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A Typology of Canadianisms
A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/ https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/
- sophacles 1y agoThis is neat. It gave me a headache because my brain really wanted DCHP to be DHCP and it was confusing me... but the actual content is great. Is there a similar dictionary for US midwesternisms, or Texisms, or really any region?
- badc0ffee 1y agoSeems very thorough. I don't see "transport" or "transport truck" though. I think It's an Ontario expression and it sounds kind of weird to me as an Albertan.
- MegaDeKay 1y agoNever here that term used but I'm out west as well. We're all semi's, all the time. "two-four" is there and can confirm that is more an eastern term as well. Never heard the term until I spent a year out in Ontario many years ago. Still hasn't really made its way to the west in all that time.
- bethekidyouwant 1y agoYeah it’s a flat
- dismalaf 1y ago"Two-four" hasn't made its way out west because we call it a case of beer, and we already have "two-six", which is a 26oz bottle of liquor.
- dmalik 1y agoIn Ontario "two-six" is called a twixer
- bregma 1y agoIt's a 750.
- ShroudedNight 1y ago"Twixer" must be relatively new, or more specific regionalism. I've only known them to be called "twenty-sixers"
- sillywalk 1y agoSame here. Also, 13 oz is a 'mickey', and the 3L is a "Texas mickey". (I noticed I did ounces and litres)
- jdougan 1y agoIt made some inroads in to BC in the 80s, mostly thanks to Bob and Doug McKenzie, but never really stuck.
- throaway955 1y agotwo-four has been established MB parlance for at least 50 years. But then MB isn't really Western Canada. Its central.
- jt2190 1y agoThis classification seems extremely arbitrary. What purpose, exactly, does this classification serve? What insights about “Canadian as she is spoke” do we learn by using this?
- allenu 1y agoThere must be so many tiny little differences like this. I remember when I lived in Toronto for a bit that the way they phrased whether you wanted a fast food order to eat at the restaurant or to take home was a little different from in Alberta. I know in Alberta, they would ask "to stay, or to go?" when ordering, but in Toronto I think it was "for here or to go?" which is how I've heard it phrased in the U.S. as well. Totally minor difference, but it did feel jarring when I heard it differently from the first time as someone who grew up in Alberta.
- Rendello 1y agoI'm from Northern Ontario and me and my buddy went to a poutine place in Toronto. He asked for a poutine (naturally), and the worker didn't understand him. Southern Ontario says "poo-teen" /pu.tin/, but we say "p'tin" /pə.tɪn/ where I'm from. The original French way is [pu.t͡sɪn].
- bawolff 1y agoAmericans dont use the term "pencil crayons"??? What do you call them?
- cka 1y agoColored pencils
- joshdavham 1y agoThat also blew my mind.
- NikolaNovak 1y agoOne of the frequent debates with my wife lol... "But they are not crayons" does not help my case at all :-)
- nucleardog 1y agoWell... they're generally wax or oil based like a crayon. Just wrapped in wood like a pencil rather than in paper. Like some sort of... pencil... crayon. >_>
- School-Cotton 1y agoCrayons are the fat sticks of wax (e.g. Crayola brand). Colored pencils are, well, colored pencils. There are also various different ways to pronounce “crayon”; is that also true in Canada? For example I pronounce it with one syllable: “cran”, just like the beginning of “cranberry”. I get the feeling that’s not the majority pronunciation but it’s not exactly rare either (at least where I grew up).
- sheepscreek 1y agoWashroom vs. bathroom: I’ve always found it strange to call a room a “bathroom” if it doesn’t have a shower or tub. On the other hand, most single-family homes in Canada have a “powder room” where people can wash their face and hands. Although these facilities serve similar purposes, the former is used for public spaces, while the latter is found inside homes.
- trashchomper 1y agoAs an Australian I always find it funny going places and having to remember which dance-around word everyone uses for "toilet". Washroom, restroom, bathroom, there's so many!
- ajdude 1y agoDon't forget water closet!
- xeonmc 1y agoNot to be confused with Tungsten Carbide, a ceramic used for abrasives and ballpoint pen tips.
