I'm so sorry for (insert verb here)

Americans are ignorant, the French are rude and the Irish are drunks.

There are stereotypes for every nationality, and so far, the one about Canadian politeness has proven true.

- My sister once bumped into someone here and before she could utter a word, that person started apologizing to her.

- I nearly bumped into a woman while getting off the elevator, thinking I was in the lobby, whereas she was getting on on the third floor. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said and proceeded to apologize for having the audacity to use the elevator.

- A street bum recently asked me for money, starting with this sentence: "Excuse me miss, may I please ask you a question?" Quite a change from a bum at Chase bank in Manhattan who started screaming after me once for not giving him money after I walked through a door he was holding.

-While playing tennis and constantly hitting balls to the next court due to my non-existent backhand, a woman actually thanked me and my tennis partner for letting her know a ball was rolling behind her feet when she was about to trip on my ball for the 10th time: "Oh, thank you so much for letting me know, I really appreciate it."

I guess I'm no stereotypical Canadian, considering my reaction to someone's tennis balls rolling all over my court involves rants about how recreational tennis players should be banned from certain courts and lines like: "Keep the ball on your own court, moron."