27 Things Only Canadians Who Grew Up In The '00s Will Remember

Back when house hippos ruled the world!

1. The house hippo commercial:

Companies Committed To Kids / Via youtube.com

And of course, getting into an argument with your cousin from America that house hippos are real because your dad always changed the channel before you could see the ending! Relive the nostalgia by watching the 1-minute PSA on YouTube.

2. Ed the Sock:

Fair Use

Who else remembers laughing while Ed ripped apart all our favourite (and not-so-favourite) musical artists, and was the definition of the exact opposite of what a Canadian was ~supposed~ to be?

3. Watching Degrassi High: The Next Generation:

CTV

The most dramatic show on Canadian TV. Who could forget being devastated that Jimmy Brooks, aka Aubrey Graham, aka Drake was shot on the show?

4. Debating Sam Roberts's hotness with everyone you crossed paths with:

Universal, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 / Via en.wikipedia.org

Backed up by the Sam Roberts Band, Sam went on to win the Juno Award for Video of the Year in 2007 for "Bridge To Nowhere."

5. Calm-faced Canadian Idol winner, Ryan Malcolm:

CTV

Who could forget the catchy "Something More" with scenes of Amherstview resident Ryan signing autographs in a Walmart parking lot?

6. Expanding your Lip Smacker collection:

Flickr Creative Commons / Jessica Ta / Via flic.kr, Flickr Creative Commons / Dutch Blythe Fashion / Via flic.kr

They were (and are) SO good that even your boyfriend would use them (mostly the Dr. Pepper one)!

7. Robin Sparkles showing Canadian pride:

CBS / Tenor / Via tenor.com

How I Met Your Mother was always better when it had Canadian jokes, eh?

8. Doing your best air guitar to Sum 41 songs:

Island Records / Via youtube.com

We all know that "Fat Lip" was the superior song of all Sum 41 songs (and made you want to pick up a skateboard)!

9. Writing on your Converse sneakers:

Flickr Creative Commons / Catsy Pline / Via flic.kr

It was all the rage to not only write on your Converse, but to then also take moody pictures of them. Emo lyrics were always the best!

10. Watching Laguna Beach or The Hills, just so you would understand The After Show:

MTV

Before Jessi became host of Canada's Smartest Person and Dan was David Rose on Schitt's Creek, these two were the dream duo that you knew you needed!

11. Wearing causes close to your heart on your wrist:

Flickr Creative Commons / Rodrigo Purchio / Via flic.kr, Flickr Creative Commons / slgckgc / Via flic.kr

We all showed everyone how philanthropic we were by going to a kiosk in the mall and picking out different silicone bracelets to match our outfits or school uniforms.

12. Listening to Wave on your iPod Nano:

Warner

This duo from Niagara Falls had hits such as "California," "Think It Over," "That's How It Feels," and "Don't Say Sarah."

13. Anything Paul Frank:

Flickr Creative Commons / SoQ錫濛譙 / Via flic.kr, Flickr Creative Commons / Nikita Kashner / Via flic.kr

Binders, handbags, pencil cases... the list goes on! That monkey will forever be iconic.

14. Watching Velvet Empire and Sugar Jones becoming famous on Popstars:

YouTube / Via youtube.com

15. Asking for this series of albums for Christmas:

Quality Records

Beginning in 1997, Quality Records continues to release albums each year with the most recent being MuchDance 2019.

16. Being shook by Shawn Desman's dance moves:

YouTube / Via youtube.com

Learning the choreography with your dance team on weekends was the best plan you could possibly have.

17. Wondering what shampoo Kalan Porter used to get those luscious curls:

CTV

Kalan was crowned the winner of Canadian Idol in 2004. If you are wondering what he looks like now, you can check out his Instagram here.

18. The Jamiroquai-sounding song "Take A Message" by Remy Shand:

Motown / Via youtube.com

"Take A Message" was played at every school dance. Every. Single. One.

19. Friendship jewellery:

Claire's

We were all guilty of buying numerous friendship necklaces at Claire's or Ardene... just to lose it a month later.

20. Canada's answer to Eminem and D12, the band Swollen Members:

PCP Productions / Via Faze

This Vancouver band's name went right over your head, but you still jammed out to their duet "Breathe" featuring Nelly Furtado.

21. Making a mix CD for all the long Canadian car trips:

Flickr Creative Commons / Berenice / Via flic.kr, Flickr Creative Commons / Bianca J / Via flic.kr

Limewire, blank cds, cd cases and sharpies were the start up package to make your life a little more bearable as you trekked across the country to see family

22. That one song from Nickelback:

Roadrunner / Via youtube.com

Oh, you remember the one: "Hero." This song really secretly convinced all '00s kids that Nickelback was a "legitimate" band, because it was on the soundtrack to the Spider-Man movie — but you didn't tell anyone you thought that, because it wasn't cool!

23. Watching dramatic snowboarders on MTV:

YouTube / Via youtube.com

Peak Season was an MTV Canadian reality TV show set in Whistler, British Columbia.

24. Being extremely confused by the "Get Down" music video by B4-4:

Columbia/Sony / Via youtube.com

The infamous "gonna make you come tonight / over to my house" lyric was weirdly not the most cringe thing about this song and video.

25. Determining the hierarchy of your friendships, and broadcasting it for the world to see:

Flickr Creative Commons / Wayne Williamson / Via flic.kr

As soon as you got into an argument with a friend, the first place to go was always your MySpace top 8 — you needed to make sure they knew you were upset.

26. Quoting Juno religiously:

Fox Searchlight

It was really exciting that the leading actors, Michael Cera and Ellen Page, were both Canadian.

27. And Canada's version of Bennifer, Deryck Whibley and Avril Lavigne:

Getty Images / Michael Buckner

Sum 41's Deryck Whibley and Avril Lavigne were married on July 15th, 2006. Divorcing in 2010, Avril went on to date Brody Jenner and married Nickelback frontman, Chad Kreoeger, in 2013.