Know yer Canajian culture, eh.
Ferget Freon Dion, Jim Carries the Kettle and whoever else you've ever heard of. Other countries export their worst beer, Canada exports its worst talent.* And Americans eat it up the way they expect everyone else to drink Budweiser beer. Go figger, eh? Do a little searchin' on: This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Rick Mercer Report, Kids in the Hall, SCTV, and then try to figure where a lot of American humour has come from. Judging by how long it takes for off-beat, out-of-the-blue Canadian humour to become mainstream Amrican comedy, it takes Americans 4 years to get the joke. I've heard Brits say much the same thing, but they usually add, "if ever".
I'd long forgotten about the hotter points of Canadian hot quizzin'. Beer, beer, and more beer, please. I hope Aussies will forgive us if we don't spell beer X-X-X-X. We do indeed have a beer called Ex, and I learned when young that all I needed to do was cross 2 fingers and I could order beer no matter how intoxicated.** Poutine is indeed a gift from the gods to cardiologists. Maple donuts are the reason coffee was invented. East coast seafood is the reason water was invented. Get it while you can, 'cause it's running out. Know what they say in Newfin'land? Give a man a fish and you feed him today. Teach a man to fish and he can apply for unemployment insurance.***
* We don't export our worst beer because, in all honesty, we all agree that no beer is the worst, far worse than any other beer. We even had a reefer-in-yer-endum about it some years back. Only thing that held us together.
** Chumpski wrote about universal grammar, but maybe this is an example of universal vocab. More research is required. Any volunteers?
*** We been sayin' that since Methuselah was a pup. Before the Dead Sea started askin' fer a second opinion. Before Toronto won anything worth mentioning... well not that long ago.