New Yorker Cartoons « O' Canada

A weekly treat is reading through each new issue of The New Yorker, one of my all-time favorite magazines because it is so consistently excellent. Its cartoons are an indispensable hallmark of the magazine’s style and, over the years, its cartoonists occasionally have focused their good-natured humor at Canadians or Americans’ general (mis)perception of Canada.

In keeping with that tradition, the most recent issue of The New Yorker includes the above cartoon by P.C. Vey playing on the notion of Canadian politeness. It’s funny but probably goes a bit too far — yes, Canadians are generally polite but certainly not pushovers. Of course, it’s all in good fun and not to be taken too seriously. As previous commenters about such cartoons have noted, if you have to have a reputation, that of being overly polite isn’t a bad one to have.

Image Credit: P.C. Vey, The New Yorker

Related posts on O’ Canada:

— More American Cartoons on Canada

— Another Amusing Take on Canadian Politeness

— “You First. I Insist”: A Canadian Standoff

I enjoy the diversion of witty cartoons (especially those in The New Yorker magazine), and I’ve posted previously about funny cartoons that comment on American perceptions and stereotypes about Canada (for example, here and here). Below are a few others that may provide for some amusement.

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This one deals with the general lack of knowledge about Canada by many Americans:

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Americans know they share many similarities with Canadians and might be happy to think that’s true in all respects but every now and then something will remind otherwise — such as the finishing of a sentence with an “eh?” or a different pronunciation of a common word (like “about” pronounced as “aboot”) — even if they can’t put their finger on it:

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Of course, there’s the widely held perception of Canadians as being polite to a fault:

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This one, while showing two Canadian politicians, plays on the notion held by many Americans of U.S. “exceptionalism” and the idea that Canada doesn’t often register with many Americans: