Is 'Canadian' a racist slur?

[randomness]

From http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_burman/2008/01/is_canadian_a_racist_slur.html:

What does the word "Canadian" conjure up in your mind?

Polite? Peacekeeping? Harmless? Heroic? A weak-kneed, pot-smoking, sexually-permissive anti-American? Or, perhaps, cheap?

This is a question being debated this week with both intensity and some humour in a variety of internet blogs in the United States.

The trigger point occurred over the weekend on the popular American website The Huffington Post, quoting a brief Canadian newspaper story that revealed that the term "Canadian" is being used in parts of the U.S. as a euphemism — as code — for a racist characterization of black people.

The comments wander off into how much one should tip in a restaurant, but I guess that was inevitable given the last two sentences:

The most startling revelation for me is that many Americans apparently tip 20% when they go into a restaurant.

That’s quite odd.

Perhaps one is supposed to tip less in Canada.

Comments

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

The idiocy of Americans never ceases to amaze. I am amused by the fact that a comment was made by someone named "Takuan" though.

Tipping 20% started showing up about 8 years ago. One day I was in a restaurant and suddenly the rules had changed. Pro-tipping that I am (hmm, that makes me sound like a NH hick), 20% is absurd and I only do it if the service is flawless.

Guess I'm a durn Canadian.

[quezz.livejournal.com]

I'm also a 15-percenter, and I don't intend on changing that. Guess it means I'm ready to move to Vancouver -- YAY!

[redbird]

When I discussed tipping in Canada last month, I was told that yes, you should tip--but 10-15% is reasonable because Canadian waiters get, at minimum, the same minimum wage that other Canadians do, not the less-than-half that is minimum for American waiters, who are expected to make it up from tips. (Yes, tips are part of a waiter's income there as well--and Revenue Canada taxes them on tips, assuming 10% unless proven less or declared as more.)

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

That would explain at least part of the difference, I'd think!

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

To agree with redbird, tipping is lower in Canada. I lived there for a year, and what I found is that Canadians seem to work with a "tip=tax" mnemonic, which is about 10%. Here, most people seem to work with a "tip=double tax" mnemonic, which (here) is about 15%. I've noticed restaurants starting to expect 18%, for example putting that on large parties or putting a "recommendation" on the tab, but 20%? We definitely haven't gotten there yet down here.

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

My parents, who are perhaps a tad less than ideally open-minded, have been using "Canadian" for a while -- ever since they started worrying too many people might recognize "schwartzer," I think. :(

They're pretty good tippers, though... :)

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed they went that long thinking people might recognize "schwartzer," cuz dude, that's pretty transparent on the eastern seaboard with so much Yiddish floating around. (Or maybe I just read "The Color of Water" where the Polish rabbi immigrant father uses it a lot....)

Gives that Avenue Q song a whole new meaning

[marmota.livejournal.com]

Canadian? Whuh? That makes about as much sense to me as getting a
'code word' going to call racists 'Martians'. Which, thinking about it
now, could actually be kind of fun.

I broke my parents of that kind of nonsense ages ago, back when I was
a teen; among similar thoughtless slurs, they referred to going out
for chinese food as "ordering some Chink's"... this gave me the
opportunity to bug the hell out of them every time they went out to a
deli by referring to it as "oh, so we're going out for Kike's,
then?". Your mileage may vary considerably on application of this
technique.

Re: Gives that Avenue Q song a whole new meaning

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

Last night on the phone my mom was talking about one of her students, whose mother had come in for parent conferences, and how this lady was talking about her adopted son and how he developed some of the same personality disorders as his biological mom. Except mom kept saying "real mother" and I would say "biological mother, mom" and mom would then mention the "other mother" and I would say "adoptive mother, mom." The irony? Recklessness, the tendency to sniff any and all food carefully before eating, and general lack of responsibility for anything or anyone else, were the traits this adoptive mother was seeing popping up in her son, who had been abandoned (along with his 3 other siblings) by his biological mom when only a few months old.

I mean, I didn't bear my mother any ill-will, but I really needed to point out the ironic and the funny about her choice of terms. Also, she needs to have learned appropriate nomenclature before I become an "other mother" someday.

Somewhat OT

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

My absolute favorite piece of writing of all time (dramatic, I know) is a short story by Ursula Leguin called "The Fisherman of the Inland Sea." (Read it, you'll see why. It's beautiful, thought-provoking, and heartwarming.) It's set in an alien culture where the standard marriage involves 4 people-two men and two women. There are four supposedly sexual relationships in the marriage--the two homosexual and two of the heterosexual, and the other two heterosexual relationships are supposed to be sibling-like. (This is a very rough description--read the story!) Anyway, your comment made me think of that, because in this set-up the non-biological mother of any given child is called their "other mother." And in that setting it's a lovely, warm term for the relationship. I have often thought that if this type of setup could become established in the here-and-now it would make our family values problems vanish.

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

What redbird said would explain part of the difference in tipping, but I wonder if the economy at large plays into it. I understand we've had a growing wealth gap here in the States, along with some sort of weird combination of inflation and deflation, where gas and food cost more but wages haven't gone up. That would suggest to me that there are rewards/upwards wage pressure for those who serve the leisure class that could manifest itself in increased wages/tips/etc.

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

I watched 5 episodes of Due South yesterday, so this post was extra funny to me today. There was in particular one episode where Benny got found out as Canadian when he thought he was about to be found out as a man in drag, that seems particularly resonant here....

[antoniusrex.livejournal.com]

Wait, *what*? That's the most ridiculous thing EVER.

Canadian is a euphemism for "a girlfriend that doesn't exist." It always has been :-)

And yeah, we tip 20%. Really do.