Would you say Canadians are culturally quite different from US Americans or basically the same?

47 comments

  1. Day to day, in most ways we’re almost identical.

    Its hard to explain to somebody who hasn’t been to both but the similarities are overwhelming. A lot of what you think of as “American” stuff is actually “North American” stuff.

  2. While there are certainly differences between Americas and Canadians we are far more similar than different with the exception of Quebecois.

  3. I would say that in many ways, Canadians and US Americans are quite similar. We share similar values, speak the same language, and appreciate the same entertainment. At the same time, the cultures vary in subtle ways. Canadians tend to be more reserved and polite, while US Americans often have a more assertive and outspoken approach to life. Canadians also like to take pride in their unique cultural history, which is very different from the US experience. However, we are also united by our shared values and commitment to democracy.

  4. I’m told the difference is roughly analogous to Federal Republicans and Austrians, but the difference is less pronounced if you ignore the Quebecois.

    EDIT – Personally, I’ve been to parts of Alberta and BC that were physically and culturally indistinguishable from large parts of the American west. Can’t speak to the east though.

  5. Why clarify “US Americans”? There’s no other country with “America” in the title and no one else in North America wants to be referred to as “American”

  6. If probably depends where in the US we’re talking about. Canadians and Minnesotas, probably negligible. Canadians and Californians, Texans or Floridians, I’d imagine the difference would be more noticeable.

    Edit: essentially the further south you go, the more apparent the differences would be.

  7. As the son of two Canadians I can confidently say: Anglo Canada is basically the same country as the US. Quebec less so.

  8. Canadian here.

    The best way to think of it is like the subtle differences between Bavaria and Austria. There’s some differences there, but they’re mostly subtle.

    The biggest difference is that Canadians use some slang terms that Americans don’t, and hockey is WAY bigger here than the US.

  9. Canada is diet America, and in the this case the sugar is freedom of speech.

  11. It depends on which Canadians and which Americans. Northern blue states are going to be pretty similar to Canada. Southern red states are going to be absolutely foreign.

  12. There’s differences but it is almost like the differences between individual states. Mostly the same, but some differences.

    Also, as much as Americans generally think of Canada as a monolith, they have significant internal differences as well in addition to the same urban/rural divide we have in the US.

  13. More the same than different, but “basically the same” is probably overly reductive.

  14. The differences between Americans and Canadians are like the differences between two American regions or between two Canadian regions. We all share one cultural foundation but everyone has some amount of local character. For example, Chicago and Toronto are probably more similar than Chicago and Boston. Seattle and Vancouver are probably more similar than Vancouver and Winnipeg.

  15. Superficially yes, very similar, kind of like Australians and Kiwis.

    The architecture is the same, we drive the same cars, we have similar cuisines, we are both immigrant nations, our stores are pretty similar, and we have tons of Canadians here in the US and vice versa.

    That being said our histories are different and our nations were created in different manners, so I’d argue that while we are very similar overall, Canadians and Americans have very different worldviews and our roles in the world as a result of our histories and backgrounds

  16. It can be very different depending on region. I definitely wouldn’t say they’re “basically the same” without knowing which exact places you’re comparing. Ontario is basically the same as like Minnesota and states near there, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are basically the same as Maine, Vancouver is like Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, etc. But comparing like Alberta to New England or Florida/Texas/California to Quebec or Onatrio, it’s extremely different. Southern and southwest US culture in particular are unlike anything you’d experience in Canada.

    I’m an American living in Canada at the moment.

  17. English speaking Canada is basically the exact same as the parts of the US it borders. Obviously it’s not as controversial, but it’s every bit as artificial of a line as all the ones the euros drew in Africa and the Middle East.

  18. Very similar. The differences are mostly superficial.

    Quebec is probably the most different, but other than speaking French primarily, they’re not actually that much different either. Their French influence has been heavily diluted.

  20. New Zealand is a calmer, more relaxed, more polite neighbor of Australia. It isn’t like a version of Australia, though – as it’s a totally separate country. It’s less capitalistic, but also less bureaucratic, than Australia.

    Well, think of Canada as being kind of like New Zealand, and the US as being kind of like Australia. Granted, this is a rather loose analogy.

    Here’s why that’s a loose analogy: New Zealand, Australia and Canada are still very socioculturally similar, as they’re still commonwealth countries and subscribe to the British “social contract.” Canada and the US still have much in common culturally, too, as they share the world’s longest, (mostly) unguarded border. However, Canadians are still more common-good-minded and more polite than their American counterparts.

