Coors Light, Jaywalking, Streetcar Swerving... Culture Shock?
So technically I still live in the same country, Canada. I may have moved to a different province 4,000 kilometers away from Vancouver, but it's not much different here, really. It's funny to me that places like Europe and South Asia have so many countries in the same close proximity as we have provinces in Canada, and the difference in culture is HUGE across those borders. Within the same 4,000 km distance, there are dozens of different languages and cultural differences, whereas we have basically a uni-culture across the whole country except for Quebec and some minor pockets of more minor differences.
Or DO we?
First of all, apparently I have an 'accent'.
Dani's husband was the first person to point this out. Now a couple of people at work have mentioned the same thing and even using the same words as Jamie used to point out my accent! The main problem here is my use of the 'A' vowel! Apparently I say 'Vancouver' more like "Vohn-couver". And 'hands' more like 'hohhnds'. A distinct lengthening and 'o' sounding pronunciation. Weird. But I also think these Torontonians (not Ontarians because Northern Ontarians have a completely different accent which I have yet to master) have their own accent. They say things like "pants" like "payyyants" and "hands" like "heeeands". So there. But Newfies, and they're way closer to Ontario than Vancouver, how did they end up with the major accent and Vancouverites. much further away, just ended up with a semi-surfer-dude accent (way cool)?
Another thing I've noticed while working at the restaurant here vs. the one at home in New West is the beer preference in Toronto. Especially since I started bartending. Back home, the major seller was Keith's or maybe MGD, and darker beers. Good beers. Here, Coors Light. COORS LIGHT. Coors Light??? Yeah, that's right. A stuffy business suit man, a major Raptors fan, 3 grown men on a night out away from the wives, a gang of scruffy late-night twenty-somethings.... you mention that Coors Light is on draught (amongst 9 other relatively more manly, flavorful, alcohol-rich choices) and their eyes light up like their world has just come together and all life's problems have been solved. Jeepers (jeepers? no, I'm not erasing it and typing in a more modern expletive). Oh, and good old Molson Canadian. Most people I know in BC haven't sipped Canadian since their choices were between Wildcat or Canadian at the age of 15.
Jaywalking.
Jaywalking is a phenomenon that most of us never consciously think about in daily life. Unless you leave BC, travel to Asia or Africa and try to cross the street to catch a cab or basically get anywhere, as there are no such thing as crosswalks or pedestrian right-of-way. Vancouverites are pretty good at using crosswalks or at least waiting until there are hundreds of feet between them and an oncoming vehicle, for the most part. And if someone IS daring to cross the street, god be with them, without using the crosswalk, how many of us have GLARED at them and pointed to the nearest crosswalk through our windshield, mouthing the word "crosswalk, M*R$*#*F*E*R!" to get our point across that we're mightily concerned for their safety and angry that we had to tap our brakes to let them cross? I know you have, I sure have. Hmph.
Well, it's a different story over here. Not even just downtown Toronto, but a LOT in the Bloor West Village area. People with bags of groceries, lapdogs and yoga mats just hop past the parallel parked cars and dodge into traffic at will, anytime, even when cars are flowing past at a steady rate. Have you ever driven down West 4th during the day? It's a cool street, but traffic's a pain in the ass. So many stoplights, hard to turn left, moving one block every 10 minutes. Imagine throwing in a person crossing between every block. And nobody honks, nobody glares, nobody mouths expletive safety reminders. Just dodge 'em. Maybe Torontonians are the laid back ones, bending the rules like wayward roaming hippies, and we're the tightwad conservative stressed out ones? LOL I'm getting way out of hand here. :) But I still find it a little bit funny. And lately there have been over a dozen deaths related to pedestrians getting hit while jaywalking. It's all over the news. And now the local police have actually started giving out $100-something tickets for it!
Oh and one thing most Vancouver-dwellers have not ever had to deal with is driving on a road with a streetcar track along the entire thing. You know the automatic track thing you drive on when going into the carwash where you put your car in neutral and you just let it pull you along? It's kind of like that. You can just let your tire settle into one of the streetcar tracks, and let it just guide you along the street with no steering needed, just gas. Until about every 100 metres when suddenly your car veers out of the track, shocking you out of your easy ride, and you have to guide it back on again before you hit a cab or parked car in the lane beside you, or worse, a streetcar coming the opposite way. I wish I could put a video in here of how funny it looks. You're driving by yourself, one hand on the wheel, you sort of start looking at the sights beside you because you don't really have to concentrate anymore, then a sudden jerk to the right, then back to coasting... Its fun at first, but then it gets annoying. I wish they had planned those tracks better so that your car frame is wide enough to always be out of the track. Oh well. I guess I could just avoid Queen, King or Lakeshore forever, but those are the only main streets heading home, and the coolest mind you... The only other way to avoid this issue altogether is to drive so that both of your wheels are not touching the streetcar tracks, but as a result are riding perilously close to the centre line or the parking lane. Then it's major concentration time so your mirrors don't get ripped off. Too much effort.
