most efficient') way of doing things when I'm exposed to a different practise, as long as it won't actually cause offence to someone when performed.

 

 

From what I remember being told, it has to do with Queen Victoria. Just like forks on the left side of the plate.

 

So another thing to blame on the Brits. :D

[SteveH2508]

So basically you are saying the Brits cannot make up their mind. :D

 

Every other country, the walk and drive on the same side.

 

And as I said, in most cases I remember, the left escalator is the one to the other floor in the UK, where as in the countries the drive on the right, the right hand escalator is the one you take.

 

Again, can't make up your minds. :)

 

Er, we walk up the escalator on the left (like we drive on the left) and stand on the escalator on the right. Perfectly logical.;)

[martincath]

So basically you are saying the Brits cannot make up their mind. :D

 

Every other country, the walk and drive on the same side.

 

And as I said, in most cases I remember, the left escalator is the one to the other floor in the UK, where as in the countries the drive on the right, the right hand escalator is the one you take.

 

Again, can't make up your minds. :)

Nope - if as has been mentioned your kids are also told to walk facing traffic, then people should always be on the opposite side from cars. So Brits are the consistent ones - and the logical ones for having a singular system - while it's you colonials who are doing one of them backwards;-) Take your pick which one you're wrong at, but you can't be right at both!!!

 

From what I remember being told, it has to do with Queen Victoria. Just like forks on the left side of the plate.

 

So another thing to blame on the Brits. :D

Not Vicky's fault - it used to be the norm among Europeans long before her, which is why it was exported to the colonies long before she was even born, let alone in charge of anything.

 

This is another example of Brits evolving while the US hangs onto outmoded affectations - like how most 'American' spelling is actually just really old British English before it got standardised and modernised;-)

 

Let's face it - as the only 'civilized' country in the world that refuses to adopt the metric system or charge taxes based on residency not citizenship, when it comes to common sense there is basically the USA and then Everyone Else.:D

[CaptFantastic]

There it is, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to play the metric system card...haha.

 

As for the food discussion - the best poutine is found in Quebec and smoked meat from Montreal specifically

[SRF]

Nope - if as has been mentioned your kids are also told to walk facing traffic, then people should always be on the opposite side from cars. So Brits are the consistent ones - and the logical ones for having a singular system - while it's you colonials who are doing one of them backwards;-) Take your pick which one you're wrong at, but you can't be right at both!!!

 

 

Not Vicky's fault - it used to be the norm among Europeans long before her, which is why it was exported to the colonies long before she was even born, let alone in charge of anything.

 

This is another example of Brits evolving while the US hangs onto outmoded affectations - like how most 'American' spelling is actually just really old British English before it got standardised and modernised;-)

 

Let's face it - as the only 'civilized' country in the world that refuses to adopt the metric system or charge taxes based on residency not citizenship, when it comes to common sense there is basically the USA and then Everyone Else.:D

 

Hey, we use the metric system for IMPORTANT things. Alcohol. :D

 

Oh, and this come a person from a country that mixed Metric with Imperial and even had Whitworth. :D

 

And we do NOT base citizenship on residency, but location of birth. And it is a Constitutional Amendment, that was passed as some areas were using it to prevent certain minority groups from voting.

[martincath]

Hey, we use the metric system for IMPORTANT things. Alcohol. :D

 

Oh, and this come a person from a country that mixed Metric with Imperial and even had Whitworth. :D

 

And we do NOT base citizenship on residency, but location of birth. And it is a Constitutional Amendment, that was passed as some areas were using it to prevent certain minority groups from voting.

I fear that the UK might actually revert to Imperial thanks to Brexit (maybe not shillings & ha'pennies though!), and Canadians over about 30yrs old all measure height & weight in Imperial measures; everyone measures beer by the pint (even though there is no single definition of a pint in Canada!); but at least everyone does everything in metric at school so another few generations (and a ban on Americans immigrating unless they swear to learn what a litre is!!!) should see us be very consistent;-)

 

But you misread my commentary re: citizenship - it's TAXES that I'm referring to. Literally only one other country on the planet taxes people for the privilege of being a citizen regardless of where they live - Eritrea, which levies a 2% income tax on all expats. The Philippines used to do the same as the US, because they modeled a crapton of their legislation on that of the US - they stopped in 1996. The USA now stands completely alone in demanding that every citizen, regardless of where they live, has to file a tax return - even if they have never lived there and never do, and even if they pay more in tax abroad than they would 'at home' (which is certainly the case for all Canadian & British-resident Americans I know). Since FATCA, the US has also been leading the world in citizenship renunciations - so many joint Canadian citizens are giving back their US citizenship that Ottawa now sees bus tours organized for mass renunciation declarations at the US embassy!

 

Incidentally, you can easily become a US citizen based on parentage (I know many who were born abroad - they just can't be president by current interpretation of the constitution!) Since 1790 you can claim citizenship if both parents were citizens; only your father had to be a citizen if he was married since 1855; only your mother since 1934 (and even 'unwed mothers' since 1955). Aside from a residency requirement to retain citizenship that was in place from 1940-1978, folks claiming citizenship by right of birth have never even needed to set foot in the USA to earn and keep it.

 

Since this is all getting a bit dry and factual now instead of the light-hearted stereotypes the thread began with (my apologies for raising the tone!), I'll pull it back around to something more akin to the original topic:

 

Can any other nation claim a higher proportion of cruisers who bring and wear any traditional 'National Dress' than my fellow Scots? Aside from a few Saris, one Kimono, and a couple of high-collared Chinese silk gowns - all worn by ladies - and a handful of 'Mao Shirts' worn with otherwise regular Tuxedos by gentlemen, I actually can't think of any other 'traditional clothing of Country X' outfits that I've seen while cruising.

 

NB: I'm not talking about culturally/religiously required headwear and the like! Just the completely 'free choice' options - any Germans bring lederhosen for example?

[CrossBluePerchance]

Can any other nation claim a higher proportion of cruisers who bring and wear any traditional 'National Dress' than my fellow Scots?

 

A psychological 'Cry For Help'? ;)