A UK TikToker In Alberta Called Out All The Weird Things In Canada, From Coffee To Dad Jokes

Whenever you move to a new country, there's bound to be a ton of culture shocks to get used to and for a British TikToker who now lives in Canada, there were definitely some unexpected challenges.

Katie, a TikToker who moved from the U.K. to Calgary shared some of the weirdest observations she's had about Canadians since moving and honestly, there's a lot.

"I love Canada. I want to move here. I want to live here. I love you all so much... but there were some culture shocks," she said.

Pronunciations are way off

Starting strong, Katie came for the way Canadians pronounce some words like oregano and aluminum (in the U.K., it's aluminium).

"You guys pronounce words wrong," Katie said. "I'm sorry. English is called English. It's from England," she joked.

She also pointed out the different words Canadian have for clothing like pants instead of trousers.

"If I compliment someone's jumper. The amount of times I've done that and people have gone 'jumper? Do you mean sweater?'" she added.

Driving on the "wrong side of the road"

Katie said while she knows it's a "very heated debate" on whether driving on the left of right side of the road is the "right way," it can be pretty confusing to a newcomer.

She also went off on the lack of roundabouts on Canadian roads and the fact there are so many four-way intersections instead of free-flowing traffic.

"Why do you hate roundabouts so much? There's no need to hate roundabouts as much as you guys do," she said.

Coffee is way stronger

Canadian preferences for hot drinks was also something Katie realized is very different to back in the U.K., with coffee being super strong a lot of the time.

"When I had my first coffee here, I was like why does this taste like it has 10 shots in it?" she asked.

She also shared a pretty common situation for Brits in Canada that finding good tea is a minefield.

The Canadian sense of humour is so different

A pretty common observation by newcomers to Canada but one that is hotly contested is whether the Canadian sense of humour is different, and Katie is pretty convinced that it is.

"I think you guys are just a big fan of dad jokes and puns," she said. "I am painfully sarcastic and have a very dark sense of humour so I've got myself in trouble quite a few times and it has not been pretty."

"When I'm trying to be sarcastic, people think I'm just being a bitch," she said.

Sales tax and tipping culture makes no sense

Another huge difference between Canada and the U.K. is the fact that sales tax is added as you're paying for items and it's something that just doesn't make sense to Katie.

"Please can we just include the tax in the final price? It doesn't need to be its own separate thing," she said.

On that note, she also had a lot to say about tipping culture in Canada, especially if you're just doing something simple like picking up a coffee.

"If I'm buying a coffee to go, I don't want to be paying extra. Please pay workers a decent minimum wage which I think most places do now," she said.

I don't want to feel guilt and shame if I don't want to tip," she added.

Speaking to Narcity, Katie said she made the video out of humour to just highlight some of the big differences she'd noticed since moving.

"I often end up in conversations with Canadians about why I moved here... this is then followed up by explaining how there were definitely unexpected culture shocks," she said.

"The response has been funny. I think my comment on different humour styles got the most feedback, with people claiming they’re sarcastic, but I was just making a general observation from my own experiences," she added.