Living next door to the United States hasn’t stopped Canadians from doing plenty of everyday things very differently.
A different kind of sick day
In U.S. parlance, “PTO” may refer to vacation, sick, AND personal time as one big bank of days. (Employers there vary widely on this policy.)
In Canada, employers do sometimes offer combined PTO, but since our employment standards are usually outlined in terms of specific categories (vacation, separate protected leaves, etc.) American terms/assumptions don’t necessarily apply.
Keeping the date short
American month-day-year date notation never fully caught on in Canada. Canadian institutions use year-month-day or day-month-year depending on context. Meanwhile, government standards prefer formats without ambiguity. So Canadians interacting with Americans must consequently face the puzzle: does 04/07 refer to April 7 or July 4?
Taking the ad break differently
American television can be aggressively shameless when it comes to pharmaceutical ads: commercials that urge viewers to “ask your doctor” about a name-brand prescription medication. Canadians receive some broadcast spillover from south of the border, but Canadian prescription-drug advertising laws are stricter. Getting to pick a drug based on watching a feel-good commercial has never been quite so normalized here.
Not everything needs a flag
American flags are everywhere, from front porches to car dealerships, restaurants, clothes, offices, and stretching across suburban lawns. Canadians wave the maple leaf proudly too, particularly around Canada Day and big sporting events.
But when it comes to routinely flying a flag, Canadians don’t take it nearly as far. Just because a building houses a Canadian business doesn’t mean it needs to fly a fifty-foot flag to prove it loves its country.
A different kind of transfer
Americans might say “Let’s split dinner” or “Pay me back” with Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle in mind. Canadians often just reflexively reply: “I’ll e-transfer you.”
Canadians are so conditioned to Interac e-Transfer being part of our bank accounts that we haven’t had the necessity of one American-style social payment app for quick transfers between friends.
Politics as entertainment
American elections can become year-long affairs complete with rallies, merchandise, celebrity endorsements, massive ad spends and wall-to-wall television coverage.
Politics gets intense here in Canada too, but campaigns are shorter, and our politics aren’t worn as proudly on our sleeves. Americans love to brand themselves as belonging to a certain party, whether on hats, t-shirts, cars, or lawns. Canadians aren’t quite as extreme.
The gun question
Canada has guns and plenty of gun owners, especially in rural communities, but the American-style gun culture popular in the United States has never truly gone mainstream in Canada. It is not normal for Canadians to carry a gun as part of their daily self-defense regimen, and firearms tend to be viewed as far more heavily regulated.
Leaving the shoes behind
This isn’t mandated by law or official etiquette, but taking off your shoes before entering someone’s home is very much the norm throughout a large portion of Canada. Snow, slush, road salt, mud, and rain all give you some very functional reasons to do so. As such, taking your shoes off on someone’s carpet that you wore outside can cause considerably more panic in a Canadian household than some Americans anticipate.
Healthcare at work
American workers may spend hours evaluating differences between employer-sponsored health plans, deductibles, provider networks, and enrollment options since where you work may determine what your primary medical insurance is.
Extended benefits provided by Canadian employers are extremely helpful, but most Canadians’ plans top up provincial coverage instead of acting as primary insurance. So Canadians don’t have to decide between two jobs solely because one company’s health care plan allows you to see a regular doctor or visit a hospital.
Don’t touch the price tag
Americans bargain in far more situations than we do, especially when it comes to cars, furniture, services, and privately sold merchandise. Hard negotiation can seem out of place or rude in regular day-to-day Canadian retail situations where it is not explicitly understood that bargaining is acceptable. Pushing every purchase to feel like a bargain can seem tiresome instead of frugal.
A different kind of football
The NFL does have fans here, but Canada never gave up on its game. Canadian football uses a bigger field, has 12 players on the field instead of 11, three downs instead of four, etc. And the CFL has been proudly Canadian. You can still draw a crowd for the Grey Cup without turning Canada into a branch office of the NFL.
One size too big
American restaurant servings are often thought of as colossal. Canadian servings have gotten larger as well. However, the ideology that bigger is necessarily better hasn’t completely caught on north of the border. You can see it everywhere from drink sizes to restaurant servings, especially when you step from a large U. S. chain into a more traditionally Canadian restaurant.
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