Sometimes there’s a polar bear problem…
Hello Internet, today is Friday, November 16th, and I am a walking stereotype.
EXHIBIT THE FIRST:
I’m working in an Italian restaurant (run by Macedonians, which I think is funny), and the staff there is about as international as it comes. The family that owns the place makes up more than half of us, and then there’s a cook from Mongolia, a dishwasher from India, the Front of House Manager is a Kiwi*, and the other waitresses are Korean, Russian, Italian (imagine that!) and… me. So yesterday, I noticed that there were some folks sizing up the restaurant, as though wondering whether or not they wanted to come in, so I opened the door to say hi. Despite the fact that this is a part of the job, and that every member of the front of house staff does it, something about the way I hauled open the enormous and heavy sliding door on the side of the building to call out “Hello!” to two people standing ten metres away caused my boss to chuckled and say the word “Canadian”.
*footnote: “Kiwi” is not a bad word here. Not a comparative for the short-form of “Newfoundlander”, apparently
EXHIBIT THE SECOND:
Maybe about a week ago, I was asked about my accent. Okay, so, because I work at a restaurant and the majority of people who see me each day hear me say between 10 and 50 words in total, I get asked about my accent by a lot of people who assume that I’m American. I get asked what part of the States I’m from at least once a day. Â Sometimes, I suppose on days when I’m feeling particularly Newfoundland-y – it comes in days, what can I say? – people guess Irish or Scots, which I always love. Then, a few days ago, a guy got me down. This is basically how it went:
Me: Hi there, can I start you off with something to drink?
Him: I’ll have a Coke. Can I ask about your accent?
Me: I’m Canadian.
Him: Newfoundland?
Me: Uh… yeah.
Him: Where? St. John’s?
Me: …Yeah. How’d you know?
Him: You’re a quintessential Newfie.
…
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
EXHIBIT THE THIRD:
All right, this one happened today. I went out to a restaurant with some friends this evening, who are also a pretty international group, but mostly Kiwis and British Isles. We were chatting about what happens when wildlife wanders into the cities (apparently, here, they just shoot the poor creatures) and I found myself saying these words:
“Sometimes, in Canada, there’s a polar bear problem.”
And then, I explained about how when polar bears wander into communities, they are tranquillized and transported by chopper out of the area where people live… but yes. I, the Canadian at the table, brought up polar bears. As a fact of life that sometimes has to be dealt with. As though I had ever experienced it myself.
The awesome thing is that then we started talking about penguins (the opposite of polar bears, obviously), and everyone moved on. As though I hadn’t just announced myself as a giant nationality-based stereotype.
All right. In other news, I’ve been cast in a Fringe Festival production. Because of my ridiculous work schedule (soon to be remedied, I hope!) and the fact that I’m in Antony & Cleopatra, which runs pretty much concurrently, I don’t have a ton of time to spend in rehearsals for a second show… BUT:
This is a neat idea: it’s a musical, episodic soap opera, on stage. The Days of the Bold and the Restless is a 15-episode season, done one episode an evening over the course of Wellington Fringe. My tiny part is in the second-to-last episode (or, 5 days after A&C closes), and there are lots of chances to help out with other things if and when my schedule opens up. Mostly, I’m super-interested to see how it will go… a 15-night commitment is a lot to ask of an audience, but the marketing for the show sounds really interesting and I’m pretty excited about making friends with the gang I met at my audition.
Heres some info on polar bearsThe polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear ntvaie to the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas. The world’s largest carnivore found on land, a title it shares with the Kodiak Bear,[3] an adult male weighs around 400–680 kg (880–1,500 lb),[4] while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrow ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet.[5] Although most polar bears are born on land, it spends most of its time at sea, hence its name meaning maritime bear , and can hunt consistently only from sea ice, spending much of the year on the frozen sea.The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with 5 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline.[6][7] For decades, unrestricted hunting raised international concern for the future of the species; populations have rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.The IUCN now lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. The IUCN states, If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years. [1] On May 14, 2008, the United States Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.Naming and etymologyConstantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a distinct species.[1] He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for maritime bear’,[8] due to the animal’s ntvaie habitat. The Inuit refer to the animal as nanook,[9] (transliterated as nanuuq in the Inupiat language[10], and nanuuk in Siberian Yupik.[citation needed]) The bear is umka in the Chukchi language. In Russian, it is usually called ????? ??????? (Bely Medved, the White Bear), though an older word still in use is ????? (Oshkuy, which comes from the Komi Oski, bear ).[11] In Quebec French, the polar bear is referred to as Ours polaire.[12] The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos.[13] However, evidence of hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the relatively recent evolutionary divergence of the two species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed.[14]Taxonomy and evolutionPolar bears depend on sea ice as a platform for hunting seals. Large feet and short, stocky claws are adaptations to this environment.The bear family, Ursidae, is believed to have split off from other carnivorans about 38 million years ago. The Ursinae subfamily originated approximately 4.2 million years ago. According to both fossil and DNA evidence, the polar bear diverged from the brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 200,000 years ago. The oldest known polar bear fossil is less than 100,000 years old. Fossils show that between ten to twenty thousand years ago, the polar bear’s molar teeth changed significantly from those of the brown bear. Polar bears are thought to have diverged from a population of brown bears that became isolated during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene.[15]More recent genetic studies have shown that some clades of brown bear are more closely related to polar bears than to other brown bears,[16] meaning that the polar bear is not a true species according to some species concepts.[17] In addition, polar bears can breed with brown bears to produce fertile grizzly–polar bear hybrids,[15][18] indicating that they have only recently diverged and are genetically similar.[19] However, as neither species can survive long in the other’s ecological niche, and with distinctly different morphology, metabolism, social and feeding behaviors, and other phenotypic characteristics, the two bears are generally classified as separate species.[19]When the polar bear was originally documented, two subspecies were identified: Ursus maritimus maritimus by Constantine J. Phipps in 1774, and Ursus maritimus marinus by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776.[20] This distinction has since been invalidated.One fossil subspecies has been identified. Ursus maritimus tyrannus—descended from Ursus arctos—became extinct during the Pleistocene. U.m. tyrannus was significantly larger than the living subspecies.hope i helped:)
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
So, I get a lot of spam comments in a day, but this one was so amazing I had to let it slide. Some of that information is probably even true.
When I lived in England I had this problem… Yes I own a canoe. Yes I wear a lot of plaid. Yes I lived in a log cabin. Yes I have snowshoed to work. Yes I have trapped a beaver. Yes I have eaten Moose. But most Canadians havn’t. Why have I? I live in stereotype central. Majority of Canadians you have met have these characteristics? But I’m the only Canadian you know.