Oh? That must be a regional phenomenon. I’m not Canadian, but I spent two years (and two Canada Days) in Canada. In Hamilton, ON, French was strictly limited to bilingual labeling on groceries. In that area, knowing the lyrics to any song at all in French, or being able to say more than “Jay neh parlay pass fran-say” in French, made me feel like I had just demostrated my crazy European-ness* once again.
* Being a crazy European in Canada was fun.
- “Don’t worry about not having room for me in your car, guys. I’ll go ahead on my bicycle and wait for you there.”
- “My coffee is always that small. It’s called Espresso.” [It was apparently a relatively new thing in Canada when I was there]
- “Why would you think that ‘Bremsstrahlung’ is hard to pronounce?” [I still don’t know how *they* pronounce it, they were afraid to try]
- “Of course we use a fork and a knife for eating pizza.” [Mostly optional, in fact. But the French exchange student said it first, so I went along and backed him up]
