Someone pointed me to an article from 1989 in Philly.com by Dave Barry.
It's entertaining as hell and sure to ruffle sensitive Canadian feathers.
"Ha ha! Don't mind me. I like to toss out little "zingers" about Canada from time to time because I enjoy getting mounds of letters from irate Canadians who are Sick and Tired of Americans belittling Canada and who often include brochures full of impressive Canadian Facts such as that Canada is the world's largest producer of magnesium dentures as well as the original home of Michael J. Fox, Big Bird, Plato, etc."
"...Meanwhile, the Canadians, being cooperative, quietly went ahead and actually converted. I know this because I was on a Canadian radio program once, and the host announced that the temperature was "8." This was obviously a lie, so I asked him about it, and he confided, off the air, that the real temperature, as far as he knew, was around 40. But then his engineer said he thought it was more like 50, and soon other radio personnel were chiming in with various other interpretations of "8," and I was struck by the fact that these people had cheerfully accepted, in the spirit of cooperation, a system wherein nobody really knew what the temperature was (The correct mathematical answer is: chilly).
The point I am making is that Canada is a fascinating and mysterious country, which is why we should not be surprised to learn that it is the location of the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump historical site and tourist attraction. I found out about this from an extremely alert reader named Sandy LaFave, who sent me an article from The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter that explains the whole buffalo-jump concept.
It seems that many moons ago (in metric, 14.6 megamoons) North America was occupied by large and fortunately very stupid herds of buffalo. Certain Native American tribes used to obtain their food by disguising themselves in buffalo skins and going from tepee to tepee shouting "Trick or Treat!"
No, seriously, according to The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter, they disguised themselves so they could lure a buffalo herd closer and closer to a cliff, then stampede it over the edge. That's where the "Buffalo Jump" part of the name comes from. The "Head-Smashed-In" part comes from a native legend, which holds that one time, a young brave (probable tribal name: "Not Nuclear Physicist") decided to watch the hunt while standing under the cliff. According to The Tourist Greeter, he "watched the buffalo topple in front of him like a mighty waterfall . . . When it was over and the natives were butchering the animals, they found him under the pile of dead buffalo with his head smashed in...."
It's entertaining as hell and sure to ruffle sensitive Canadian feathers.
"Ha ha! Don't mind me. I like to toss out little "zingers" about Canada from time to time because I enjoy getting mounds of letters from irate Canadians who are Sick and Tired of Americans belittling Canada and who often include brochures full of impressive Canadian Facts such as that Canada is the world's largest producer of magnesium dentures as well as the original home of Michael J. Fox, Big Bird, Plato, etc."
"...Meanwhile, the Canadians, being cooperative, quietly went ahead and actually converted. I know this because I was on a Canadian radio program once, and the host announced that the temperature was "8." This was obviously a lie, so I asked him about it, and he confided, off the air, that the real temperature, as far as he knew, was around 40. But then his engineer said he thought it was more like 50, and soon other radio personnel were chiming in with various other interpretations of "8," and I was struck by the fact that these people had cheerfully accepted, in the spirit of cooperation, a system wherein nobody really knew what the temperature was (The correct mathematical answer is: chilly).
The point I am making is that Canada is a fascinating and mysterious country, which is why we should not be surprised to learn that it is the location of the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump historical site and tourist attraction. I found out about this from an extremely alert reader named Sandy LaFave, who sent me an article from The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter that explains the whole buffalo-jump concept.
It seems that many moons ago (in metric, 14.6 megamoons) North America was occupied by large and fortunately very stupid herds of buffalo. Certain Native American tribes used to obtain their food by disguising themselves in buffalo skins and going from tepee to tepee shouting "Trick or Treat!"
No, seriously, according to The Fort Macleod Tourist Greeter, they disguised themselves so they could lure a buffalo herd closer and closer to a cliff, then stampede it over the edge. That's where the "Buffalo Jump" part of the name comes from. The "Head-Smashed-In" part comes from a native legend, which holds that one time, a young brave (probable tribal name: "Not Nuclear Physicist") decided to watch the hunt while standing under the cliff. According to The Tourist Greeter, he "watched the buffalo topple in front of him like a mighty waterfall . . . When it was over and the natives were butchering the animals, they found him under the pile of dead buffalo with his head smashed in...."
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