They've re-packaged it and named it, "Hoser".

Hmm... noe, this one has gone rgt over my head. Isit some Canadian cultural reference I'm unaware of, or something ese entirely?

JonTheCelt

LOL! Yep, it's a Canadian thing.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoser

Here is a clip from the show SCTV where the term came from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZyCVpM43MU

It's a parody on what many people in the USA think of Canadians. IE: we sit around and drink beer, use the word "Eh?" alot, and live in igloos.

Hmm... ok, so now I know what 'hoser' means... I'm now trying to work out if this is simply a wordplay, or whether someone's trying to instigate a flame war here... meh, it's too early, I slept on the living room floor last night, and I'm not in the best-humoured of moods... probably not a good time for me to read people's jokes - might take them the wrong way.

JonTheCelt

It was meant as a joke.  Everyone in Canada knows about SCTV and Bob and Doug MacKenzie,  LOL

It's X-mas time, so all the commercials say anyhow. You may here the song "12 days of Christmas." thier version ends with a beer. EG first day of Chrismas my true love gave to me, a beer. Yaddy yadda.

I'm Canadian, didn't find this thread amusing. Loved watching SCTV though.

I like South Park, BLAME CANADA! hehehehehe :D

I thought a little humor wouldn't hurt, just some 'tongue-in-cheek' play on words, eh? Hope your day improves, Jon. ; D

Take off eh!!!!  I was making my back bacon before taking the sled dogs out and saw this thread and I was so offended eh!!!  I was gonna go pick up a two four of Pilsner but I'm so mad at this thread eh!!!  Equating Poser to Hosers is an affront to Hosers all over the Great White North eh!!!!

LOLZ!!

Sorry...  I for one (as a proud Canuck!) got a good chuckle out of the original post!!!  I remember when I was a kid in the 80's and visiting relatives in Montana and they honestly though we had sled dogs and ski-doos and all of Canada was like arctic igloo winter wonderland all year round!!  It was funny!

Bob & Doug MacKenzie are still big time favorites for me!!!  Loved staying up late watching SCTV on CTV!!!!!

Gerard

Quote - It's a parody on what many people in the USA think of Canadians. IE: we sit around and drink beer, use the word "Eh?" alot, and live in igloos.

You mean.......you DON'T?????!!!!!!!  Man, oh man is it ever disappointing to have your mental images shattered like that.

Well......actually I do seem to recall having heard somewhere that curling is popular up that way, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curling

And isn't there some sort of a game called Hokey that gets played a lot?  I could swear that there is......it's a game where the object is to beat each other over the head with sticks or something like that.

I"m not from that part of the country -- but I've lived and worked in upper Washington State in the past.  The native Washingtonians had two groups of people whom they seemed to dislike intensely: Canadians and Southern Californians -- both of whom they regarded as annoying, invading foreigners.

I was once stuck in line behind a man at a self-serve gas station up that way -- he was driving a station wagon with Alberta tags.  After squeezing every last possible drop of gasoline into his vehicle's gas tank, he then proceeded to pull several large Jerry Cans out of his vehicle and fill all of them up to the brim, too.  It took him an inordinately lengthy amount of time to finish this process.  When I related the story to a Canadian aquaintance of mine, he told me that it was illegal up in Canada for the man to be doing that.  He was clearly attempting to avoid Canadian gas taxes......a thing which many Canadians cross the border to do.  Along with also doing their grocery shopping, clothes shopping, etc. in the US.  We don't have the VAT tax.  Or at the present time we don't.  But it could be that we'll have it in another couple of years.  And then where will the Canadians go to save their money?  For that matter: where will Americans go?

Mexico?  Eh?

Don't make fun of Ho(c)key that way! :D  Only two sports worth watching: American Football and Hockey (and Sasuke if you can count that as a sport).

In Colorado, it's Easterners and Californians invading.  I'm of the former invading barbarian type. :)

Quote - Mexico?  Eh?

Don't make fun of Ho(c)key that way! :D  Only two sports worth watching: American Football and Hockey (and Sasuke if you can count that as a sport).