- kurtis_reed 1y agoToilet is the object, not the room it's in
- KayEss 1y agoOnly in some parts of the world. In many it's the room and the object
- xattt 1y agoSoviet apartments had a separate rooms for the toilet and the area with a bath/shower/sink. The area behind the toilet was usually a hinged wall that could be opened to reveal the entry point for utilities. I assume toilet hands were an unspoken issue, because there was no possible way to traverse from the toilet room to the washroom without touching anything. For a complete tangent, I’ll mention that Soviet toilets had a “poop shelf” so that people could eyeball their stool to gauge their health. One flaw of this design is that there was no odour suppression offered by toilets that immediately immerse stool in water.
- bee_rider 1y agoI’m very upset to hear that > While brown bread may have contained some molasses in the early 1900s, post-WWII it was usually made without. So Canadian brown bread is, unlike Boston-style bread, not sweet (see the 1909 quotation) and also distinct from Irish brown bread, though the latter may have inspired it. Brown bread is sweet, and you are supposed to cut it up into little hockey pucks and toast it. It is the perfect shape when it comes out of the can.
- throaway5454 1y agoCan? Where in Canada is this canned brown bread at?
- wobblyasp 1y agoWe call it spoon bread in the east. True spoon bread is baked in an old tin can. Not sweet.
- bee_rider 1y agoIt isn’t, apparently, that’s what I’m upset about. Canada and New England are supposed go way back, longer than the countries. But apparently we didn’t share our bread technology advances.
- rapind 1y agoI've had it. You're really not missing out. I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
- bee_rider 1y ago> I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!). 1860’s apparently. https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-Figures-featuring-Bostonian-Foodways/the-lyrical/A-note-on-Boston-brown-bread/ https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-... > You're really not missing out. It it rare in matters of taste to be able to say it, but you sir or madam are objectively incorrect! Ok well, maybe that is a bit over the top. But anyway, since it comes in a can, hopefully anyone curious can just try it. Pop it in the toaster oven, put some cream cheese on it, and have it for breakfast. It is a treat, IMO.
- neurobashing 1y agoSad to not see "dart" in there, I assumed from Letterkenny that it was a regular Canadianism. Perhaps it's too new?
- wobblyasp 1y agoDarts an old one. At least since my parents age.
- jdougan 1y agoApparently originated in Australia, though it is definitely an established usage in Canada. I seem to recall hearing that usage in Vancouver in the 90s. https://gikken.co/mate-translate/blog/from-darts-to-cigarettes-unraveling-the-slang-behind-smoking-darts/ https://gikken.co/mate-translate/blog/from-darts-to-cigarett...
- throaway5454 1y agoPopularized by Trailer Park Boys in the 2000s, if not well before
- xutopia 1y agoAs a Nova Scotian I can tell you it was present before 2000s... at least 90s.
- rapind 1y agoWe called em darts when I was in highschool back in the 90s.
- floren 1y agoI don't remember darts as much on TPB... the phrase "Corey, Trevor, two smokes, let's go" stands out.
- throaway955 1y agoRicky is shot with multiple tranquilizer darts. Ricky, get the darts out! Ricky dazily pulls out his cigarettes. Not those darts!
- throaway5454 1y agoChesterfield, serviette?
- werdnapk 1y agoThose are British words which Canada uses a lot of.
- joshdavham 1y agoI wish they would've explained the term "soaker" a bit better as it's such a Canadian thing. Basically, when the snow starts to melt in the spring, you'll sometimes accidentally step on some thin ice that leads directly to a puddle underneath and soak your boot. It sucks! Also, we would often call these "booters" in Manitoba, where I'm from.
- chongli 1y agoWow! I remember getting soakers as a kid! I had no idea it was a Canadianism!
- throwaway290 1y agoWhen and why/how did you stop getting soakers? Asking for a friend
- chongli 1y agoI no longer walk to school! When I walk into a store or into work I always watch where I step, regardless of the season or the weather. I’m especially cautious walking around my back yard after a rain!
- throwaway290 1y agoYes I guess once you learn to tell the signs of thin ice, soakers are rare... but now in tropics I get soakers being adult! Sometimes deep water is hard to notice or there is no route around a puddle. Maybe these are not really soakers (no ice involved) but I like the word
- tempest_ 1y agoJust go hiking in the spring. Got a soaker in April when I stepped on some snow that has hiding a deep puddle on a trail.
