How to be a Canadian

I have also recently finished reading How to be a Canadian by Will & Ian Ferguson (one of my acquisitions from the book sale). I must say, I was a little disappointed in this one too - possibly because I got my hopes up and told someone else that this book was going to be fantastic and she would not be disappointed. It was okay, but I hoped to learn a lot, be entertained, and see reflections of myself as a Canadian in this book. I feel like the authors (1) sacrificed facts for humor, and (2) focused too much on stereotypes.

1. You can present truth in a way that's funny, or you can be funny using topics that are (at some level) true. In the latter, the truth often gets stretched to increase the humor. That's what I found in this book. In addition, the funniest things are often quite insulting if taken literally, and the authors themselves acknowledge their insensitivity because of their efforts to be funny (58).

2. It's easier to notice how stereotypes apply to other groups of people than it is to identify them with ourselves. Stereotypes tend to reduce the identity of a member of a group to just a few characteristics. But there's so much to who we are and how we see our surroundings that doesn't fit in those stereotypes that we don't see how those common conceptions define us at all. As someone else has written, "It’s easier to view people superficially but nobody likes to be viewed as one dimensional because nobody is." I didn't recognize myself in the way Will & Ian described Canadians.

This is not to say this book wasn't worth the read. It was funny, and it did have some interesting views on Canadians. This was my favorite part:

Known far and wide as master linguists, Canadians excel in particular at translating cereal boxes. Often, when the U.N. needs a cereal box translated, they call in the Canadians, who parachute out of stealth bombers clutching boxes of Capitaine Crounche and K de Special.(12)

That's me!