In Colorado, it's Easterners and Californians invading.  I'm of the former invading barbarian type. :)

Mexico might be good for people on the border looking for ways of escaping ridiculously high taxation in the US -- but it's an awfully long drive from Canada to Mexico for the Canadians......

We've got some rabid ho(c)key fans in my part of the country, too -- as odd as that sounds.  NASCAR and hockey fandom residing together in the same person.  Hmmmm........eclectic tastes.  Then again: in one sport the object is to smash into someone else's car with yours, while in the other sport the object is to smash into someone else with yourself -- so perhaps the two sports aren't so different, after all.  :biggrin:

no canada-bashing please, especially as their dollar is now worth more than the americans'. :lol:

The one thing I really miss from Canada is John Candy. What a wonderful actor he was. Loved his acting in "Uncle Buck". I still quote some lines from that movie.

Quote - no canada-bashing please, especially as their dollar is now worth more than the americans'. :lol:

Prices up here don't reflect that though!!!  It's lame!!  A $49 US XBOX 360 game is still $59 or $69 Canadian!!  SO doesn't really seem all that different with the Canadian dollar finally doing well!!

Gerard

Quote - > Quote - no canada-bashing please, especially as their dollar is now worth more than the americans'. :lol:

Prices up here don't reflect that though!!!  It's lame!!  A $49 US XBOX 360 game is still $59 or $69 Canadian!!  SO doesn't really seem all that different with the Canadian dollar finally doing well!!

Gerard

IIRC, the VAT tax instantly slaps something like a 33% surcharge on all items sold in Canada.  We've got state sales taxes to deal with in the US, but none of them are THAT high.  Not even in Taxachusetts.

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - no canada-bashing please, especially as their dollar is now worth more than the americans'. :lol:

Prices up here don't reflect that though!!!  It's lame!!  A $49 US XBOX 360 game is still $59 or $69 Canadian!!  SO doesn't really seem all that different with the Canadian dollar finally doing well!!

Gerard

 

IIRC, the VAT tax instantly slaps something like a 33% surcharge on all items sold in Canada.  We've got state sales taxes to deal with in the US, but none of them are THAT high.  Not even in Taxachusetts.

what?? where did you get that idea from? 33%? thats stupid. here in Ontario it's 8% PST and 6% GST for a total of 14% tax.....thats kind of less than 33% ain't it?

Heh -- I once considered renting temporary lodgings with an ex-Canadian national who had a motel up in Washington State.  He owned and ran an old-fashioned cottage-style motel of the type that's still popular with contractors.  He appeared to be Scottish, complete with the appropriate accent.  He wore a heavy plaid coat with a plaid winter-style baseball cap on his head -- he looked a lot like a logger, and he was probably around 50 years old.

The man wasn't above loudly sharing his reasons for leaving Canada -- and one reason in particular.

"Eh, gad, man (pronounced 'muun'), it's like Communism.  They won't (pronounced 'woooun't') let ye ha' no GUN!"

He might have liked things in my neck of the woods.  Maybe it would have been too warm for him here -- but he probably would have appreciated other aspects of the situation.

Play nice or I'll call a five minute fighting major penalty - into the plexiglass box for you two! ;D

How can you dance disco with a mullet?

Remember that Canada has given us many good things:

Canadian Bacon
Moosehead
Hockey
Rush (!)
William Shatner

Okay, we'll forget about that last one... :)

alex trebeck, jim carrey, Shannon Tweed, rick moranis, pamela anderson, James Doohan

tho.. you can keep Keanu Reeves....

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - > Quote - no canada-bashing please, especially as their dollar is now worth more than the americans'. :lol:

Prices up here don't reflect that though!!!  It's lame!!  A $49 US XBOX 360 game is still $59 or $69 Canadian!!  SO doesn't really seem all that different with the Canadian dollar finally doing well!!

Gerard

 

IIRC, the VAT tax instantly slaps something like a 33% surcharge on all items sold in Canada.  We've got state sales taxes to deal with in the US, but none of them are THAT high.  Not even in Taxachusetts.

what?? where did you get that idea from? 33%? thats stupid. here in Ontario it's 8% PST and 6% GST for a total of 14% tax.....thats kind of less than 33% ain't it?

