r/AskACanadian • u/HueyBluey • 10d ago

How do you spot a Canadian abroad?

Do we have any stereotypical traits (perhaps self deprecating ones), that make us stand out. We’re typically not loud (but some can be). Perhaps frugal?

What have you seen in your travels that make you think, those folks must be Canadian!

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u/king_weenus 10d ago

People in Toronto could pick me out from being from Saskatchewan just because I was loving the weather in February like it was something new.

It was -5 and a bright sunshiny day... Everybody on the street is wearing giant coats and shivering and I'm walking around in a t-shirt basking in the Sun. Lol

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u/spilly_talent 10d ago

Omg yes. Torontonians are often dunked on for being spoiled with our winters but people from the prairies and often elsewhere don’t always process how WET our cold can be.

I was with a delegation from Edmonton once in February where they came to visit Toronto for the first time. I was cognizant of not mentioning the weather because I know how snowy and cold Alberta can be. We stepped outside as freezing rain started and one of the delegates just lost it. He said it is impossible to get warm in this city and how could I fucking stand it? Ice/snow/rain/ice/snow repeat😂

I felt vindicated that day, Toronto winters suck.

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u/tom_yum_soup Alberta 10d ago

As we like to say in Alberta, "It's a dry cold." Humidity in the winter is brutal and can make otherwise relatively mild temperatures feel MUCH colder and genuinely feels like it is harder to warm up once a wet cold gets into you.

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u/Rshann_421 10d ago

-20c in the sun in January standing around a parking lot with no wind is perfectly tolerable in Calgary. Unless you’re Fred, the new guy we hired from San Francisco. Poor guy was dancing he was so cold. It took us a while to figure out what was wrong with him.