Canadian inventions: myths vs. reality

Fact-checking Dave Grohl's Super Bowl commercial.

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[lostcauselancer]

Thank you, Canada, for inventing calculus, fireworks, clocks, and the moon.

[bflaminio]

I saw this commercial and immediately thought "Thanks for giving JJ McCullough a week off on having to think up a topic". Right in your wheelhouse; did not disappoint. When you miraculously produced a "History of Peanut Butter" book, my jaw dropped.

[howveyouben]

My favorite fact about Hawaiian Pizza is that it was invented by a Greek immigrant living in Canada who was inspired by Cantonese cuisine to put a South American fruit onto an Italian dish and named it after Hawaii.

[HopUpOutDaBed]

*man visits canada for 2 weeks*
Canada: everything you've ever done is canadian now

[felipeitoanuatti]

Brazilians often claim that Brazil invented the aeroplane based on Alberto Santos Dumont’s first flight in 1906. It happened three years after the Wright Brothers’ flight. My compatriots arbitrarily disqualify the Wright Brothers’ claim based on the fact that their plane used a contraption to take off, even though their plane is much closer to modern planes and could fly for much longer than Dumont’s.

[TurtleMarcus]

Norwegians often claim that the paperclip was invented by Norwegian inventor Johan Vaaler. However, his design was faulty and never widely adopted, and the standard paperclip we all know and love (the Gem design) actually predates his invention by a few years. During WWII, a paperclip fastened to your shirt pocket became a discreet symbol of resistance to Occupation, which probably contributed to the myth.

[MegaKoutsou]

What you mention about Canadians claiming everything someone born in Canada, but who left Canada early and was productive only abroad happens in Greece too. Every prominent greek scientist, who consciously left Greece explicitly to seek better research opportunities, sometimes even before their undergraduate degree, is claimed to be greek. Thing is, most of those people seem to accept their achievements as greek achievements, and usually are happy to give interviews in greek media talking about their success

[LiveForFuntasy]

Reminds me of that old ad that tried to portray Superman as being a Canadian creation. Joe Shuster was born in Toronto, immigrated to the US as a child, then over a decade later he and Jerry Siegel created Superman together.

[kobalt]

nothing helps start the day better than an award winning JJ video

[rotz]

"Canada's patriotism-industrial complex" is now my favourite term.

[amcalabrese]

As an Italian American I am ready to break off diplomatic relations thanks to you inventing “Hawaiian Pizza”.

[israelcruz]

I really appreciate your use of sound effects. Unlike other YouTubers you don't make them obnoxious and instead they make the video a bit more engaging.

[krgoodrich]

It seems that Canadian and American cultures are so similar and so synchronized that it’s difficult to even determine whether an invention is from the US or Canada.

[Droidman]

I swear I was taught in school (in the American South) that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter, so your PB section was insightful in both ways. Reading through some of the comments, I think I'm not the only one that though this.

Serves as a great personal example of what you said; when the thing is generic enough, invented independently multiple times, and has a distinction between the invention and the popular use of a thing, it gives whomever is making the list a lot of leeway to put their thumb on the scale to fit their narrative.

[SynGirl]

Oh man, thanks for covering this, I'm so tired of all the "Canada invented everything" propaganda I've been force-fed since childhood. My favorite was that Canada invented synthesizers because one guy invented a few instruments that weren't the first of their kind, didn't have an impact on music, and aren't remembered by anyone else as "firsts."

[fortunatejeremy]

I like your take on how Canadians assert their identity. It's very accurate.

[kimarous]

I think your "Hotel California" comment about Canadian-born moving elsewhere but still being "counted as" Canadian cuts to the heart of my anxiety about "Given that I was born in Toronto, even though I've lived basically my whole life on Vancouver Island, am I *really* a Western Canadian and would that be counted against me should Canada dissolve?" Think there's a bit of "Caesar's census" wrapped up in that anxiety, too.

[alexandercolefield]

My favorite use of the "Hotel California Effect" is to say that Ayn Rand's work were a product of the Soviet Union.

[fatnose]

I'm honestly surprised a country like Canada cant find better than "paint rollers" and "egg cartons" to fill a top 20 list. Like theres a lot of people in Canada and its not a poor country there just has to be at least 20 relevant inventions no?

[kassemir]

It's fun. I live in Denmark, and we kind of do the same thing, that is, claiming certain celebrities are Danish, even if they got American citizenship and their ties to Denmark are pretty questionable.
Though, in this case, I think it's mostly 'cause we're a very small country, so any one from Denmark having a broad global cultural appeal is pretty rare. So we'll pretty much take what we can get and cling on to people who it really doesn't make sense to refer to as "Danish".