I'm not sure that the entire price differential is directly attributable to the VAT itself -- although that's definitely a factor.  The approx. percentage was told to me by a former Canadian (I met a lot of those in Washington), who shared it with me -- but I'll admit that it's not an issue that I've studied in any detail.  I've never had a reason to.

I do, however, know that prices on merchandise in general are considerably higher in Canada than they are in the US.  It's not hard to tell -- each time that I purchase an item such as a book, and there are two prices listed on the cover.  $7.95 US / $10.95 Canadian -- or something like that.

thats fixed by the book makers when it's printed - often six months to a year before it's published..... there's a backlash brewing over that right now...

Quote - thats fixed by the book makers when it's printed - often six months to a year before it's published..... there's a backlash brewing over that right now...

Maybe they'll cut y'all a break on that.  If the publishers aren't careful, then the high prices might start a black market in books up north of the border.  I can see it all now -- smugglers running truckloads of 'pirated' scifi and fantasy novels across the way --  with the pre-printed prices torn off. 

they do already... it's called the remaindered tables ;)

Yes, that happens down here, too.  I've seen publishers insert a "gripe message" printed towards the front of their  books warning that they haven't been paid for "stripped books".  I suppose that it's the equivalent of sofware piracy to them.

what stripping? lol
I can goto Chapters and buy a $50 USD remaindered book in perfect condition for $5 CAD...

You can get $75.00 coffee-table style books here in the US off of the 'Bargain" shelves at places like Barnes & Noble or Borders for $10.00 or less.  Although after awhile the accumulation of copious numbers of coffee-table style books in your house can begin to become a storage problem.

The publishers themselves re-sell their own returns at greatly reduced prices.  It's the brand-new books -- the ones that typically sell at full price, or perhaps on special with something like 20% off --  that sometimes get "stripped" (the publishing houses term for it).  I've yet to ever buy, or to even see for sale, a so-called "stripped book".  But the publishers regard the issue as enough of a problem to print a complaint about it in their books.

These days, I'm buying a lot of ebooks.  They come without the storage issues.

naw.. not looking at 'coffee table' books.. things like the complete Sherlock Holmes... Complete Shakespear collections.. and one I really loved, the complete Dune series - in a paperback box set... shame I was broke lol

Yep -- I buy some of those same types of books at times -- although I've got all of the Sherlock Holmes books in ebook format.  You can carry an entire library around with you in your pocket these days.  Sure beats having to haul those same books around in a tractor-trailer rig. 

I thoguht about that... then rejected Ebooks. why? simple reason is, I can always read a book. an ebook, I need something to read it on, power and the right program to read the Ebook... all I need for a book is light and somewhere to sit.

was a lesson that really hit home when we went camping... my copy of World War Z was readily availible.. the laptop? 2 hours on the battery before heading back to the van to charge it up again...

Hmm, I always thought it was Alaska where they lived in Igloos???? Never heard before that anyone thought Canadians did. I've seen many pictures of Canada and let me tell you, it would be my first choice for moving to if I ever left the USA. :) It has beautiful country.

My Palm T|X goes for around 8 hours without needing to be recharged.  Plus you can purchase a portable battery charger for it that uses something like 4AA batteries.  The batteries are good for several recharges, IIRC.

Sony has recently come out with an expensive ($300) so-called "Reader" which has a screen that looks exactly like printed paper.  The unit doesn't use any power at all to display the image, it only uses power when you "turn pages".  It does not have a backlight, and it only comes in grayscale -- no color images.  They might come out with a color version one of these days........a coworker of mine bought one -- but I don't think that it's worth the $300 pricetag, especially considering that my Palm does considerably more than just mono-use ebook reading -- plus the Palm is backlit, so that you can read it when the room / outdoors is dark.  But the Sony Reader is a neat gizmo, I have to admit.  Maybe it'll make a nice Christmas gift for someone:

[LINK]

ghelmer never said I was mad about this thread did I, eh? Difference between mad and not amused.

Yes I', having a bad day. Visitng nephew thought to be smart and DL a free game to play while no one was around and put a nasty trojan on my PC and then tried to hide it by DLing the bogus spyware to clean it up and made it even worse. I'm looking at a re-fomat. I can't see to get rid of all it.

