My buddy Marie-Eve, the lovely star of the northern skies, told me today that she is expecting. She and the proud father, the gregarious and engaging Joris, believe the child may be delivered on July 4.
UPDATE: Marie-Eve and Joris were quite tickled about telling me the July 4 due date. In response I suggested naming the child Obama, though I would never actually expect anyone to name their kid after a person in the news. It’s just that I get a kick, at least every now and then, about being an American among the Quebecois. It gives me a touch of the exotic and distinctive, which my personality needs.
A generalization that I came up with: English Canadians tend to dislike Americans more and the United States less; French Canadians tend to dislike the United States more and Americans less. The idea is that the Quebecois tend to be more left wing than English Canadians but not to get worked up about Americans’ alleged arrogance, insularity and stupidity.
The generalization is based on the usual, meaning lint. It was useful in sorting out my impressions of my first year or so up here. But whether it’s true is beyond me. At any rate it has felt a good deal less true for quite a while. During the stretch from 9-11 to the Iraq invasion, I stopped running into the old cattiness and griping. Maybe Bush served as our lightning rod, in which case I have to thank him.
both my grandfather & my nephew were born on the fourth of july. neither were born in the usa, however.
damn! it should be neither was, right? i’m getting all sorts of performance anxiety, typing to a copy editor.
Yeah, “neither was.”
I’m just surprised anyone commented on this post.