I was waiting for the free improv show following the late program at the Second City in downtown Toronto. There was a family from Barrie — cottage country north of Toronto. Barrie is a small town, though it was nice to see this family made numerous trips down to the big city.
When I ask Canadians about their country, I expect back questions about the States, and am always amazed by what I get asked. The family had twin sons about 17-19.
One of them noticed that when traveling through the States, that the billboards were so huge. He wanted to know if the billboards were that big elsewhere in the States.
I hadn't really thought about it. Other than the view I had on Via Rail from Montréal to Quebec City in 2009, I hadn't seen that many Canadian highways lately. But I did remember that when I have driven on Canadian highways, their views aren't obstructed by large signs saying "eat here, stay here, gas up here."
I did assure the young man that in the States, billboards were huge everywhere you looked. He sincerely looked puzzled as to why that would be. To me, having huge billboards always made sense as companies had to fight for your eyes to frequent a specific establishment.
In Canada, there was much less pressure on your eyes when traveling. Sure there were signs, but those signs were more basic. And the exit signs were more simple as well.
I did later observe the Queen Elizabeth Way between Toronto and Hamilton in both directions on this trip. If that is what you are used to, this would explain the young man's question in terms of the United States or Canada.
There wasn't really a comment as to whether one method was better than another. But this was a nice exchange of cultural difference, opening all eyes involved to the merits of tiny signs vs. huge billboards.
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