Canadians have earned the stereotype of being exceedingly polite – even over-apologizing – but one city stands out above all others while another breaks that stereotype.
Markham has been crowned the politest city in Canada in a survey of more than 1,500 Canadian residents in 44 of the country’s largest cities. On a scale of one to 10, with one being the politest, it earned a score of 2.91, followed by Saguenay, Que. at 3.87 and Cape Breton, N.S. at 3.88.
Markham is Canada’s most diverse community, and its cultural richness and varied residents may contribute to them being the most tolerable and polite, Preply suggests. The online tutoring platform conducted the survey, asking people who’ve been living in their city for at least a year how often they see common rude behaviours, how often they swear and what they think of the stereotype that Canadians are polite.
The rudest city on a scale of one to 10, with 10 earning the distinction of being the rudest is Vaughan at 8.05. “Home to many commuters, Vaughan has become somewhat of a hub for traffic. This may be part of the reason why residents have become frustrated and why you’re more likely to encounter people who won’t wave a thank you if you let them merge here than anywhere else,” Prepley explains.
“Vaughan’s neighbouring city, Brampton, likely makes it into the top three for similar reasons.” (Coquitlam, B.C. was ranked the second rudest city at 7.85 while Brampton landed in the No. 3 spot with a score of 7.05.)
Preply’s findings also determined the most common rude behaviours, which include being absorbed by your phone in public, being noisy in public, not letting people merge in traffic, mot waving thank you when a car lets you merge into their lane, not saying thank you to the driver when exiting public transport and not respecting personal space.
The survey also found Canadians swear nine times per day on average, but Burlingtonians swear the most, using 15 swear words a day. On average, Canadians apologize nine times a day.