(not my photo, stolen from Google. See that Nissan's front left wheel? He's takin' a free ride on the effortless driving train)
I know there must be more funny differences between Vancouver and Toronto living. I will find them, and I will continue to banter on and on about them.
Or DO we?
First of all, apparently I have an 'accent'.
Dani's husband was the first person to point this out. Now a couple of people at work have mentioned the same thing and even using the same words as Jamie used to point out my accent! The main problem here is my use of the 'A' vowel! Apparently I say 'Vancouver' more like "Vohn-couver". And 'hands' more like 'hohhnds'. A distinct lengthening and 'o' sounding pronunciation. Weird. But I also think these Torontonians (not Ontarians because Northern Ontarians have a completely different accent which I have yet to master) have their own accent. They say things like "pants" like "payyyants" and "hands" like "heeeands". So there. But Newfies, and they're way closer to Ontario than Vancouver, how did they end up with the major accent and Vancouverites. much further away, just ended up with a semi-surfer-dude accent (way cool)?
Another thing I've noticed while working at the restaurant here vs. the one at home in New West is the beer preference in Toronto. Especially since I started bartending. Back home, the major seller was Keith's or maybe MGD, and darker beers. Good beers. Here, Coors Light. COORS LIGHT. Coors Light??? Yeah, that's right. A stuffy business suit man, a major Raptors fan, 3 grown men on a night out away from the wives, a gang of scruffy late-night twenty-somethings.... you mention that Coors Light is on draught (amongst 9 other relatively more manly, flavorful, alcohol-rich choices) and their eyes light up like their world has just come together and all life's problems have been solved. Jeepers (jeepers? no, I'm not erasing it and typing in a more modern expletive). Oh, and good old Molson Canadian. Most people I know in BC haven't sipped Canadian since their choices were between Wildcat or Canadian at the age of 15.
Jaywalking.
Jaywalking is a phenomenon that most of us never consciously think about in daily life. Unless you leave BC, travel to Asia or Africa and try to cross the street to catch a cab or basically get anywhere, as there are no such thing as crosswalks or pedestrian right-of-way. Vancouverites are pretty good at using crosswalks or at least waiting until there are hundreds of feet between them and an oncoming vehicle, for the most part. And if someone IS daring to cross the street, god be with them, without using the crosswalk, how many of us have GLARED at them and pointed to the nearest crosswalk through our windshield, mouthing the word "crosswalk, M*R$*#*F*E*R!" to get our point across that we're mightily concerned for their safety and angry that we had to tap our brakes to let them cross? I know you have, I sure have. Hmph.
Well, it's a different story over here. Not even just downtown Toronto, but a LOT in the Bloor West Village area. People with bags of groceries, lapdogs and yoga mats just hop past the parallel parked cars and dodge into traffic at will, anytime, even when cars are flowing past at a steady rate. Have you ever driven down West 4th during the day? It's a cool street, but traffic's a pain in the ass. So many stoplights, hard to turn left, moving one block every 10 minutes. Imagine throwing in a person crossing between every block. And nobody honks, nobody glares, nobody mouths expletive safety reminders. Just dodge 'em. Maybe Torontonians are the laid back ones, bending the rules like wayward roaming hippies, and we're the tightwad conservative stressed out ones? LOL I'm getting way out of hand here. :) But I still find it a little bit funny. And lately there have been over a dozen deaths related to pedestrians getting hit while jaywalking. It's all over the news. And now the local police have actually started giving out $100-something tickets for it!
Oh and one thing most Vancouver-dwellers have not ever had to deal with is driving on a road with a streetcar track along the entire thing. You know the automatic track thing you drive on when going into the carwash where you put your car in neutral and you just let it pull you along? It's kind of like that. You can just let your tire settle into one of the streetcar tracks, and let it just guide you along the street with no steering needed, just gas. Until about every 100 metres when suddenly your car veers out of the track, shocking you out of your easy ride, and you have to guide it back on again before you hit a cab or parked car in the lane beside you, or worse, a streetcar coming the opposite way. I wish I could put a video in here of how funny it looks. You're driving by yourself, one hand on the wheel, you sort of start looking at the sights beside you because you don't really have to concentrate anymore, then a sudden jerk to the right, then back to coasting... Its fun at first, but then it gets annoying. I wish they had planned those tracks better so that your car frame is wide enough to always be out of the track. Oh well. I guess I could just avoid Queen, King or Lakeshore forever, but those are the only main streets heading home, and the coolest mind you... The only other way to avoid this issue altogether is to drive so that both of your wheels are not touching the streetcar tracks, but as a result are riding perilously close to the centre line or the parking lane. Then it's major concentration time so your mirrors don't get ripped off. Too much effort.
I know there must be more funny differences between Vancouver and Toronto living. I will find them, and I will continue to banter on and on about them.
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