I’ve been thinking a bit about the speaking differences between people raised in the United States vs. Canada. Besides the obvious accent or placement on various parts of words, the way they speak is glaringly different.
For example, Americans are a bit more direct in their talk. It seems to me that Canadians are more passive in their language. An American might say, I want to go to see the redwood forest on vacation. While a Canadian might say, it would be nice to see the redwood forest…what do you think? Instead of a five minute conversation, it may become several hours or days.
Is been my experience that when you get a group of Canadians together it’s very difficult to make a decision because no one will come out and say this is what we’re going to do. It doesn’t appear to be in their nature to take control or lead in a sense. As an American, this can be extremely frustrating. You almost have to force someone in the group to make a decision, and then somehow you end up looking extremely aggressive.
I read Malcolm Gladwell‘s book Outliers a few years back and remember a story about Colombian airline pilots who did not assert themselves enough to warn about potential dangers mid flight, and as a result they had a higher percentage of airline accidents resulting in the deaths of everyone on board. They were able to trace it back to the general disposition of passiveness in people raised in a certain area. I found this absolutely fascinating. Those pilots needed training on how to be assertive and report what they were seeing instead of keeping quiet. I find this type of passive thinking so difficult to believe, and yet when you witness it in person it’s absolutely amazing. Who would’ve thought but the way you were raised could effect other people’s lives. It’s interesting to think about.
Creating a Simplified Life 