[HN Gopher] A Typology of Canadianisms
___________________________________________________________________
A Typology of Canadianisms
_A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles_
https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/
Author : gnabgib
Score : 243 points
Date : 2025-07-09 21:54 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (dchp.arts.ubc.ca)
(TXT) w3m dump (dchp.arts.ubc.ca)
| sophacles wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| Seems 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 wrote:
| Never 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 wrote:
| Yeah it's a flat
| dismalaf wrote:
| "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 wrote:
| In Ontario "two-six" is called a twixer
| bregma wrote:
| It's a 750.
| ShroudedNight wrote:
| "Twixer" must be relatively new, or more specific
| regionalism. I've only known them to be called "twenty-
| sixers"
| sillywalk wrote:
| Same here. Also, 13 oz is a 'mickey', and the 3L is a
| "Texas mickey". (I noticed I did ounces and litres)
| jdougan wrote:
| It made some inroads in to BC in the 80s, mostly thanks to
| Bob and Doug McKenzie, but never really stuck.
| jt2190 wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| There 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 wrote:
| I'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" /p@.tIn/ where I'm
| from. The original French way is [pu.tsIn].
| bawolff wrote:
| Americans dont use the term "pencil crayons"???
|
| What do you call them?
| cka wrote:
| Colored pencils
| pards wrote:
| pencils of color :)
| wild_egg wrote:
| Pencils experiencing colourfulness
| joshdavham wrote:
| That also blew my mind.
| NikolaNovak wrote:
| One of the frequent debates with my wife lol... "But they are
| not _crayons_ " does not help my case _at all_ :-)
| nucleardog wrote:
| Well... 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. >_>
| umanwizard wrote:
| Crayons 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).
| pasc1878 wrote:
| Same in UK for what they are ie sticks of wax (They can be
| thin for cheap ones that break)
|
| In UK it is two syllables.
| umanwizard wrote:
| FWIW I'm American. According to the "Harvard Dialect
| Survey" which I found on Google, about 14% of people in the
| US pronounce it like I do and most of the rest with two
| syllables.
| throaway955 wrote:
| Nope, coloured pencils are coloured wax encased in wood.
| Canadians emphasize that they are crayons in pencil shape;
| Americans emphasize that they are pencil-form but coloured.
| umanwizard wrote:
| Interesting, I never knew that. Never been much of an
| artist. So I guess the Canadian term is actually more
| accurate!
| emptybits wrote:
| In a feeble attempt to rationalize the Canadianism "pencil
| crayon"...
|
| Pencils have cores based on graphite or charcoal.
|
| Pencil crayons have cores based on wax or oil, with pigments
| added. This is basically the composition of crayons or pastels.
| Then it's wrapped in wood like a pencil. Thus ... "pencil
| crayon".
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| Wait, coloured pencils aren't actually pencils?
|
| I've never heard Pencil Crayon, in British Columbia, but then
| again I did live in the U.S. for all of my school years.
| sheepscreek wrote:
| Washroom 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 wrote:
| As 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 wrote:
| Don't forget water closet!
| xeonmc wrote:
| Not to be confused with Tungsten Carbide, a ceramic used
| for abrasives and ballpoint pen tips.
| kurtis_reed wrote:
| Toilet is the object, not the room it's in
| KayEss wrote:
| Only in some parts of the world. In many it's the room and
| the object
| xattt wrote:
| Soviet 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.
| shawn_w wrote:
| I believe German toilets have the same shelf.
| TonyTrapp wrote:
| Mostly in older buildings. I don't think you see it as
| often in more modern bathrooms anymore.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| > One flaw of this design is that there was no odour
| suppression offered by toilets that immediately immerse
| stool in water.
|
| Still better than a Poseidon kiss.
|
| I think their style is an import from Germany in the
| first place, but it _stuck_.
| SECProto wrote:
| > Toilet is the object, not the room it's in
|
| Meaning 1a is the object, 1b is the room.
| https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toilet
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| And the last 2-bed apartment I rented was a scam, the rooms
| didn't even come with beds.
| pards wrote:
| other notables include the loo, the can, the john, and of
| course the dunny
| ChoGGi wrote:
| The pisser
| gerdesj wrote:
| Toilet, bog or lav in the UK are some options.