- SecretDreams 1y ago
- joshdavham 1y agoProbably one of my favorite commonly-used Canadian slang is "to chirp someone". It's a term that's frequently used in hockey circles, but more generally means to make fun of someone in a banter-y kind of way.
- dismalaf 1y agoNah if you say someone chirped you say, on the street or in a pub, it's fighting words...
- slumberlust 1y agoI've always took it as the opposite. Chriping is just noise with no real threat (most chirping birds are not a threat to humans). It's just someone being friendly with their banter usually in a making fun of you type context.
- morkalork 1y agoI'm not into sports so I don't really know that angle but I did have a roommate in Ottawa who got into a fight outside of a bar because "some guys were chirping" him.
- dismalaf 1y agoMaybe it's regional but definitely was fighting words when I grew up in Alberta. If you were bantering with your friends we'd just call it "bullshitting", "talking shit", etc...
- kennethrc 1y ago"Fuck you, Shoresy!"
- mikepurvis 1y agoHaving courtside seats at a basketball game means getting to listen to the players chirp each other.
- bardak 1y agoThe one subtle difference I've noticed between Canadian and American English is on school grades. American say "first grade" where as Canada say "grade one".
- gpm 1y agoToronto here, I think approximately I'd say first-sixth grade, and grade 7-12. Grade one just sounds wrong though.
- wk_end 1y agoOdd, I grew up in Toronto and Grade 1 sounds fine to me.
- fsckboy 1y agoin the US, people tend to say "first grade", but if you say "grade 1" nobody would blink, people say it all the time, teachers, administrators, etc.
- suddenlybananas 1y agoWell, Toronto is ground zero for Americanization. First grade sounds super American to my ear, I'd never say it over grade one.
- scarecrw 1y agoI'll have to go through this with my family; we have a number of terms we use that we're never sure if they're Canadian, non-regional uncommon words, or just things our family say. My grandpa called toonies "bearbucks", which isn't listed, but is in one of the quotes on the toonie entry. No listing for "reef" as in yanking on something, though I don't know if that's a Canadianism or not.
- wredcoll 1y agoYou reef lines (ropes) on a boat.
- throw0101a 1y agoYou reef sails (by using lines): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing
- wredcoll 1y agoMissed it by that much.
- MegaDeKay 1y agoNever heard of bearbucks but can confirm that "reefing" is pulling hard on something.
- PieUser 1y ago"upload" and "download" are interesting to me, which, in addition to the standard meaning, refer to the transfer of costs/jurisdiction to a higher and lower level of government respectively (between provincial and federal for instance)
- bregma 1y agoThat usage came about during the right-wing political swing of the 1990s, just as the phrase was becoming popular in connection with computers. Generally, costs and responsibilities were downloaded and revenues and control were uploaded.
- nucleardog 1y agoSurprising one for me was "all dressed" as a term for, e.g., a pizza with all the toppings. Apparently it's a direct translation from French and is pretty exclusive to Quebec English and the Easternmost part of Ontario (which is heavily French). And Saskatchewan. Which the site notes is "a bit of a mystery". Also found "parkade" interesting--apparently it's still much more heavily used in Western Canada, and they attribute that to it having been "seeded" by some Hudson's Bay advertisements run at their original 6 locations all in Western Canada. Some other words/terms that surprised me: renoviction, gong show, kerfuffle, off-sale, stagette
- embedded_hiker 1y agoThere are several parking structures called "parkades" in Salem Oregon.
- jdougan 1y agoI (West Coast) pretty much entirely associate "all-dressed" with potato chips.
- mikrl 1y agoDressed all over, zesty mordant, and gelapenno. The goalie trinity right there
- mjklin 1y agoSave me some of those sweet empowered chicken things https://youtu.be/Jfq3c4Cf1Fs?si=pl5Q0Q1bJb8rP2br https://youtu.be/Jfq3c4Cf1Fs?si=pl5Q0Q1bJb8rP2br
- StrictDabbler 1y agoAs a West Coaster, I had to look up nearly every term in this article. As usual, "Canadian" almost entirely means the central/east areas.
- SketchySeaBeast 1y ago
- jdougan 1y agoI'm pleased to see some of the Chinook jargon is there.
