How to Overlook 32 Million People

[nfotxn]

Being Canadian sucks on the internet.

We frequently aren't elligable for contests, we get our websites localized for Americans a good 75% of the time. You know, because we're basically the same except for that whole being a sovereign nation thing.

PalmOne is particularly awesome with their Canadian localization. Seriously, go here and click on Canada. It seems to set a cookie saying I'm a Canadian who reads english and then promptly directs me to www.palmone.com/us. There I am quoted in American dollars and presented with deals from T-Mobile who don't even operate in this country.

Worst of all this is all too typical

Comments

[thekingoftoday.livejournal.com]

The pucker in your lips makes me want to rape your mouth with my tongue....Can you understand that or should I write it in Canadian?

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Many of our traditional Canadian words are the same as in American.

[gusmacroy.livejournal.com]

I've heard that as a result of this, it is so difficult to get shirts in Canada that Gay wander around shirtless, blundering in front of unsuspecting digital cameras all the time!

[grrtigger.livejournal.com]

Just don't blame all of us. There are Americans who realize that there is more to the world than just America. We're just not vicious and ruthless enough to be electable ;p

( if it helps at all, sometimes i find my people downright embarassing. honestly. )

[poodler.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't get too upset. It's only a matter of time before we invade your country under trumped up charges of Culture of Mass Delight and you get assimilated and "supersized" the US way.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Will there be a circus?! And bread?!

[guinnesscub.livejournal.com]

Well, if you ask me, there should be MORE of this intentional overlooking going on!
I mean sites like this one
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/1708/Canada_eh.html
and (gasp) this one...
http://www.indefual.net/canada/jokes/grttobe-cnd.html
strick fear into my very heart of hearts (I hate when people say that)...
These damn sites... proclaiming the greatness of this extension of America!...jeez...what is the world coming to?!
oh....
*someone whispers PC rhetoric into Miguel's ear*
I mean....yeah the Internet overlooks Canadians...blah blah blah
lol
Just kidding....it's a sin..but I'm not surprised by it. I'd move to Canada in a second in all honesty. I can't stop naming the great things Canada has in general over America...that is, if it weren't for the damn cold in the Winter I'd be there in a second.

(HUGS) from a Philadelphia Boy (America's Pride Centre..go figure)
-Miguel

[http://users.livejournal.com/speedy_/]

This happens often, and you are right, it sucks. They take us as if we are part of a whole. Some people don't seem to understand that America is not a country, but a continent. And even think that North America is just United States and Canada. Talk about lack of culture.

[sunflower1969.livejournal.com]

(pats Canada patronizingly on the head)



kidding! :)

Actually I wish I could live/work there... Toronto and Vancouver are great great cities.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, VC is apparently the best city in the world to live in. I can believe it actually. Note: VC and Toronto hate eachother because they're respectively the same place.

[poohbearjim.livejournal.com]

It's not the best city in the world to visit. Our car was broken into on Dec 21 when we were on our way up to Whistler for Xmas. All our Xmas gifts were stolen. Vancouver doesn't leave swell memories for us.

[sultmhoor.livejournal.com]

Mmm, it's just mislinked ya twat.

http://canadastore.palmone.com/home/index.jsp

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

No, that's the store. Not the company site which remains localized to the USA.

[sultmhoor.livejournal.com]

What's the difference between Palm machines sold in the US and Canada? I appear to be able to get information about the machines they sell in Canada through the Canadian store. As well as software and whatnot. I don't think you can claim that there isn't a localized part for Canadians -- for your specifications of currency and phone plans. The Canadian Palm store website doesn't make any cellular plan offers.

What localized content besides the currency and availability of service should there be?

I don't see a huge difference in content on the palmone site between the US, Canadian, Taiwan - english, Belgium - english, UK parts... it's organized slightly differently, but the content's the same other than the currency.

