Check Your Jacket, Please (a.k.a the Differences between Canada and Brazil)

Last night, I was reminded of something that happened back in 1997. I was just home to Montreal after finishing my degree in England. There were two young Brazilian women staying at our place at the time, both of whom were Girl Guide/Scout trainors in Brazil, in Canada on a two or three week exchange. One night, we headed downtown to go dancing. Walking into the club, the doorman/bouncer asked us to "check our coats". Immediately, one of the Brazilians opened her jacket to show the bouncer. Confused, he pointed to the Coat Check and said that we would have to leave our jackets with the girl at the counter. Highly embarrassed, our guest from Rio explained that when they said "check your coat" in Brazil they were looking for guns or knives, as opposed to simply trying to avoid having a pile-up of bulky winter jackets in the club.

So last night when I walked into the dance club and was asked to check my coat. I caught myself from looking around for a Canadian-style coat check and dutifully opened the sides of my jacket for the bouncer to scan me with a metal detector. We quickly passed the test and were admitted to the club, coats and all, with no further incidence.