As stereotypes go , one could definitely do worse than being call back of as excessively nice and civil . Those are labels often applied to residents ofCanada , the North American nation that has bring the human race everything frompoutinetoRyan Gosling . Visit Canada and you might expect people to be unfailingly reverential . But is this cliché in reality true ?
Why are Canadians nice?
It may help to first understand where this notion originated . Nelson Wiseman , manager of Canadian study at the University of Toronto , talk withMacLean’sin 2017 about the country ’s repute for near - subservient temperament . Wiseman pointed to Canada ’s premature subordinate role under other regime , particularly the British , whose mannered traits may have become endemic in the population over time . Good manners , of course , entail a certain politeness .
Once entrenched , the trait seems to have become pervasive . Some have noted Canadians tend to purge their horns less , and even dedicate few murders . ( In 2020 , the homicideratewas 1.95 per 100,000 people , compared to 6.5 in the U.S. ) A 2015BBCtravel piece by Eric Weiner described Canadian cordial reception down to the demeanor of its mete guard .
“ We know Canadian nice as before long as we attain custom , ” he wrote . “ The U.S. border guards are gruff and all business enterprise . The Canadians , by contrast , are unfailingly polite , even as they grill us about the telephone number of wine bottles we ’re bringing into the land . One class , we had failed to notice that our 9 - year - sure-enough girl ’s passport had expired . They , nicely , have us enter anyway . The politeness continues for our integral trip , as we encounter nice waiter , nice hotel clerks , nice strangers . ”
Are Canadians polite?
It may be true that Canadians at leastappearto be more optimistic and well - mannered . A 2018studypublished in the journalPLOS Oneexaminedwordsmost commonly used by both Canadians and Americans on Twitter over a one - year catamenia in 2015 . Canadian Tweets were over - correspond by lyric likebeautiful , glad , andthanks , while Americans tended to lean onhate , surly , and slurs , none of which are terribly nice .
But the discipline had limitations . For one thing , it may be that Canadians simply choose to circularize more incontrovertible messaging , or that they self - selected to express those persuasion publicly . It does n’t suggest a characteristic indicative mood of the entire universe .
So is this ultra - niceness accurate ? In reality , it ’s probably more a portrait of sensing than anything . Canadian River enjoy “ nice ” amenities that appear altruistic , like innocent health guardianship ; celebrities hailing from Canada seem nice , but most renown are cognizant of their report and are n’t probable to appear overly rude . That ’s hardly determine to Canada .
It ’s also possible Canadians are perceived as more modulated thanks to constant comparison to Americans . According to Wiseman , Canada is seen as a collective — again , conceive wellness policy — while Americans are think to be more about item-by-item fulfillment .
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Ultimately , broad categorization ( i.e. stereotype ) is a poor measure of acultureregardless of whether it ’s positive or negative . Canadians likely are n’t any skillful than anyone else , but they might be too genteel to argue about it .
