A TikToker Asked Americans What They Know About Canadian Culture & It's Not Good (VIDEOS)
How well do Americans know Canada? Despite our geographical proximity, it turns out that Americans may not know as much about the True North as you'd think.
TikToker Jade Koch, who posts videos asking people on the street about aspects of Canada, asked Americans questions about Canadian culture to see how well they know Canada, and some of the answers are just not it.
In a series of videos on her page, @lifeofjadeee, called "Jade Must Know," Koch stops people on the street to ask them trivia, usually encouraging Americans to share their knowledge of Canada.
In one recent clip, Koch seeks to find out if Americans know who Canada's prime minister is.
"We know who your president is," she begins in the video. "Do you know who our prime minister is?"
"No," answers the first person.
"Jeremy something," answers the next person, surprisingly confidently.
"The guy, with the short hair--," begins the next person, before Koch indicates that they're on the wrong track. "With the long, gorgeous flow, who wears suits," they said instead, making for a vague but basically true answer.
@lifeofjadeee Jeremy something? 😅 #canada #americans #jademustknow #politics
While Koch only interviewed a few Americans, it seems that not knowing Canada's PM may be a wider spread issue in the nation.
A 2017 Public Policy Poll found that nearly half of Americans surveyed didn't know who Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was, offering what the poll called a "bit of a reality check on how closely Americans pay attention to foreign affairs."
In another clip, Koch asks Americans whether they're familiar with some key Canadian slang.
"Someone asks you to bring them a two-four," Koch says. "What are you bringing them?"
As any Canuck knows, a two-four is what Canadians call a 24-pack of beer. However, it doesn't seem like the U.S. uses the same term.
"Two packs of cigarettes and four beers?" suggests one of the Americans she interviews. Hey, points for getting the beer part right, at least.
"Two shots of tequila and four donuts?" answers the next. No, but this also sounds reasonable.
"Like, some milk?" answers the next person. "Some milk or some pie," they confirm.
@lifeofjadeee What are you bringing? 😅 #americans #calgary #beer #tequilashot #jademustknow
"I would think like a 2"x 4", which is like a big piece of wood," answers another person.
Finally, in another clip, Koch asks the same people if they know what's in a classic Canadian snack -- poutine.
"Do you know the three ingredients that make up a poutine?" she asks.
"I would imagine it would be like a custard or something," answers the first person in a response any Canadian would likely consider a travesty.
"Fries?" says the second. "Gravy... sh*t what is the last one?" they say, leaving out the essential cheese curds.
@lifeofjadeee Poutine: Canada’s Signature Custard 💛🇨🇦 #yyc #houston #america #poutine #jademustknow
Finally, the last two Americans Koch interviews do Canada proud by correctly naming fries, cheese and gravy as the ingredients.
Commenters on the videos expressed varying degrees of surprise as to what Americans know (or in some cases, don't know) about Canada's culture.
Quite a few were especially shocked by the replies to the question of who Canada's prime minister is.
"Jeremy!?" wrote one person.
"It's wild that we speak the same language and we're neighbours but they straight up know NOTHING about us," commented another.
"Do you folks learn about anything outside of the States?" asked another.
It's not the first time Americans have demonstrated a lack of knowledge about Canada.
In another video, Koch asked Americans at Arizona State University if they could name three Canadian cities, and the responses were more than a little concerning, to say the least!
