Well, this caused me to learn something today. One of my favorite musicals is Avenue Q, which has an entire song about a girlfriend who supposedly lives in Canada. And I keep seeing this reference - but I keep thinking there is NO WAY that THIS many people know about Avenue Q (which is a pity).
And sure enough, TIL that this trope dates back to at least the 70s and is references in multiple TV shows and movies and such.
So Avenue Q was using an existing thing. Ah, well.
At least I know not to make Avenue Q references since there's little chance they'll be gotten. lol