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A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#32I can empathize with the author after moving away from Toronto almost 20 years ago, so much from when I was a teenager is gone. I'm not "from" where I live now, and where I'm "from" no longer exists, I just feel perpetually detached from everywhere now.
I've tried explaining this feeling to people so many times. Unmoored is a good word. We now live in a place where the locals are warm and welcoming, but I'll never be one of them. My kids are, but I'm just a little different. When I go back to where I was raised, I'm no longer a local there either, just a little bit different. It's more than the place itself changing. It's as if there is some continuity that's been b…
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Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#33I can empathize with the author after moving away from Toronto almost 20 years ago, so much from when I was a teenager is gone. I'm not "from" where I live now, and where I'm "from" no longer exists, I just feel perpetually detached from everywhere now.
Apparently people who grew up in East Germany have this but worse. Their "home culture" (TV shows, snacks made by the state snack factories) got "demolished" when East Germany got absorbed into Germany...
This is one of the many aspects of the so-called "Ostalgie":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostalgie
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#34I can empathize with the author after moving away from Toronto almost 20 years ago, so much from when I was a teenager is gone. I'm not "from" where I live now, and where I'm "from" no longer exists, I just feel perpetually detached from everywhere now.
You can’t go home again.
On those who step into the same rivers, different and different waters flow
- Heraclitus ~5th century BC
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#35Why almost every store have their names written in Chinese (?) and English. Is the post a joke with photos from Asia malls (or AI generated)? Or it’s just common in that part of Canada?
I grew up here. There's a lot of people in this area (generally non-working members of first gen immigrant families, think gma and gpa) who don't really speak English. My parents took me to these malls for a glimpse of the culture where home is (and to make me practice mandarin). As second-gen immigrants grow up, some have opened their own businesses too, combining aspects of Canadian and Chinese culture. To me now, it feels like home.
The bakery in Denison Square is a clear example of a cultural mishmash - they offer many of the traditional hk style breads like pineapple buns, but also many twists that definitely have a Canadian influence (smoked beef sandwitch with milk bread).
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#36Why almost every store have their names written in Chinese (?) and English. Is the post a joke with photos from Asia malls (or AI generated)? Or it’s just common in that part of Canada?
It's common in Canada for ethnic malls and stores whose proprietors and customers are mostly first- and second-generation immigrants, that they'd have signage in their own language. There's no rule enforcing it and no rule against it, except maybe in Quebec.
Quebec's language laws are fascinating, the newest version "requires non-French signs to be accompanied by French descriptions that are twice the size." Since the goal is "to ensure French predominates the visual field of storefronts," you can have the logos be the same size as long as the tagline is in French.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-storefront-si... https://montrealgazette.com/news/quebec/new-regulations-will...
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#37> The good thing is that, after 5 years of > construction, a beautiful new mall stan… just kidding! > > This is Canada. The place where construction > has to stop because you’re not allowed to uproot > a tree on your own property. Or a vindictive neighbour > holds up your project in Committee of Adjustments, until > you build them a new deck as a bribe. Or construction > is blocked by a surprise Heritage Listing on y…
Yeah it's an exaggerated rant, including the idea that you can't uproot a tree on your property which is only somewhat true, but it's not much different than most developed countries including the U.S.
With little exception, there is a heck of a lot of construction in Canada. Canada has among the highest construction per capita in the world.
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in Texas, and have lived in California and New York. In all three of these places the areas with a large Chinese presence will have stores with names in both Chinese and English. This is absolutely common in the US in pretty much any large city, I can't imagine someone having never seen this before in the US unless they never lived or went to an area that was diverse. And its not just Chinese, many places will…
I see it in Chinese restaurants, sure. And in Chinatowns. (And with Spanish in the southwest.) I don't see it on "almost every store" "everywhere in the US", though.
Did you really think that OP meant that literally almost every single store in the U.S. has Chinese names written on their storefront?
Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#39> The good thing is that, after 5 years of > construction, a beautiful new mall stan… just kidding! > > This is Canada. The place where construction > has to stop because you’re not allowed to uproot > a tree on your own property. Or a vindictive neighbour > holds up your project in Committee of Adjustments, until > you build them a new deck as a bribe. Or construction > is blocked by a surprise Heritage Listing on y…
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Re: A place I've never been to. A place I'll never go
#40Why is this relevant to hn ?
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