I'll get a zinger of an e-mail a few times a year. . .but even while travelling in Asia I've met a handful of Canada-snobs. . .but they don't make me upset because (despite their attitude) they do have a few things to crow about- less gun-violence-deaths, a heathcare system that doesn't bankrupt families, some glorious natural landscape, and hockey (underrated sport). . .Snobs in general bother us, but this crew is tolerable because (uncomfortable for Yanks to admit) sometimes they have a point. . .

Generally too busy feeling inferior to their southern neighbors to be truly snobby, some indulge a peculiar reverse variant. I've come to call it the "Not in Canada" snob, who can be found reading the newspaper or watching the news, sniffing and looking down their nose at some evident scandal, racism, violence or tawdry sleaze taking place in the U.S., while smugly intoning, "This kind of thing doesn't happen in Canada"