Jeff Ballweg

One thing that any expatriate will tell you is that neither your immigration status, nor the most concerted efforts to assimilate can change the fact that you give away your heritage as soon as you open your mouth. In a country with four million people and two million tourists each year, it’s hard to give the impression that you call Christchurch home.

Canadian flag on a backpack

Since most Kiwis are very polite by American standards (they don’t shoot at you when you wander onto their front lawn), conversation often starts by asking how long you’ll be in New Zealand and if you’re enjoying yourself. Soon though, everyone wants to know where you’ve come from. The  subject can be a difficult one to approach anywhere in the world, and Kiwis are notably careful when asking, which is where we’ve noticed an interesting trend: people usually go with “Canada” as their first guess. Of course, we take no offence, in fact given recent political history, it can be taken as more of a compliment. Stitching a maple leaf to your backpack is a time honored tradition for recent high school graduates heading to Europe for a summer, and many blue-staters have considered, if only for a moment, moving to the land of Gretzky. But since the US is around ten times more populous than Canada, it makes one wonder whether Canadians just get out more or if asking a Canadian if they’re from The States would ruffle a few goose feathers.
America is huge, and there are a wide range of accents to guess at. Wisconsinites don’t sound like southerners, or like people from Boston or any other notable American dialect, so maybe a string of Wisconsin dont’cha’knows sounds more Canadian than anything else. I suppose the American accent could have been permanently associated with George Bush’s nonsensical idioms and bumblings, which is probably more the influence of Jon Stewart than anything else. I guess it could be that Kiwis just assume you’re from Canada unless you’re looking for a gun show or a restaurant serving 64-ounce slabs of corn-fed beef for under $10.
I think our best theory so far is that New Zealanders, who are often mistaken for Australians, feel a sense of solidarity with Canadians who get confused for Americans.
Whatever the explanation, I’ll take it as a compliment. Besides, Wisconsin is closer to Toronto than Los Angeles, New York or Houston, so it’s a reasonable guess.