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Americanisms in Canadian comedy (lemmy.ca)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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It's something I started noticing recently in some standup and improv shows in Toronto, not sure if it's a new trend, or it just more noticeable now. Here are some examples I remember:

  • Jokingly asking audience for their social security number. This happened in two different shows
  • "I've been on dating apps for a presidential term"
  • I heard zip code being mentioned in one act
  • A performer shouting "fuck ICE". This was not even part of any joke, just a political statement. While I sympathize, of all the scourges of the US this one is really domestic in nature and I don't get the point bringing it up in front of a Canadian audience (unless it's part of your set)
  • And not to mention using their units of measurement, which is unfortunately commonplace (thanks a lot Brian Mulroney)

Other than the "fuck ICE" performer who said about themselves that they are Turkish (which I took to mean Turkish-Canadian, but maybe I'm wrong), the others were Canadian-born. In all cases these were young people who I don't believe do comedy professionally.

I have nothing against American comedy, but this low key pretense that Canada is part of the US irks me.

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[–] 9 points 7 months ago (8 children)

Which imperial unit did they use? Feet still have a following, but the rest seems fully dead in the younger population.

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  • [–] 9 points 7 months ago (7 children)

    Cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, in cooking.

    Feet and inches should still be common in construction. At least it's how wood is sold.

    We still use letter / legal paper printer measured in inches.

    My bathroom scale is in pounds.

    I'm sure there are some others, but we're not fully metric on everything.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (5 children)

    Fahrenheit in cooking, probably because we buy American appliances. Inches happen where feet do, and pounds are a good point.

    There is actually a metric cup, though! And probably spoons too, or I've been doing it wrong.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (4 children)

    There is no metric cup, it is 250 ml that is the definition of 1 cup. A Tablespoon is something like 25 ml, while a teaspoon is something like 5 ml I could be off on those it has been a while since I have used Tablespoons and teaspoons in cooking. Prior to my oven stopping working I switched it to Celsius I am made that I cannot do the same with the air frier I have but I rarely use it. I have made an effort to not measure things in the silly nonsense imperial measurements of inches, feet, or miles and I only do weights in metric. I do my cooking and baking by weight as I feel it is easier to get the right measurements.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    A standard teaspoon works out so close to 5mL that basically just call it 5mL. A tablespoon is 3 teaspoons so 15mL. A lot of liquid medications are sold concentrated to doses of 5 or 15mL such that a teaspoon or tablespoon measure, which you can expect a typical American household to have, will do. Cough syrups for example tend to have a 1 tablespoon/15mL dosage.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    There is an imperial cup, and it's 284 point something milliliters.

    I have made an effort to not measure things in the silly nonsense imperial measurements of inches, feet, or miles

    I mean, they're all arbitrary, although having consistent, round ratios definitely makes metric better.

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