XENOPHONZ idea of Canada has made this thread worth it now though. That is priceless. I look in the corner at the gun rack and case and think, HUH? Our dollar was worth nothing for so long, how else do you think pricing wold be. If the american dollar keeps going the way it is, you will find te same thing happening there.

kuroyume0161 Don't forget the shuttle's machanical arm. LOL.

John Candy was funny and is missed. The whole cast of SCTV and Saturdaynight Live were the reigning comedians of the industry for many years after too, if they lived.

I'm glad that I've brought a trace of humor for you, beryld -- that was my goal here.  :biggrin:

And BTW - as I mentioned in my earlier post: the gun complaint was told as related to me by a (former) Canadian.  It was his stated experience, not mine.  I have heard of Canadian gun laws which require that the guns must be stored unloaded & locked, and that the ammunition has to be stored in a separate location.  Such an arrangement won't do anyone much good when the Bad Dudes break down the door.

Quote - If the american dollar keeps going the way it is, you will find te same thing happening there.

Very, very true.  The "same thing happening here" -- it's a strong possibility at this point in time.

Quote - Yes I', having a bad day. Visitng nephew thought to be smart and DL a free game to play while no one was around and put a nasty trojan on my PC and then tried to hide it by DLing the bogus spyware to clean it up and made it even worse. I'm looking at a re-fomat. I can't see to get rid of all it.

Sorry about that one, beryld.  I understand fully how frustrating such a thing is.  Seriously, I do.

I would suggest that you spank him for it: but that's illegal to do up that way.  :lol:

Quote - ghelmer never said I was mad about this thread did I, eh? Difference between mad and not amused.  

Quote -

Gosh, sorry beryld!!!  I wasn't aiming that at you or anyone!!  I was just being a goof!!  Sorry if you thought my feigned righteous Canadian ire was on account of your post!!  

Gerard

Humff American football want a real man's sport it's hurling!
www.gaa.ie/page/hurling.html

And for your info Maine has surpassed Massachusetts in taxes of all kinds so there...LOL!

So it's Taxaine, eh?

I always wanted to be the zamboni driver when I grew up...

Don Cherry ... can there ever be another like him? no way , eh...

I'm a yooper, btw..they're almos from Canada ..my grandfater and all his brothers came from Quebec. lumberjacks, and one opened a bar. Fine hardy fellas.

*I always wanted to be the zamboni driver when I grew up...

*I think that is a song already.

Like I said, I'm having a bad day, well now it a couple trying not to have to re-format. I don't have the 5 second popups that stall the system now but I still can't stop the extra window opening every time I load a page. It's something in IE I think. I'm stumped.

Yes I wish I could lay a beating on the kid, he's 12 so he knew what the risk was. Unfortunately he is the youngest software snob I have ever meet. Daddy always get the best stuff as writeoffs with the company, never learns to use it but never has to pay for it. So, needless to say, the kid has no respect for what others had to work for.

I'm the one that should say sorry for the bad mood, I should know better than that.

Wow, you guys really have a talent for stretching out the pages, don't ya?!?

unbookmarking.
too many ebots right now for me to handle.

Attached Link: http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Malware-Removal-HijackThis-Logs-Go-Here-f37.html

Beryl, maybe the guys at this link can help you get rid of the nasties?
I've only had to use HIjackThis once, when Spybot S&D and AdAware and ZoneAlarm all failed to help. I posted my logs to a tech help forum and within a few hours someone had helped me get rid of the bad stuff.

Thanks Karen, I give that a try.

Shatner is Canadian? Next you'll be telling us Scotty wasn't Scottish!

nope...Canadian. Now he's just orbiting debris (hey, at least he made it into space).

Actually, if I remember rightly, the Great White North was set up to lampoon a Canadian law that went into effect back then, that said 4% (I think) of all broadcast programming had to be Canadian. And I think that the comics were Canadian as well (but it's been nigh on 20 years...;)

Been to Windsor once (casinos...don't appreciate 'no smoking' rules until you've been without one..;), and Toronto (some people were nice, some were decidedly not nice...but I got to try back bacon..;). Little cold for my taste (I'm from El Paso), but they seem mostly harmless...;)