"CALLING ALL CANUCKS: NEW CHAT ROOM" was a headline in the GeoCities World Report, Vol. 4, No. 27, which I received early this morning.

First of all, we're not "Canucks," we're Canadians. It's worse than calling U.S. Citizens "Yankees." At least they gave themselves that name; to my knowledge, "Canucks" was chosen for us, not by us!

Secondly, we're not slaves! Sheesh!

Then the article says: "Looking for a new friend, eh? Hang out with Canadians and hockey lovers in the 'Canucks Corner' Chat Room. Don't forget your tuque".

That is so annoying. We don't say "eh?" - I don't know of or I haven't met anyone who does! We're not all hokey lovers.

The title for the article was "CHAT ABOUT THE GREAT WHITE NORTH"! It hasn't snowed here any more than it has in Massachucetts. And frankly, to my knowledge, they've gotten more snow in most of New England than in the average province in Canada.

Suffice it to say, I thought GeoCities was above stereotypes and foolish behaviour, including using a word I consider a racial slur of sorts.

Don't get me wrong; I like GeoCities, they give me nice webspace, but this was too much!

And as for being called "Yankee", it was first used to represent the North, or the "Union" in the Civil War. It originally meant something close to "John Cheese", a nickname for the dutch immigrants(who lived primarily in NYS). So, it really wasn't given to us.

But you are right, that is very stereotypical of Geocities.
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Slightly off topic gripe: why do americans call their civil war THE civil war, as if the US has been the only country in the world to have a civil war? When you say The Civil War you could just have easily been referring to Russia, China, or any number of other countries.

I never liked Geocities to begin with, those damn popup screens!!

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"Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you."
-Commander Riker, USS Enterprise

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"Bickering is pointless." - Spock, Miri
"I'm real easy to get along with most of the time, but I don't like bullies, and I don't like threats." - Janeway, State of Flux

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Ring this little golden bell
And see what changes with it's knell
Or Wonder, till it drives you mad...
What would have happened if you HAD.

*is also fuming to no end that someone said that one's nationality can be handicap! I don't think so!* I take it even more personally when it's my own nationality, which I am very proud of.

But seeing how I AM a Canadian, I'm allowed to make fun of myself. =]

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Lyta Vorlon: "Our great mistake. Our failing. And now your failing. The error is compounded."
Delenn: "What mistake?"
Lyta Vorlon: "The first one, the one from which all mistakes proceed: The error of Pride..."

I'm not offended by this. If someone were to say "New at Geocities: For all of those people who vainly try to protect their culture from their American overlords but can't since they haven't had a military since the eighties", then yeah, that would irk me a little. But not this.

sensitive \Sen"si*tive\, a. [F. sensitif. See Sense.]:

1. Having sense of feeling; possessing or exhibiting the capacity of receiving impressions from external objects; as, a sensitive soul.

2. Having quick and acute sensibility, either to the action of external objects, or to impressions upon the mind and feelings; highly susceptible; easily and acutely affected.

oversensitive adj :

unduly sensitive or thin-skinned.

Okay, I lied. Two words and their accompanying definitions. Which do you want to be?

When a stranger learns my name is Robert and then proceeds to call me "Bobby", I cringe. To me "Bobby" is a term of endearment only used by my wife, sisters, and mother. Strangers aren't allowed that familiarity. When I correct them, however, I don't get mad, but point out that this term carries additional meaning for me they probably don't want to convey.

The term "Canuck" is widely understood in the US as being a nickname for "Canadian". If not all Canadians take offense at this appellation, I suggest you interpret it as an attempt at friendliness on the part of the person who used the term.

One of my pet peeves about "Political Correctness" is the belief that if any word can be interpreted in such a way as to convey insult or disparaging connotations, it must be eliminated from the lexicon. That is Stupid.

The responsibility for interpreting a message rests as strongly upon the recipient as it does upon the sender, and if you choose to be insulted, the answer is not to "go off" on the sender, but to explain your position. If there was no "evil intent" upon the part of the sender, just wright it off to ignorance.

After all, just how badly were you hurt?

--Baloo

(Definitions courtesy of http://www.dictionary.com/ .

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Don't call me a Yank.
I prefer to be referred to as a "Pull with a Sudden Movement".

I'm not hurt, but at least GeoCities could be politically correct about this. On practically every other subject, they are completely politically correct.

(I suppose that could be interpretted as special treatment if I was in a funny mood, which I am.)

I like your thoughts, Baloo... *goes off pretty much follows Baloo's ideas to the letter*