Dianavan has it right! We are most eager not to be mistaken for Americans when travelling abroad. (Guess why....) Being Canadian is the safe way to go. This is why even young Americans traveling will sometimes put a Canadian flag on their backpack.

But patriotism is a fairly quiet thing in Canada, except when we are playing international hockey. We like our country, but we seldom go on and on about how it is "the best" or anything like that. It would seem arrogant and rude to do that.

I have never seen a country more aggressively and self-consciously patriotic and certain of being "the best" than the USA, and that is one of the things that worries other people about America. It's like...who are they going to be fighting a war with next?

One must take care around countries that rave on incessantly about their flag, their dead heros, their military history, and their constitution. Like "yon Cassius (who) is lean and hungry" such countries are dangerous.