    **Tl; dr: Canadian society as a whole has more in common with Australia and New Zealand (and the UK) – including how people interact. However, as regional comparisons go, at least superficially, Vancouver and Seattle have much in common, as do Calgary and Denver, Winnipeg and Minneapolis, Toronto and Chicago, and Halifax and Portland (ME).**

    Hope this helps.

  21. I feel that Canadians are polite, but not necessarily kind and Americans are kind but not necessarily polite.

  22. It’s a spectrum. I would say we are more similar to them than most countries, but not the same.

  23. American here. I grew up in the Midwest and now live in PA. I had more culture shock visiting Texas than I did in Canada. I honestly forgot I was in another country until I saw a car dealership flying the Canadian flag. The biggest difference I noticed is that Canada has fully embraced (at least officially) the idea of having two official languages. French gets equal treatment to English. At least where I was in Ontario. Sadly Spanish doesn’t get the same recognition down here.

  25. Culturally we’re pretty similar. The biggest difference is that Canadians have an inferiority complex and a lot of Canadian culture emphasizes being different from and better than the US

  26. We are alike enough that I would feel at home in Canada but different enough that I would not be mistaken for a Canadian

  27. Canada likes to think it’s more different than it actually is. It’s closest to the Northern US in culture.

  28. I don’t notice a difference when I see them roaming about. I know they are there due to the license plates

  29. Yeah, they don’t have the stain of the sim of slavery and systemic violence and oppression which has made life for a lot of Americans look different. I think there’s more racism and victims of racism which affects our day to day culture esp in the deep south

  32. Different but subtle. French part is completely different but the English still has little differences. Some Canadians blend right in but some really stick out with an accent or phrasing.

  33. The Canadians I have met were not very different culturally from Americans- No more than someone from California is different from someone from Ohio. Some differences but not very big.

  34. Canadians are the most similar people to ~~US~~ Americans on the planet, don’t let them tell you otherwise. They just took a lot longer to leave the nest.

  36. While Many Canadians would vehemently disagree, they’re basically the same country.

  37. I’m a Canadian and now a naturalized American, so I feel uniquely qualified to answer this.

    I would say yes, Canada is pretty culturally different from the US, and it’s not just a geographic phenomenon. It’s heavily one of attitude. Canadians aren’t going to like this, but Canadian identity is heavily based on a contrarian anti-Americanism. It’s constantly looking to the US and saying “well we aren’t that”, without ever actually defining what they are. There are some exceptions to this of course, like with the French speaking population or Indigenous people like myself. But in general, Canadian identity isn’t based on anything concrete.

    You can see this a lot politically. Canadians will vote for literally anything as long as it can be spun as somehow being “better” and “more progressive” than America. At the same time, pretty much any Canadian regardless of their origins will have a simultaneously superiority and inferiority complex about America.

    Frankly at this point I find it both bizarre and pathetic.

  40. Canada is just off-brand Minnesota. Ohhh hey, did you see our forks and spoons – we call it cutlery here, ey.

  41. This should be posted on r/AskACanadian where I think answers would be quite different.

  43. Married a Canadian. Mostly the same, but Canadians seem way more practical.

    And they aren’t all nice, but most are generally nicer than Americans.

  44. Canadians are similar to the Americans from adjacent areas. British Columbia is culturally similar to Washington and Oregon; the Maritimes are similar to coastal New England; Ontario is similar to the Great Lakes states; Alberta is similar to the American Rockies and western Great Plains.

    Nowhere in Canada is especially similar to the South or Southwest, and nowhere in the US is especially similar to Quebec.

  45. I’m from Los Angeles and spent a little while in Vancouver. The vibe was very much like home, except litering was less of a problem. That is west coast Canada vs. West Coast US, specifically Southern California. Your mileage WILL vary.

  47. I would say that neither Canada and the US are regionally homogenous countries in the slightest, so comparing Americans as a whole to Canadians as a whole is a somewhat stupid thing, unless we wish to speak very broadly of things that are loosely at the center of both countries. And, if we were to do that, I think you’d find that there is a ton more in common than not.

    I would, however, argue that Canadian and US border regions are extremely similar to one another. I think midwest states like Wisconsin (where I’m from) have more in common with Ontario than we do with far-away states from vastly different regions such as California, Texas, etc. You can see similar things with urban parts of Washington and British-Columbia.

    Generally speaking, I think anglo North-Americans are a single, broad cultural group, to which different regions is where you’d see stark differences. There are of course some differences you can say as a whole by country, for example Hockey vs (American) football being popular sports, and us both having our own national identities; but I would say that we’re for sure some of the most similar two countries on the planet, right up there with Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Turkiye/Azerbaijan, Czechia/Slovakia, etc.

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