[mathan.livejournal.com]

Colour and 'Z' pronounced 'zed'. :P

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Excellent points. I guess more than anything it's a cultural thing. There's a sort of implied arrogance when everything you own and interact with tends to default to the USA. It slowly grates on you until then you're presented with something like the Palm site that is pretty much entirely inapplicable information on the front page.

Sure I can make things work for me but it's a seperate and not equal system. A tiny bit of respect goes a long way.

[schillerium.livejournal.com]

More than once I've tried to order stuff from websites which said they did serve Canadian orders, but then wouldn't allow me to enter a Canadian province or a Canadian postal code in my delivery address.

Like, um, duh...

?lc=en-ca +?lc=fr-ca

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem is of course that doing a proper Canadian Web site involves two languages and is therefore relatively expensive for a fairly small market. However, it's work I as well as my employer gladly do. I'm all about the firka.

Re: ?lc=en-ca +?lc=fr-ca

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I mean when a nation of 32 million is too small what kind of numbers are you expecting? I know everyone wants to do 21st century global ultra-capitalism with absolutely no overhead but that strikes me as rather unrealistic. Plus if the Canadian government really wanted to come down on this issue they could probably force them to support both official languages of the nation.

I don't buy the arguement that anything more than functional localization is a cost issue. Packaging and documentation for Palm's products are properly localized for both languages and with no doubt at a cost. It's just arrogant.

Re: ?lc=en-ca +?lc=fr-ca

[cpratt.livejournal.com]

The main problem is really just that you need to both a French and an English version of your site if you do a Canadian one at all. AFAIK most countries don't have a problem with an English only site that's "localized" in the sense that it allows you to place orders.

[mathan.livejournal.com]

How about we start an organization for the promotion of Canadianism on the Internet? :)

[fenwalker.livejournal.com]

Sigh. This is unfair treatment of our Candian neighbors. As an American, I volunteer to come up as an offical emissary and console you over the pain you've suffered.

And steal your wood.

And by wood I mean the trees. Not that we Americans just think of Canada as a big lumber yard that we'll just annex someday. Totally unfounded rumor. Really.

[kmon.livejournal.com]

Now you know it's just because Washington, D.C. wants to keep the fact that Canada is in deed a separate country, and not the northernmost state, under wraps. Otherwise the US would be in serious danger of its best and brightest relocating there.

Parallel

[fao.livejournal.com]

The whole thing looks like the old mexican quote
"Tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de Estados Unidos"

(something like: "So far to god and so near to the US")

But to live in the ass of the world have some disadvantages too.

[beardoc.livejournal.com]

At least you can get stuff shipped from the US to Canada, and your warranties are still valid there. They're not here in Australia.

[kubster.livejournal.com]

Are there any other PCS companies owned by T-Mobile/Deutsch Telekom in Canada?

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

Nope. Does it matter?

[kubster.livejournal.com]

I guess I was kinda curious. I know T-Mobile phones work in most major cities in Canada though, according to my I.C.M. at work, though I doubt anybody in Canada would want one, unless they right on the border in a bleed zone.

[jbear70.livejournal.com]

Something that always races through my head as I'm waiting to go through Canadian customs in Windsor is what to say when the agent asks me my nationality. I could say "American" which most people in the U.S. would assume means them, but in reality Canadians are "Americans" too. I always say "United States" out of respect I guess.

[nfotxn.livejournal.com]

I believe moreso Canadians think of themselves as living in North America and their nationality as Canadian. But the symbolism of the gesture is very much appreciated. I'd never imply that Americans should feel shame because of their nationality, that's just not right. Although it's kinda practically hard these days with a certain president. Ok, I'm digressing but you do see my points, right?

[jbear70.livejournal.com]

I see them. Thanks Brodie.

[(Anonymous)]

My favorite is how mapquest.CA defaults to american maps, and miles rather than km now
and if you go to mapquest.CA, you have to select canada from list of countries containing every country in the world - a pain in the ass if you're planning on looking up more than one map
they don't even have a cookie that saves the fact that you keep looking up canadian maps or anything