I agree with you. We have a lot of Canadians on this forum and it'll be great to see this thread expand.
Hey
I am not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.
I don't live in an igloo,
or eat blubber, or own a dogsled,
and I don't know Jimmy, Suzy, or Sally from Canada,
although I am certain they are really, really nice.
I have a Prime Minister, not a President
I speak English and French, not American
I pronounce it "About" not "a boot"
I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack
I believe in Peacekeeping, not policing
Diversity, not Assimilation
and that the Beaver is a proud and noble animal.
The Toque is a hat,
A Chesterfield is a couch,
and "Z" is pronounced "ZED" not "ZEE", "ZED"
Canada is the second largest land mass,
The first nation of hockey, and
THE BEST PART OF NORTH AMERICA!!
My Name is "Joe", and
"IAM CANADIAN!!!"
Cheers!!
CANADIANISMS
loonie
A dollar. The Canadian $1 coin has a loon (the bird) on one side.
toonie
Two dollars. The Canadian $2 coin is gold-coloured in the middle, with a silver-coloured ring around the outside. It takes its name from the $1 coin, the loonie, and adds its value, two, to form "twonie" or, more easily read, "toonie". A polar bear is on one side of this coin.
pogey
Unemployment benefits. "I'm getting pogey" means, as the British would say, "I'm on the dole."
serviette
French for "napkin". This term is used by anglophones as well as francophones.
washroom
bathroom
housecoat
robe, bathrobe
chesterfield
A couch or sofa.
poutine
Québecois specialty. French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy.
Shreddies
A brand of breakfast cereal, vaguely resembling Chex in the United States.
Smarties
Not the ones like in the United States. In Canada, Smarties are a candy resembling M&Ms. They do melt in your hand, and they're a lot sweeter.
Kraft Dinner, or KD
macaroni and cheese.
back bacon
Canadian bacon. Sometimes rolled in peameal.
brown bread
Whole wheat bread. If you are at a diner for breakfast and you ask for whole wheat toast, they'll understand you, but "brown toast" is a lot more Canadian.
homo milk
Homogenized milk. Known in the United States as whole milk.
whitener
powdery stuff to put into coffee or tea. Called "non-dairy creamer" in the United States.
whipping cream
heavy cream to the folks in the United States.
coriander
cilantro to the folks in the United States.
cooking onions
yellow onions to the folks in the United States.
butter tart
a delicious pie-like pastry cup with a butter, brown sugar, raisins, and nuts filling.
Nanaimo bars
a rich brownie like base with a custard cream layer topped with chocolate. Named for the city in British Columbia.
lineup
a line.... "There was a really long lineup for tickets to last night's hockey game."
icing sugar
powdered sugar
table (verb)
to bring up for discussion, as in a session of Parliament.
Robertson screws
Screws (for metal or wood) with a square hole in the top rather than a straight or X-shaped one. They'd be popular in the States except that Henry Ford wanted exclusive rights to them, and Robertson (the inventor, a Canadian) refused to sell.
May Two-Four
The nickname of Victoria Day, Queen Victoria's birthday, May 24th.
toque
A kind of wintertime hat.
"The States"
The United States of America. Canadians hate referring to the United States as "America", because Canadians are just as much (North) Americans as citizens of the United States are.
"chip trucks"
These are like the van driven by the ice cream man, only they sell French fries. They are most ubiquitous on the roads to "cottage country."
metric measurements
No, the temperature does not drop fifty degrees when you cross the border from the United States! Centimetres, not inches; kilometres, not miles; metres, not yards, etc.
French and English
The Government of Canada is one of the rare federal governments in the world to be completely bilingual.
milk containers
Milk comes in plastic bags as well as in cartons and jugs
hockey gear
A guy can get onto a bus wearing goalie pads, a helmet - everything but the skates - and nobody gives him a second look.
riding
Elected officials represent the people of their riding - also known as electoral districts.
Trans-Canada Highway
Canada's equivalent to the Interstate highways - is two lanes wide for most of its length. And there are huge, wide highways around the major cities. The 401 north of Toronto is twelve lanes wide in places and has recently overtaken some major highways in Los Angeles as the busiest road on the continent.
gas stations
Esso (instead of Exxon)
Petro Canada
Irving (only in eastern Canada)
Canadian Tire
Husky
department stores
The Bay (the Hudson's Bay Company, the oldest company in North America and possibly the world - it was incorporated on May 2, 1670)
banks
Toronto Dominion
Bank of Montreal
RBC Royal Bank
The Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank)
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
beers
Molson and Labatt are the dominant brands and they are a lot stronger than U.S. beers.
bookstores
Coles
Chapters
Indigo
doughnut shops Tim Horton's - named after the hockey player who started the chain - are common everywhere.
