All I Know About Canada I Know From HIMYM
All I know about Canada I know from How I Met Your Mother. True Story. Never been there, never met one. I laughed “aboot” all the How I Met Your Mother Canada jokes. But hey, since my Twitter bestie @nearafar IS Canadian, I thought I should learn more about the Great White North.
So, here are my favorite How I Met Your Mother Canada jokes and quotes, my questions and Natalie’s answers…
Robin: “I’m proud to be Canadian. We may not have a fancy NFL team, or Prince, but we invented Trivial Pursuit — you’re welcome, Earth. Plus, in Canada, you can go to an all-nude strip club and order alcohol. That’s right. From Moose Jaw to the Bay of Fundy, you can suck down a 20-ounce Pilsner while watching some coal miner’s daughter strip down to her pelt. Jealous? In Canada, people don’t care where you’re from. As long as you’re friendly and maybe loan them a smoke or hand over a donut. I’m proud to be from the Great White North and I wish I was there right now…And we’re not afraid of the dark! I mean we don’t love it, but who does?”
Q1: Are you afraid of the dark?
Natalie: I am not afraid of the dark! It is true: I don’t love it, but I am not afraid.
Robin: “I am Canadian. Remember? We celebrate Thanksgiving in October.”
Ted: “Oh right I forgot. You guys are weird and you pronounce the word ‘out’, ‘oot’.”
Q2: What the hack is wrong with your pronunciation?
Natalie: I don’t know what you’re talking aboot. We sound just like everybody else, eh?!
(Yes, I know, I’m German and I’m not supposed to make fun about wrong English pronunciation.)
Barney: “Did you just say Canadian Thanksgiving was, and I’m quoting, the “real Thanksgiving”? What do Canadians even have to celebrate “aboot”? “
Robin: “Canadian Thanksgiving celebrates explorer Martin Frobisher’s valiant yet ultimately unsuccessful attempt to find the northwest passage. “
Q3: Who is Martin Frobisher?
Natalie: According to Wikipedia: Sir Martin Frobisher (c. 1535 or 1539 – 15 November 1594) was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage. All landed in northeastern Canada, around today’s Resolution Island and Frobisher Bay. I didn’t even know that before you told me about it. Ah, education through television!
Robin: “Here I am, in the most Canadian place in the universe – Tim Hortons, just around the corner from the Hockey Hall of Fame…”
Q4: What IS the most Canadian place in the universe?
Natalie: Ha Ha! It probably IS Tim Horton’s around the corner from the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame (or any backyard with an ice rink). Its coffee has a distinct smell — I will teach you the terminology of a double double and timbits – you will LOVE. That said we have some pretty spectacular National Parks like Algonquin Park, which inspired the artists in The Group of Seven, as well as Banff National Park. There’s also Cape Breton Island, Peggy’s Cove providing some spectacular vistas. In Toronto, it doesn’t get any more Canadian (or phallic) than The C.N. Tower.
Barney: “Butterscotch is to Canadian women what chocolate is to American women.”
Q5: Really?
Natalie: Ha Ha! Not really, but we are a multi-cultural country, so we have to represent more than one sweet.
Robin: “The 80s didn’t come to Canada till like ’93.”
Q6: Do you know Berlin Wall came down yet?
Natalie: Berlin what? I was at Checkpoint Charlie in 2006. What an incredible experience. You’ll have to take me to the museum when I come visit (and stay) with you in Berlin.
Barney: (on a Canadian $5 bill) “There’s kids playing hockey on the back. It’s like you want us to make fun of you!”
Q7: Do you play hockey?
Natalie: This is where I am the most UN-Canadian. I don’t play hockey. I’ve never even been to a live hockey game! Now, my citizenship will be revoked.
Robin: “How do you know the Canadian citizenship test is easy?”
Barney: “It’s Canada. Question one: Do you want to be Canadian? Question two: Really?”
Q8: Are you proud to be Canadian?
Natalie: The citizenship test is actually pretty hard! Here is a link. I am sure our immigrants know more about the country than actual citizens. That said, I am absolutely proud to be Canadian. As cliché as it sounds, we have an amazing landscape, diverse backgrounds and races, free health care, great cultured urban centres like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, and Rick Mercer. I couldn’t ask for anything more (except for the unemployment rate to be just a little bit lower).
Thanks Natalie! Now I know a little bit more aboot the Great White North.
