Scared to be American? :D

Dec 7, 5:27 AM EST

T-Shirt Co. Offers 'Go Canadian Package'

By LESLIE HOFFMANAssociated Press Writer

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Planning a European vacation and don't want to talk American politics with an inquisitive foreigner? A New Mexico T-shirt company suggests going Canadian.

For $24.95, T-shirtKing.com offers the "Go Canadian" package, full of just the kind of things an American traveler can use to keep a vacation free of U.S. politics.

There's a Canadian flag T-shirt, a Canadian flag lapel pin and a Canadian patch for luggage or a backpack. There's also a quick reference guide - "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?" - on answering questions about Canada.

It is the brainchild of employees at the Mountainair, N.M.-based company known for comical T-shirts it sells worldwide on the Internet.

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"It's not meant as a slight against the United States or Canada," explained T-shirtKing.com President Bill Broadbent. "It was meant as something Republicans could give their Democrat friends to say 'C'est la vie.' ... But maybe not c'est la vie because that's a French word."

This isn't the first time the company has poked fun at politics. They held a political slogan T-shirt contest for the election. Among the favorites: "Might as well vote Republican, because they'll say you did anyway."

The "Go Canadian" idea emerged while Broadbent and several co-workers were chatting about a possible product to fill the gap between the end of their political slogan contest and another contest they plan for January.

One of Broadbent's colleagues had heard of someone harassed about U.S. politics during a recent overseas trip.

Some people might not mind, but others "just want to be on vacation," Broadbent said. "So we were joking that they could just go as Canadians, and that just kind of evolved."

The package went up on T-shirtKing.com's Web site Nov. 12 and the company sold a couple hundred - in New Mexico and elsewhere - in the first two weeks or so.

When lifelong Democrat Dani Delaney saw the package, she was immediately sold. After the general election, she said, "if I could move to Canada, I would."

"I admire their liberal, progressive stand on things," said the 57-year-old writing instructor at the University of New Mexico. "And I thought, 'Well, that's a good way to peacefully protest.'"

Sylvia Dawson's boyfriend has been joking with the Ontario native that she needs to find him a Canadian flag for an upcoming trip to Spain. That's after his daughter, who is studying there, warned that he might be questioned about politics.

So the 45-year-old Bernalillo resident bought a package.

"I said, 'What are you going to do if someone asks you about the prime minister of Canada?' And he said, 'I'll study up,'" Dawson said.

On the Net:

T-shirt King: http://www.t-shirtking.com

Citizenship and Immigration Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/

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I forgot to add, thinking politics isn't a problem in Canada might cause you a trouble overseas, as it's always a debate for the last 20 years!

Oh well... I wonder how many americans know there is a french-speaking part in North America :p

Well, what do you want.. the world would be pretty dull if we wouldn't make fun of Americans once in a while

Here in Canada, we're tired to joke on newfies (Newfoundland people)

Anyways, each country has its problem, the only problem with the US is that everybody knows of them because of media overexposure.

I mean, seriously, do we need to have such a full cover of the US election in Canada? sure it's important, but should it have been the first news of the day for 2 weeks?