Cuba vacations
Trips to Cuba are freely advertized and Cuban cigars are readily available.
health care
Nobody worries about losing a life's savings or a home because of illness - health care is universal.
weather conversations
Virutally any conversation will inevitably include a brief discussion of the weather - it is such a dominant force in Canadians' lives.
potato chips
They come in flavours such as salt and vinegar, ketchup, and "all dressed" (a collection of just about all possible seasonings - the person who suggested this one likened it to a "suicide slush" in the States).
the cottage (Central Ontario)
Every weekend during the summer, southern Ontarians go in droves from Toronto and its environs to their second homes (ranging from campers to great big houses with all the amenities) in the "cottage country" of Muskoka and the Haliburton Highlands.
the camp (Northern Ontario)
Northern Ontario's version of the cottage.
cottage country (winter style)
Every weekend during the winter, the cottage country people go back to cottage country to go snowmobiling. Gas stations are just as likely to be filling snowmobiles as cars or trucks.
the chalet (Quebec)
Every weekend during the summer, southern Quebeckers go in droves from Montreal and its environs to their cottage country (usually the Laurentians; the Eastern Townships; Burlington, Vermont; Lake Champlain, New York; or Plattsburgh, New York).
the cabin (British Columbia, Newfoundland & Labrador)
"The cabin" is where British Columbians head to on the weekends, not the cottage. Canadian author Charles Gordon wrote an entire book on this phenomenon - it's all the same place but called differently in different parts of the country. "The cottage", "the lake", etc. but in B.C., it's only "the cabin".
block heaters
Cars have electrical plugs sticking out from under the hoods to prevent engines from freezing when it's -40!
Goods and Services Tax
Just about everything is subject to the national 7% GST, except in Atlantic Canada where the provincial and GST taxes have been combined to form the HST - Harmonized Sales Tax.
British spelling
Canadians tend to write about "colour," "cheques," "theatres," and so forth. Most Canadians use the American "-ize" rather than the British "-ise" verb ending, however.
zed
Most Canadians will tell you that this is how the last letter of the alphabet is pronounced, not zee.
Bloody Caesar
It's just like a Bloody Mary, except it's made with Clamato juice instead of plain tomato juice.
eh
Canadians often end sentences with "eh" and many studies have looked into this phenomenon. It is generally agreed that Canadians do it because they are polite. The "eh" is an invitation for the listener to participate in the conversation opposed to the speaker simply stating fact after fact.
b'y
Newfoundlanders have many colloquialisms but this one, I'm told, is their version of "eh". Actually a contraction of "boy", it appears quite regularly in speech and is most commonly known from the sea shanty "I's the b'y that builds the boat, I's the b'y that sails her...."
__________________ IT IS BETTER TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND LET PEOPLE BELIEVE YOU ARE A FOOL THAN OPEN IT AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT. BR CHAMPIONS SEASONS 19 & 21. DIVA'S RULE!!!
i posted a new canada thread before i found this one, i am from cobourg which is near toronto and i love canada.i am originally from london area but have relocated here.
i posted a new canada thread before i found this one, i am from cobourg which is near toronto and i love canada.i am originally from london area but have relocated here.
I lived in Peterborough near Coburg...sort of and relocated to London..
Bonjour! I'm born and raised in Toronto. I've travelled to many places in Canada and some of the sights I've seen are breathtaking. I love Quebec and I love BC. I lived out West in Edmonton for awhile wasn't too fond of it-sorry. It's great to see other fellow Canadians out here posting on this thread.
__________________ IT IS BETTER TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND LET PEOPLE BELIEVE YOU ARE A FOOL THAN OPEN IT AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT. BR CHAMPIONS SEASONS 19 & 21. DIVA'S RULE!!!
I lived in Edmonton for awhile. It was when they had finished building West Edmonton mall. I remember it was 10 min. walking distance me when I was like 3-lol
__________________ IT IS BETTER TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND LET PEOPLE BELIEVE YOU ARE A FOOL THAN OPEN IT AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT. BR CHAMPIONS SEASONS 19 & 21. DIVA'S RULE!!!
BR CHAMPIONS SEASONS 19 & 21. DIVA'S RULE!!!
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