- switchbak 1y agoSkookum as frig! Actually they should just watch a few AvE videos, he’s a goldmine for old Canadian lingo.
- throaway955 1y agoSkoden
- wk_end 1y agoEven though I lived in the US for a decade, it still surprises me to learn that certain words are Canadianisms. I wonder how often people had no idea what I was talking aboot and just didn't speak up.
- Cthulhu_ 1y agoI strongly suspect most language / communication is clear from inference and context, and the exact words used aren't super important unless they are really out there or a different language entirely. It's the same with learning a foreign language (english in my case), you read books and posts on the internet but once you reach a certain base level, except for the really out there words, you can infer the meaning from context.
- darkwater 1y ago> you read books and posts on the internet but once you reach a certain base level, except for the really out there words, you can infer the meaning from context. Yes. Unless you are like me, you think you are good at inferring from context, never lookup a word in the dictionary and think for a few years it means something while it actually means the opposite.
- 0xEF 1y agoCould be worse, and be like me, who instantly looks up any word he doesn't understand, and because he does it so often, forgets the definition almost as soon as it is read after moving on. It probably takes me a good seven to ten times of looking up a new-to-me word to really nail it down. As a result, a lot of my blog/personal writing is filled with odd phrasings of things because I never quite learned the prescriptive way of using said word.
- 20after4 1y agoAKA wollah¹ (according to this made up dictionary) 1. https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/word/wollah https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/word/wollah
- allenu 1y agoI always loved the term "keener" growing up and was disappointed that it wasn't a term of use down here in the States. It's essentially the same thing as a "brown-noser" but a little less graphic.
- jdougan 1y agoA little less derogatory, in my estimation.
- bregma 1y agoA keener is an ardent enthusiast. A brown-noser (aka a browner) is a sycophant. Not the same thing at all. Also, a brown-noser should not be confused with a blue-noser.
- ShroudedNight 1y agoThe distinction between an ardent enthusiast and a sycophant was lost on many I encountered using the term.
- morkalork 1y agoA keener is also a bit of a try-hard.
- throaway955 1y agoKeener is more benign than brown-noser, but Canadians will use it with a subtle hint of irony or sarcasm to indicate politely that the "keener' is indeed a brown-noser or amusing try hard.
- CoastalCoder 1y agoAs American who's recently discovered Corner Gas, I just learned that nearly every resident of Saskatchewan is named "Jackass".
- no_ja 1y agoDiscussions of healthcare facilities always get me in Canada. Grew up in the states, but born in Canada, when you have to use the emergency room it’s said that “they went to Hospital” as opposed to “they went to ‘the’ hospital”. No one up here ever seems to see the oddity of always referring to multiple different hospitals as the singular Hospital.
- jt2190 1y ago“They went to hospital” is a Britishism and definitely not something you’ll hear all the time in Canada.
- samplatt 1y agoConfirming britishism - both are in use here in Australia.
- School-Cotton 1y agoIn America you do something similar with school. I went to school (not “the school”).
- jdougan 1y agoAlso varies by region in the US for referring to highways. In Southern California it is usually "the I-5" while on the other coast you will hear a plain "I-95".
- School-Cotton 1y agoI’m from Arizona and I don’t think this is settled law here. I’m just as likely to say the 10, the I-10, or just I-10.
- chuckadams 1y agoIn Colorado, people tend to say "The I" and the automatic assumption is I-25. At least if you live on the front range anyway, which 80% of the state does.
- michaelmior 1y agoAs a Canadian who married an American and now lived in the US, I was surprised how many things I say are Canadianisms without me having realized. There have been a lot of (minor) miscommunications because I didn't realize I was saying something only Canadians understand. Like when I told her that my parents' hydro had been out all day.
- Forricide 1y agoI always assumed we just called it hydro in BC because so much of the power comes from hydroelectric, but then I moved and it seems we call it hydro everywhere no master source..?
- standeven 1y agoI think it’s primarily BC and Ontario. And maybe a French version in Quebec.
- Forricide 1y agoThat would definitely make the most sense. It’s also hydro in Quebec (hydro-Québec).
- School-Cotton 1y agoHydro-Québec is the name of the power company there so I’m guessing it is.
- skipants 1y agoI think it's pretty common in Western Canada. Definitely the norm in Manitoba.
