October 23rd, 2003

Filed under:
Canada
16 Comments »

Foreign Men

Many of my female friends and acquaintances (like, at least a half-dozen), are currently dating or married to non-Canadians. While these British, Australian, American and German men are all charming people and excellent companions, this phenomenon makes me feel like I’m in high school again.

In high school, it always irritated me that the girls in my grade would always date older boys. When I was in Grade 10, all the Grade 10 girls were dating Grade 11 and 12 boys. Resultingly, I’d end up pursuing Grade 9 girls, which was fine as I’d skipped a grade and they were probably still more mature than me. Still, it always irked me that these senior boys would, you know, raid our stock.

The same goes for foreign men. What are they doing, with their charming accents, their ‘crikeys’ and their ‘puckas’, coming out to the colonies looking for a bride? What’s weird is that I don’t know a single man who’s dating or married to a non-Canadian woman. What’s up with that? Why is there a gender gap here?

This is only tangentially-related, but that whole charming accent thing only goes one way. Us Canadians moisten our undies for a lilting Irish or an upper-crust British accent, but they couldn’t care less about ours. When I was over there, they just kept making me say ‘aboot’.

Comments: 16 Responses so far

artmistic
October 23rd, 2003
11:47 am

I think this in by and whole has to do with media’s portrayal of ‘our ideals’. A quick look at MTV, and you’ll see ‘beautiful’, young women, and perhaps foreigners (read: people of non-western world origins) see this as ‘how we do things here’..

[Reply]

donna
October 23rd, 2003
11:49 am

It’s okay — you’re married, you don’t need to worry about the high school mentality anymore. :)

[Reply]

donna
October 23rd, 2003
11:50 am

or… you could always go and score with high school chicks. ;)

[Reply]

Darren
October 23rd, 2003
11:53 am

Hah. You know what…I don’t think they’d give me the time of day. Unless I was giving away, you know, drugs or guns or something.

[Reply]

d
October 23rd, 2003
11:58 am

oh come on darren.. you’re totally cute enough to score with a 16 year old. you’re older. you’re attractive. you have a nice website.

:D

[Reply]

artmistic
October 23rd, 2003
12:06 pm

..and you’re a raconteur.. =)

[Reply]

Darren
October 23rd, 2003
1:10 pm

‘You’re totally cute enough to score with a 16 year old’

I don’t think I’ve ever received higher praise. DB.

[Reply]

Meghan
October 23rd, 2003
1:56 pm

Well, I know one 16 year old you scored with… WAIT! YOU were 16. Right!

[Reply]

Darren
October 23rd, 2003
2:07 pm

Actually, I believe I was 15.

[Reply]

Joan
October 23rd, 2003
2:10 pm

Men with accents get at least 20 free points from the get go (with most women I know). Crazy teeth, poor hygene, vocabulary - all easily overlooked or chalked up to ‘character’ if accompanied by an acccent.

I for one am a sucker for accents. Call me Wanda.

[Reply]

Martin
October 24th, 2003
4:04 am

I thought it was “aboat”, not “aboot”…

BTW, when I was in Canada, I had an Australian girlfriend, so I guess we kind of “cancelled each other out”…

[Reply]

donna
October 24th, 2003
11:40 am

You underestimate the power of low self esteem. Having been a 16 yr old who dated much older men, it doesn’t matter WHAT they’re like, as long as they’re older. :)

That said, you’re hot, I don’t think you’d have any problems. Well, other than morally. I hope. :)

[Reply]

Christopher
October 24th, 2003
12:44 pm

Hey - I’m a single foreign man (Brit) and work in Yaletown for a marketing agency but I’m not fighting off hordes of single Canadian women :(

What am I doing wrong? And, no - I don’t have crazy teeth (a Swiss bank balance-worth of Canadian dentistry sees to that) and I do shower and can string some words together in a logical fashion…

[Reply]

Julie
October 24th, 2003
1:47 pm

Yes, your wife does read your blog! A few rules:

1. No 16 year olds
2. No foreign women
3. No foreign men

And for your readers… careful with the ego stroking, I have to live with this man. Keep him humble!

[Reply]

harp
October 24th, 2003
4:21 pm

fellow grade-skipper! Except in my case, it probably had something to do with my January 2nd birthday. And the fact that it was kindergarden.

Up north in England, in some of the smaller sports, and even in Birmingham I found that the Canadian accent worked pretty good, actually. Mind, with the Geordie slang and other offspring, I couldn’t do much worse…

[Reply]

lucy
May 3rd, 2007
8:23 pm

well,what can i say-deal with it.I mean no disrespect,but i think European men are great! I mean they treat women well-overall,they dress well,they are intelligent and are charming without trying to hard.I find Canadian and American men nice as well,but if i would choose-European men win hands down!

[Reply]

Add a comment