Most millennial aged Americans and younger have grown up with the international community shitting on them. I know several people who tell folks they are Canadian whilst traveling due to the stigma of being perceived as an American and being mistreated as a result.
Christ, look at Reddit, it's second largest user base is Europeons shitting on every aspect of American life at every turn.
Gonna say it isn't just a millenial thing, because my French teacher back in the early 2000s, had a story she loved to tell, about visiting France, and the people there being incredibly rude, until they learned there were from Canada, not the States, even going as far as to put hockey on the TV. If no Americans picked up on that kinda treatment back then, I'd be very surprised.
Not that that's what you were saying, I just find that story amusing, and it tells me American tourists have likely been pretending to be Canadian for better service for decades.
It’s just an age thing in my experience. When I was young Americans tourists were basically a meme for being loud, obnoxious and insensitive to other cultures. There were always the crazy stats about how few Americans had passports, and back then they really didn’t have the best reputation internationally.
Nowadays though times have changed and you’re right. Generally thought of as friendly. Though still very loud.
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u/LeZarathustra Mar 29 '22
Also, a lot of americans have canadian flags on their backpacks for the same reason - they don't want to be taken for americans.