A friend sent this to me and I thought it hilarious! There were a few more entries included, but I only picked my favourites.
And the winner is … Announcing the results of our 'Canada – in six words or less' motto contest
The new unofficial Canadian motto is "Canada — a home for the world," sent in by Deborah Torenvliet of Ottawa.
With a 39.8% share of the total online votes, the highly earnest entry took the title (plus Tim Hortons and Petro-Canada gift cards) hands down. Second place and a Chapters/Indigo gift card goes to "Endless possibilities squandered in political correctness," by Gary Valcour from Oshawa, Ont. .
For the record, here are the other top 10 nominees:
"Medicare, we're dying to keep it." C.N. Johannesson, Calgary.
"Proud to be humble." Nesta Morris, Unionville, Ont.
"Canada: Mostly OK." (Alexander) Sandy Baillie, Munster, Ont.
"Canada: Nobody gives a puck." Charles Cook, Toronto.
"Life, liberty and pursuit of hockeyness." Lawrence Hickman, Victoria
"From inquiry to inquiry." Gord Nixon, Barrie, Ont.
"If countries are clothes, we're cardigans." Paul Meyer and Jane Power, Montrose, B.C.
"Double Double, from Sea to Sea," Pat Harris, Toronto.
Over the last three weeks, we received hundreds of motto suggestions. Some funny, some sad, some alarmingly racist, some dark and some that were just plain weird. Unfortunately, we had to whittle them down to a top-10 list. But as a final nod to all those Canadians (and a few Americans) who emailed us their mottoes, here are some of the more notable entries (with a few entries from editorial board members sprinkled in). Thanks to all who entered the contest, and to everyone who voted online.
"Red, white and forgiving." Gary Crawford, Chicago, Ill.
"Molding a history-free heritage." Tim Burke, Montreal.
"Land of inferiority complexes." John F.H. Lupton, St. Albert, Alta.
"Canada — lost." L.G. Anderson, Spruce Grove, Alta.
"Global warming hasn't reached us yet." Talya Gryn, Thornhill, Ont.
"True north strong and free health care." Dick Richards, North Gower, Ont.
"Health or die waiting." Marg Nixon, Barrie, Ont.
"Lest ever we should understand ourselves." J. Paul Mutton, Burnaby B.C.
"Step on me." Jack Sands, Markham, Ont.
"Canada: United in diversity." Dave Williams, Ottawa.
"Canada — we're soooo nice." Gilles Caron, Montreal.
"Dominating sports no one else plays." Lorne Gunter, Edmonton.
"Bad weather, punishing taxes, cold beer." Brad LeMee, Toronto.
"Canada: It's all about Quebec." John William Campbell, Vancouver Island.
"Canada: scenery, greenery, political chicanery." Joanne M. Bargman, Toronto.
"Canada — from sea to whining sea." Anthony J. Petrina, Vancouver.
"Beauty, eh?" Rick Carter, St. Albert, Alta.
"Mediocre, and reasonably proud of it." Al Blow, Cranbrook, B.C.
"Apologizing for Celine Dion since 1990." Yoni Goldstein, Toronto.
"Canada: supporting everyone, unknown to anyone." David Saul, Richmond Hill, Ont.
" amplus et frigus" ("Big and cold"). Michael N. W. Baigel, Toronto.
"Loonies in the sky with diamonds." Cathy Gilbertson, Burlington, Ont.
"Foreign health professionals drive our taxis." Paul and Susie Higgins, North Vancouver.
"Canada yada yada." Irene Berkowitz, Toronto.
"Domicile of delightfully dysfunctional dogooders." Dan and Suzanne
"Canada, nine equal provinces and Quebec." Evelyn Keep, London, Ont. Clavelle, Calgary.
"Americans on Valium." Gary Clarke, Prince George, B.C.
"One-third makes, two-thirds takes." Dan Horne, Calgary.
"So little history, so many cultures." Kathryn Speck, Edmonton.
"So clean and bland. Welcome home." Paolo Zinatelli, Toronto.
"Dominion of quiet beauty." Elaine Doran, Fairmont, B.C.
"Keenly aware of your indifference." Doug Burn, Toronto.
"We'll tolerate anything, except intolerance." Scott Gilbreath, Whitehorse, Yukon.
"Rights without responsibilities." Bob Reid, Grafton, Ont.
"Excusez ... I'm Sorry." Alice Ducharme, Victoria.
"Canada: Heart of gold." Thomas (Moishe) Goldstein, Toronto.
"Canada: Hypocritically hypocritical." Dick Turner, Victoria.
"A Heaven and a haven." Lois Reid, Toronto.
"Proud to be smug." Clive Seligman, London, Ont.
"Canada: We shall undercome." Peter Strachan, Ajax, Ont.
"Morally superior. Just ask us." Reg Bechtold, Lethbridge, Alta.
"Give me liberty or a doubledouble." John Turley-Ewart, Toronto.
"Canada: Your mother would love us." Ian Hopkins, Markham, Ont.
"The true north, weak and taxed." Paul Filipiuk, Toronto.
"What you get for being nice." Hugh Phillips, Boucherville, Que.
"One nation ... divisible." E.W. Bopp, Tsawwassen, B.C.
" Saturday Night Live's unofficial training camp." Marni Soupcoff, Toronto.
"Tax me, I'm Canadian." Glenn Woiceshyn, Calgary.
"The world's most preferred passport." Allan Swartz, Thornhill, Ont.
"We are, perhaps, sorry for nothing." Eugene Taylor, Toronto.
"Insert your culture here." Colby Cosh, Edmonton.
"Canada: Birthplace of mediocrity." Jeff Spooner, Kinburn, Ont.
"Because the world needs more vanilla." Ori Rubin, Toronto.
"Diverse pasts, one future." Karla Poewe, Calgary.
"Patriotic and proud of it ... shh." Cathy Cove, Goderich, Ont.
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8 comments:
Ha! I liked the winning one, but the rest of the top 10 was kinda lame, I thought.
There were some much better ones in the list of extras you provided, although some are pretty negative...
Hey ... I stopped visiting your other blog because I thought you stopped posting and now I find this one.
I would like to say to all the people who disparaged Canada in their half assed mottoes ... the same thing that most of these same people probably say or think about the minorities ... if you're not happy, leave.
WW - I think the Celine Dion one got the biggest laugh from me.
George - I think it's wonderful that people can openly express their dissatisfaction. I wouldn't suggest people leave... I would suggest they do something to promote positive change. :)
I loved all of the cynical ones because they are the most accurate.
Gawd I love those people. Sometimes I feel so alienated complaining about how we're letting this country get away from us..it was so rewarding to find others who recognise that we may have already peaked and that history will record how we were so f*cking nice that everyone took advantage of us and bled the system dry.
#1 "Endless possibilities squandered in political correctness"
"Molding a history-free heritage" no-Duh!
"Dominating sports no one else plays" HAHAHA
"from sea to whining sea"
"Domicile of delightfully dysfunctional dogooders"
"The world's most preferred passport"
"Insert your culture here"
These are my peeps!!
Wonderful stress relieving post.
Hey there, Im with George, I didn't know you had another blog. Nice place. Im glad you're back writing.
Nice mobile phones.
i like it.
nice website for mobile.
Bathmate
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view
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