- djkivi 1y agoNot common in Alberta but people probably will know what you mean.
- dledesma 1y ago
- regus 1y agoI have a sure fire method for detecting Canadians out in the wild. Pay close attention to how they pronounce the word “resources”. If you hear the letter Z in there then they are probably Canadian.
- School-Cotton 1y agoAlso if they refer to a washroom instead of a bathroom or restroom.
- MegaDeKay 1y agoYour method wouldn't detect me. But you'd get me when I pronounced "Z" as "Zed".
- mynameisvlad 1y agoSadly my last name starts with a Z so after a decade of living in the US, I lost the "zed".
- tricolon 1y agoMine's listening for proe-ject instead of prah-ject.
- __turbobrew__ 1y agoDo you call program “prah-gram”? Do you call pro shops at the golf course “prah shops”? I will die on the proe-ject hill.
- Rendello 1y agoA good test would be "ice eyes garage sorry resources". For me it would be something like /ʌɪs aɪz ɡəˈɹæʒ ˈsɔːɹi ˌɹiˈzɔɹsɪz/. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English
- red-iron-pine 1y agoeasy way is "figure it out" -- that seems to be common in Alberta to Montreal strong emphasis on the out as "ooot" -- "figure it ooot, bud"
- chmwils 1y agoDisappointed there's no ginch/gonch/gotch/gitch: https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/nincf2/gotchies_gotch_ginch_gonch_ginches_gitch_gitchies/ https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/nincf2/gotchies_got.... Closest is gotchies for a wedgie. How can we contribute?
- parliament32 1y agoAnd related, "gooch", as both a noun and a verb.
- frankus 1y agoMy favo(u)rite Type 1 has got to be “whippersnipper” (string trimmer).
- sellmesoap 1y agoI use that one, also "dishswisher"
- throwawaymaths 1y agoas someone who learned continental french, when i visited quebec i saw "melon d'eau" and i nearly lost it.
- zahlman 1y agoThat's the first gloss DeepL gives me for it. I've never before in my life heard "pastèque" and I doubt I'll remember it.
- af78 1y ago« Melon d'eau » ? For watermelon? I thought it was a joke, but well, Wikipedia mentions it: « La pastèque [...], parfois appelée melon d'eau » (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past%C3%A8que https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past%C3%A8que) Everyone says « pastèque » in mainland France, where I've lived for over 40 years. I've never seen melon d'eau and I doubt anyone will understand it unless they know the English word.
- talos_ 1y agoThis is a remnant of British colonization. French-speaking population didn't know any English, so you have a lot of these literal translations. I've heard "flour" uttered with the French pronounciation (fl-oo-r, instead of homonym of "flower") in New-Brunswick. I was floored. Took me a while to figure out what they meant. Clearly, this originates from non-English speakers reading "flour" on a sign and just running with it. Also, consider that the British conquest happened before watermelon was highly prevalent in France or North-America. It's unsurprising to see terminology diverge in this case.
- olalonde 1y agoConversely, I'm a native French speaker from Quebec, and honestly, this is the first time I've ever come across the word "pastèque."
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- SteveVeilStream 1y agoLove to see Skookum in there.
- superconduct123 1y agoIs that in all of canada or just west coast
- beloch 1y agoIt's mostly West coast. Origin is Pacific West Coast pidgin (Chinook). Some people in Yukon and the prairies use it, but it becomes rarer the further you are from B.C.. It has become more widely used in recent years though.
- 0xEF 1y agoSame. As an American living on the Canadian border most of my life, I learned most of my Candaianisms from factory coworkers and AvE's youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/arduinoversusevil/videos https://www.youtube.com/arduinoversusevil/videos
- fsckboy 1y agotitle? this is a full Dictionary of Canadianisms, words included according to a six facet typology. i.e. the typology is not the main story. Type 1 – Origin: a form and its meaning were created in what is now Canada Type 2 – Preservation: a form or meaning that was once widespread in many Englishes, but is now preserved in Canadian English in the North American context or beyond; sometimes called “retention” Type 3 – Semantic Change: forms that have undergone semantic change in Canadian English Type 4 – Culturally Significant: forms or meanings that have been enshrined in the Canadian psyche and are widely seen as part of Canadian identity Type 5 – Frequency: forms or meanings that are Canadian by virtue of frequency Type 6 – Memorial: forms or meanings now widely considered to be pejorative Non-Canadian: forms or meanings once thought to be Canadian for which evidence is lacking
- physix 1y agoTake off, eh! It's missing.