|
| The easy to remember terms and will work nearly anywhere
| without giving offence are: "loo" in a residential property
| or "gents/ladies" for a non-residential property.
| xeonmc wrote:
| and also the lavatory
| bcoates wrote:
| 'Toilet' itself is a euphemism, an archaic term for
| dressing/washing room and/or the act of washing up
| mitthrowaway2 wrote:
| It was pretty surprising to be reading some old books on
| Project Gutenberg and seeing the word "toilet" being used
| meaning "outfit" or "wardrobe".
| umanwizard wrote:
| "Toilette" is still used that way in normal everyday
| French. "Je fais ma toilette" - I'm washing up/getting
| ready/getting dressed/doing my morning hygiene routine/etc.
| Biganon wrote:
| Let's call it the poop room
| koakuma-chan wrote:
| I use washroom and bathroom interchangeably.
| Forricide wrote:
| This one (among others) does really fascinate me. Maybe it's
| due to spending a lot of time around diverse groups of people
| but I've never really seen a huge distinction between these
| words. Washroom, bathroom, toilet, I and everyone I know pretty
| much would use interchangeably? Or at least wouldn't blink at
| someone else using them.
|
| Restroom, and a variety of others, might be slightly more usage
| specific but still... wouldn't be unexpected or weird, I'd say?
| SecretDreams wrote:
| Animal shithouse
| zahlman wrote:
| > most single-family homes in Canada have a "powder room" where
| people can wash their face and hands.
|
| I think only people of a very specific upbringing ever call it
| that here. Certainly nobody in my circles would.
| throaway955 wrote:
| yeah can't say I know of anyone with a powder room
| werdnapk wrote:
| Restroom has always puzzled me. Seems like it should be an
| alternate name for a bedroom instead.
| throaway955 wrote:
| its been said that Canada is still mentally stuck in the
| Victorian age somewhat
| bee_rider wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| Can? Where in Canada is this canned brown bread at?
| wobblyasp wrote:
| We call it spoon bread in the east. True spoon bread is baked
| in an old tin can. Not sweet.
| bee_rider wrote:
| It 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 wrote:
| I've had it. You're really not missing out. I always assumed
| it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
| bee_rider wrote:
| > I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned
| bread!).
|
| 1860's apparently.
|
| 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.
| bregma wrote:
| Check the foreign foods section of your local supermarket.
| Probably right beside those chocolate sprinkles intended for
| making sandwiches.
| SECProto wrote:
| That's a weird (or perhaps regional) definition. Brown bread
| I've had is always molasses sweetened. Source: ontario and
| provinces east.
|
| The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy
| thing, not something regularly consumed.
| nucleardog wrote:
| Lived in BC, SK, and ON. I'm far enough east that I regularly
| hit up both Ottawa and Montreal.
|
| In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat
| bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you
| want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat
| (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white).
|
| I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened
| bread everyone is talking about.
| qualeed wrote:
| BC, AB, ON. Same as you, brown bread = whole wheat. Not
| sure I've even heard of molasses-sweetened bread, let alone
| eaten it.
| switchbak wrote:
| https://www.crosbys.com/sarahs-molasses-brown-bread/
|
| It's made with ungodly amounts of molasses. My
| grandmother used to make it with lard or shortening,
| yikes.
| bee_rider wrote:
| I bet you knew it was a treat, though. Compare to some
| folks' daily sugar cereal diet... I dunno, unhealthy
| habits are usually unhealthy _because_ they are habits.
| sellmesoap wrote:
| Molasses has a lot of minerals in it, and the notion that
| eating fat makes you fat is a lie purpitrated by big
| sugar/grain that has lead to a lot of diabetes and heart
| desease, your grandmother knew where it was at! Also Big
| Sugar is an underrated band from Canada IMO
| SECProto wrote:
| Yeah when I think further on it, I've never heard of it
| here in Ontario. In Atlantic Canada though, it's definitely
| made with molasses. Google search results [1] suggests this
| is a regionalism (Atlantic Canada and new england states)
|
| If I was offered brown bread and got a boring whole wheat,
| I'd be sorely disappointed.
