America and American

[Alice Faber]

On Tuesday, February 19, 2002, at 10:30  AM, Lynne Murphy wrote:

> --On Tuesday, February 19, 2002 6:19 am -0800 James Smith
> <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
>> Just my limited experience, but I knew several
>> Canadians in the 60's who, when they heard USians
>> refer to themselves as Americans, made it clear that
>> Canadians were Americans also.
>
> And the rest of the time, Canadians say forcefully "I'm not an American,
> I'm a Canadian!"

This might be something that's changed. I haven't read through to the end
of this thread yet (bad Alice!), but it seems that all the stories of
Canadians insisting that they too are Americans date back to the 60s and
70s; certainly when I studied in Israel in the early 70s, Canadian
classmates would get upset if I characterized myself as American as
opposed to Canadian. I wonder if the Molson's "I AM Canadian" commercials
could have been made in the 70s.
--
Alice Faber
Haskins Laboratories                                    Tel: (203) 865-6163
270 Crown St                                            FAX: (203) 865-8163
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                              faber at haskins.yale.edu