vendredi 2 juillet 2010

Ave, amici

To all my U.S. friends and visitors I wish a Happy 4th of July.

10 commentaires:

  1. Did any of your US friends and visitors wish you a Happy 1st of July? (Canada Day, which all Americans of course know about!!!)

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  2. No Phil, none did. Nothing to be astounded about. Most USAers don't know Canada exists and those who have a vague knowledge of it can't show it on a map or believe it's part of the U.S.
    On the other hand most USAers don't know where Washington is.
    I fail to see though why the ignorance of the ones would justify the incivility of the others.

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  3. I confess to having noticed Canada Day on my appointment calendar, which is printed for use in both countries, and I remember encountering the term "Dominion Day" at a point in the past, but it still slipped by me.

    In my defense, though, I have a general horror of holidays and can't wait for the "Fourth of July Weekend" to be over.

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  4. You are right, Sledpress, until 1982 our National Holiday was known as Dominion Day. A relic of our past as a then British Dominion, a name given to former colonies that had acquired a near autonomous statute after 1931, the year I was born so I never lived in a colony.
    In 1982, Canada got it's own Constitution voted by our parliament and approved by the British parliament up to then the gardian of what was our constitutional document. It was called the patriation of the constitution. That sealed Canada's absolute autonomy from Britain.
    The new constitution was signed in Ottawa on July 1st 1982 by our then Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada. Since then, July 1st is known as Canada Day.

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  5. I remember Pierre Trudeau's tenure well. People in the States generally felt he cut quite a dash (though I don't know how much that had to do with actual issues, versus personal style).

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  6. I actually had a few American friends wish me a happy Canada Day. Belatedly.

    That was, of course, after they had read my blog note about Canada Day.

    It was a case of using a "teachable moment," I guess.

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  7. @Rob-Bear (Robert?): we Canadians do not show enough pride in our country, but when we do others take note.
    @Sledpress: Trudeau was feisty as an Irishman (his mother) and crusty as a French-Canadian (his father). He made the U.S. powers mad by getting closer to Russia and China during the Cold War. He was always his impish self escaping his body guards to go for a spin in his light blue convertible MG.
    He had family money and did'nt give a hoot to what others tought of him. Quite a guy.

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  8. ".....Most USAers don't know Canada exists and those who have a vague knowledge of it can't show it on a map or believe it's part of the U.S....."

    I still remember after 40 years a conversation I had with someone in a bar in Lexington Kentucky. On my telling him that I was visiting from Toronto (where I lived at the time) he looked puzzled, then asked: "What part of the United States is that?"

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  9. Well, Phil, some recent surveys show that it has not changed much on that score.

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