Saturday, March 07, 2009

Here we go again

Crap.

Here, I walk out of a movie that I couldn't stand, and pull up to the computer to have a little fun while I wait for it to be over, and I discover that once again I've managed to offend someone.

I made a comment on someone else's blog that had nothing to do with Canada. Only that a couple of folks from Canada had gotten hurt in a motorcycle accident. I didn't imply that being from there had anything to do with them having an accident. They could have been from Toledo. They could have been from Cheesequake, New Jersey. (Its a real place, one of my favorite towns EVAR.) They could have been from Pocatello, which is either in Iowa or Idaho. I think Idaho.
As it happens they were from Canada. I'm sorry.

I once took a Canadian Politics class in college that I absolutely didn't need because:

1. I had a small crush on the professor (an occasional adjunct at Queens University)
2. I knew absolutely nothing about your system of government and very little of your history outside of the bit of Irish history that overlaps it and that at one time you had a PM named Trudeau and a couple of Brians. I got a free subscription to McLean's and a B+.

I was busted for shoplifting in Montreal once. They were lenient. I was four years old. I was sent as a youth delegate to a missions conference in Niagara Falls when I was 17 and I conducted myself with utmost decorum despite the fact that our chaperone dropped us off at the hotel and went back to Buffalo to hang out with his daughter. We had a very good pizza, went on the Maid of the Mist, and sang a lot of songs about Jesus.

So gentle Canadians, polite Canadians, warmly dressed Canadians, please accept my apologies.

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon we will mend.

6 comments:

Casey said...

Don't feel bad, I'm pretty sure I offend people daily.

Maureen said...

Well then I must apologise, obviously, also. I am sorry I took your comment out of context... it is hard to convey your true meaning within the confines of a comment box at times, I now realise.

Thank you so much for your explanation; it was a sad situation, one I am sure you see far too often.

Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings said...

People need to pull the stick out of their butts. Canadians suck. There..now everyone will be made at me instead.

*Note: I love Canadians really. I took a Canadian lit class in college and enjoyed it immensely, so Canadians are cool to me. But seriously, if you must be pissed at someone, go ahead and launch it at me. IN my job I am sooo used to it!

Shieldmaiden96 said...

Casey- But I bet you don't obsess over it like I do. My husband tells me I need to lighten up.

Maureen-- No problemo! On a re-read I realized that what I had said could be misconstrued. I was trying to say that it was the ordinary people and not the risk takers that seemed to have wrecks but I didn't explain it very well.


JM-- And I'll bet you didn't take that Canadian Lit class because you wanted to be able to stare at the prof for 90 minutes a week, like I did.

Jeff and Charli Lee said...

I hate Canadians too. They send all their crappy bazillion-degree-below weather down to my house and then laugh at us when we attempt to dress properly.

Oh wait... that was just Maureen. Sorry, I don't hate ALL Canadians. ;-)

HeatherPride said...

Hey, I've had my foot in my mouth so much I've developed a taste for it. Mmmmm, tasty...