- kashunstva 1y agoSignificant pronunciation differences are related, but not covered in this list. For example, in Ontario (perhaps elsewhere in Canada) the word asphalt is pronounced like “ash fault” (ˈæʃfɑlt) as opposed to U.S. pronunciation like “ass fault.” (ˈæsfɔlt) Also “pasta” is often ˈpæstə as opposed to ˈpɑstə in American English.
- bregma 1y agoIt's the same people mispronouncing "asphalt" with a "sh" that also use "nucular" energy to watch filums about athuletes in the artic. Some of them have even visited Warshington in the USA. I don't think any of that is particularly Canadian though.
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- talos_ 1y agoWell, why not include the word "Canadian", which significantly predates the country, as the prime example? It's derived from Iroquois Nation words and used by French settlers to refer to Indigenous people. The word "Canada" was used by explorer Jacques Cartier to refer to the city now called "Québec". It broadly refered to the territory of a specific Indigenous tribe. (could be derogatory, but seemingly accurate / matter-of-fact) After the British invasion, the British start using "Canadian" to describe both First Nations and French settlers (derogatory, "non-British) Over time, "Canadian" generally refers to habitants of Canada. Related: the hockey team "Les Canadiens" is from Montréal in the province of Québec in Canada. It's the oldest hockey team (1909, pre-NHL). The name is a reappropriation of the word Canadian at a time where it was used derogatively against "French-Canadians" (term that didn't exist at the time). Their chant "go, habs, go" refers to the "habitants", i.e., French settlers. Related: "province" originates from latin used by Romans to described conquered territory. This is the term founders of Canada in 1867 decided to use instead of "state" For anyone interested in Canadian history, always check-out the French version of a wikipedia page (and translate it). English pages have a lot of hand-waving and start history with their conquest. Also, ChatGPT makes outrageous historical mistakes all the time, such as suggesting that French-Canadians were a minority group in the 19th century edit: format, typos
- throaway955 1y agoand it was originally Canadiens, not Canadians :)
- keoneflick 1y agoBe sure to also check out how francophone Quebecois have been very effective at revenge - driving out anglophones and allophones from Quebec through vindictive attacks against their language, culture, schooling and employment. It's sad, but I am ultimately glad I will be the last generation of my family born in Quebec. Au revoir and good riddance.
- abeille 1y agoTo put things into perspectives, let’s remember that anglophones in Québec, which represent about 10% of the population, have 3 universities, one of which is McGill, and have there theaters and artists, newspapers and tv shows. Many live in Montréal all there life without knowing a word of French, since it is possible to find almost everywhere someone that speaks English. By constrast, it is less and less easy to live only in French in Montréal, since it is not always possible to find someone that speaks French.
- nsavage 1y agoThis is excellent stuff, I am going to be spending a lot of time on this. My absolute favourite Canadianism is how, on wikipedia, the 401 (major highway that goes through Toronto) is "colloquially referred to as the four-oh-one" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_401 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Highway_401).
- Ylpertnodi 1y ago"Four-oh-one", is equally very British to me.
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- ShroudedNight 1y agoI'm surprised "Four Oh [X]" is specifically a Canadianism. I would have expected it to manifest more broadly, given things like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/409_(song) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/409_(song)
- madcaptenor 1y agoThe Atlanta area code is definitely "four-oh-four" (and also the HTTP error)
- js2 1y agoI'm confused. How else would you pronounce it? Four hundred and four? Four-zero-four? That's just weird. :-) I don't think I don't ever use "oh" for zero. FWIW, I'm from South Florida with New Jersey parents. The area code I grew up with is "three-oh-five".
- madcaptenor 1y agoI think it might be different for area codes that end in a zero - I remember 610 (Philly area, where I grew up) usually being pronounced "six-ten". On the other hand, 215 was always "two-one-five", never "two-fifteen". But I agree for those with zero in the middle, like 404 or 305.
