255 Episodes in and TRC is still bringing the skepticism in a big way. The show starts off with Pat covering some commonly believed myths about our home country of Canada. Darren then presents some non-traditional ways to keep cool in the summer. Elan closes things out by answering whether the cesarean section procedure is named after Julius Caesar.
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SHOW NOTES
Canada Myths
Environics Hockey Survey (PDF)
Act to Make Hockey Canada’s Winter Sport
Who Says Canadians Are Polite?
Macleans: Canadian Myths That Wont Die
Cool Down Methods
Cesarean Section
U.S. National Library of Medicine – Cesarean Section – A Brief History
Odd Random Thoughts – Why Julius Caesar could not of been born by Cesarean section
Hey Guys,
I think that you were really stretching the CanCon with the inventions segment. I heard you mention Basketball (invented by a Canadian in the U.S.), the telephone (invented in the U.S. by a Scot who lived in Canada for several years), the lightbulb (one step in the improvement between a British invention and a U.S. product) and the zipper (the Canadian origin of which Wikipedia says is a misconception: “After his wife’s death in 1911, Sundback devoted himself to improving the fastener, and by December 1913 had designed the modern zipper. The rights to this invention were owned by the Meadville company (operating as the “Hookless Fastener Co.”), but Sundback retained non-U.S. rights and used these to set up in subsequent years the Canadian firm ‘Lightning Fastner Co.’ in St. Catharines, Ont. Sundback’s work with this firm has led to the common misperception that he was Canadian and that the zipper originated in that country.[6]”).
I love Canada but these examples are a little thin.
Sorry for being so picky,
Craig
You’re not being picky. We actually had a conversation about how inventions get claimed by countries and how that can be sketchy sometimes. I kind of wish I hadn’t cut it out in editing. ‘Claimed’ as Canadian inventions might have been a more appropriate way to frame it.
How dare you put Avril Lavigne at the end of Canadian celebrities. I love her.
And, is Inuit any better than Eskimo? Isn’t Inuit referring to someone in a particular tribe, and referring to Eskimos as Inuits kind of like referring to Europeans as French?
Avril’s great!
I can’t speak for Pat but generally we only use Inuit to refer to actual Inuits. We would use the proper name of the particular first nation’s people if they were non Inuits sometimes referred to as Eskimos. We would not use the term to describe natives from Alaska for example.
Hey Gang!
Regarding “eh”: I have always taken it to be a legitimate replacement for an improper contraction at the end of a sentence. For example: “That was a fun trip wasn’t it?” Which when broken up doesn’t make much sense: “That was a fun trip was not it?” So instead use eh: “That was a fun trip eh?” There, now it’s grammatically correct, sort of, assuming ‘eh’ isn’t slang 🙂
Also, for cooling off on a hot day: Open your house right up during the night when it cools down. Then in the morning the warm breeze will quickly heat your house so close the windows once it begins to warm up again. As long as you’re not heating the house up to quickly from the inside such as cooking and working out, then it generally works quite well.
Keep up the great work!
P.S. I haven’t written in since the major ‘staffing’ changes and I wanted to say that bringing Pat on for each episode has been an excellent addition!
Agreed on the “eh thing. I use it a lot, something which is completely ignored by Canadians but incredibly obvious amongst Americans. I find the assumption of how we use it is almost always wrong and that our usage is something that is considered appropriate just far more common than an American would.
Hello. This comment is mostly directed at Pat:
When looking into “Eh” as a Canadian myth, I think you should look into this Japanese sentence-ending particle: ね (Ne)
It’s basically used the same way “Eh” is, in that it seeks confirmation for something. In a broader sense, both this particle and “Eh” can be attached to the end of a sentence to seek agreement or to show that you are (and this is hard to explain) seeking unity/coherence in the conversation.
I’m having a little bit of difficulty explaining this, so look at this TED talk by John McWhorter. He argues that the word/abbreviation “lol” is used in this way and his way of conveying it is much better than mine. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, skip to about 6:20 to get to the part I’m trying to explain.
Thanks Charlie! Fits right in with where I think I’m likely going to be headed with that segment.
Cheers
Hello guys, enjoyed the podcast as usual (but I wished you had run the Canadian myths earlier in July or even really late in June). And thanks for the heat beating tips. I note this fellow actually tried some of them (plus other methods) and reports on his experience. http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-ways-to-beat-heat-without-air-conditioning-or-money/