- mykowebhn 1y agoGrowing up in Toronto during the 70s, I remember several expressions I've rarely, if ever, heard elsewhere. "No guff"--meaning something like "no, really?" in a sarcastic sense "My foot"--maybe something similar to "my ass!" And later, when living in Montreal, I remember several expressions that were basically direct translations from the French "Me, I..."--from the French "Moi, je..." "In place of"--instead of "instead of"
- morkalork 1y ago"In place of" sounds like a direct translation of "En lieu"
- teqsun 1y agoThis list somehow doesn't have "converter" (to refer to a television remote), which was the first word to unexpectedly baffle my American coworkers the first time I said it, to my own surprise.
- Rendello 1y agoI'm from Northern Ontario and never heard that one, but I was also surprised by a missing term: "transport". In my neck of the woods, that's how we refer to a semi-truck / 18-wheeler.
- werdnapk 1y agoI've never heard that one... what part of the country is that from?
- eigenspace 1y agoWhere are you from? I'm from BC and I've never heard that one either.
- cluoma 1y agoI grew up in BC as well and never heard it. My parents were from Ontario and always called it the flipper. Because it flips channels I guess. Felt like every household had a different name for it though.
- throaway955 1y agonever heard of that, but always delighted my friends when id ask for the channel changer
- tempest_ 1y agoConverter was definitely heard when I was growing up and I would know what you were talking about 100% Now a days I am probably more likely to say "Clicker" unless otherwise prompted.
- mhurron 1y agoI think that's actually going to be more of an age thing as well. The converter wasn't just the remote, but the little box, separate from the TV, needed to convert signals for an older TV. Basically, the 'cable box' or the 'satalite box.' But ya, 45 years old, grew up in Toronto and Southern Alberta and it was a converter, until it wasn't.
- red-iron-pine 1y agoNo mention of bunnyhugs
- dghughes 1y agoHere in PEI I'm sure every isolated community has thousands of sayings. The island as a whole I'm sure has many. Canada is probably like that small communities with slang none of us have ever heard. The ones that break out regionally still may not make it to other areas even after decades being in use.
- walthamstow 1y agoOn one of the recent seasons of Alone there was a guy from Labrador who had an solidly Irish accent, no hint of North America, right down to saying 'tree' for '3'. I can only imagine that's who the settlers were and the isolation meant the accent never changed.
- ChoGGi 1y agoGrowing up in downtown Toronto in the 90s we always played sue sum see, living in AB I just get confused looks now. (rock paper scissors)
- ShroudedNight 1y agoHow does "Rip" not contain an entry for the driving equivalent of mall rats' loitering? "Out for a Rip?"
- c-hendricks 1y agosad they don't have "barmp" here, it's a newfoundland-ism (maybe east coast) that means "honk" of a car horn. rick mercer: https://x.com/rickmercer/status/1491480449226579969 https://x.com/rickmercer/status/1491480449226579969 nova scotia: https://theshuffledemons1.bandcamp.com/track/barmp-your-horn https://theshuffledemons1.bandcamp.com/track/barmp-your-horn newfoundland: https://barmp.com/ https://barmp.com/
- kimos 1y agoIncredible. I’ve never heard this. How is Newfoundland even a real place.
- c-hendricks 1y agoalso missing "heatbag", another newfoundland-ism. Meaning "being very conspicuous while doing something you shouldn't"
- c-hendricks 1y agoalso missing "bunk", again Newfoundland, meaning "bad"
- j_not_j 1y ago"brown toast". When ordering breakfast, such as eggs and toast. "You want white or brown toast?" Since most toast is toasted to a brown tone, the question confuses Americans (west-coast, anyways). It's really the question: white bread toast or whole-wheat bread toast?
- throaway955 1y agoI asked an American family if they wanted brown or white bread, they looked confused and said "we want BREAD"
- j_not_j 1y ago"wet coast" Slang for BC. It's a joke, because (coastal) BC is mostly wet. And BC is the westernmost province.
- nikanj 1y agoI wish there was a random button
- maxglute 1y agoI want to see Ausralian version.
- osigurdson 1y agoI'm surprised that no one commented on the waste of taxpayer dollars that such a compilation must be.
- whycome 1y agobunny hug (saskatchewan) will always be my favourite. https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/bunny%20hug https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/bunny%20hug