|
| [1] https://my-mothers-cook-books.ca/2021/05/29/brown-
| bread-vs-p...
| switchbak wrote:
| Nova Scotian here: it's definitely made with molasses.
| It's really moist and doughy when it's fresh. Goes very
| well when dipped in a chowder.
|
| Or do like my Mom did: mix a little peanut butter with
| molasses into a slurry on top.
|
| All of this will kill you, of course, but it does taste
| good!
| bee_rider wrote:
| I found a sort of fun blog post that points out that
| technically, it could be considered a pudding rather than a
| bread, because it is steamed rather than baked.
|
| https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-
| Historical-...
|
| Although the consistency is more like a dense, very moist
| bread. It wouldn't be great for a conventional sandwich.
| Could reasonably steal the English muffin's job, though. Or
| a regular muffin. Maybe a bit messier.
| bee_rider wrote:
| My family were definitely not tourists, but come to think of
| it I don't recall seeing the canned stuff in my friends'
| houses. So maybe we were just locals who fell for a prank
| that was being played on the tourists, or something.
| drdec wrote:
| Massachusetts native, we regularly are brown bread from a can
| as a kid. Not a touristy thing.
| neurobashing wrote:
| Sad to not see "dart" in there, I assumed from Letterkenny that
| it was a regular Canadianism. Perhaps it's too new?
| wobblyasp wrote:
| Darts an old one. At least since my parents age.
| jdougan wrote:
| Apparently 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-cigarett...
| throaway5454 wrote:
| Popularized by Trailer Park Boys in the 2000s, if not well
| before
| xutopia wrote:
| As a Nova Scotian I can tell you it was present before
| 2000s... at least 90s.
| rapind wrote:
| We called em darts when I was in highschool back in the 90s.
| floren wrote:
| I don't remember darts as much on TPB... the phrase "Corey,
| Trevor, two smokes, let's go" stands out.
| throaway955 wrote:
| _Ricky is shot with multiple tranquilizer darts._
|
| Ricky, get the darts out!
|
| _Ricky dazily pulls out his cigarettes._
|
| Not those darts!
| olalonde wrote:
| Another Trailer Park Boys classic: "That's the way she goes"
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65w7ha4DZKo
| joshdavham wrote:
| "Dart" is absolutely still used. "Eh bud. Can I bum a dart from
| ya?"
| ChoGGi wrote:
| Throw me a dart, yeah?
| mikrl wrote:
| In southern Ontario a dart is also called a bogey
| throaway5454 wrote:
| Chesterfield, serviette?
| werdnapk wrote:
| Those are British words which Canada uses a lot of.
| joshdavham wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| Wow! I remember getting soakers as a kid! I had no idea it was
| a Canadianism!
| throwaway290 wrote:
| When and why/how did you stop getting soakers? Asking for a
| friend
| chongli wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| Yes 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_ wrote:
| Just 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 wrote:
| In Southern Ontario, it feels like it's soakers all winter
| long!
| zahlman wrote:
| I can relate to the experience, but never even thought of
| having a word for it...
| cik wrote:
| Yup, they'll forever be booters to me to. Go Bison?
| joshdavham wrote:
| And go Jets!
| throaway955 wrote:
| got a booter eh bud?
| votick wrote:
| first time i've found a fellow manitoban on HN greetings !
| joshdavham wrote:
| Probably 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 wrote:
| Nah if you say someone chirped you say, on the street or in a
| pub, it's fighting words...
| slumberlust wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I'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.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| Having courtside seats at a basketball game means getting to
| listen to the players chirp each other.
| RandallBrown wrote:
| It might be more popular in Canada but I think "chirping" is
| pretty common in the US.
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| yeah heard it a bunch in the context of talking shit in
| sports
| canucker2016 wrote:
| For chirping, I'll bring up Shoresy, spin off of Letterkenny TV
| show, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoresy
|
| The film Slapshot with hockey banter/ribbing (at a Gilmore
| Girls-type pace).
| ghostpepper wrote:
| I think of chirping as specifically mean-spirited bullying,
| especially in an attempt to provoke a reaction. Source: grew up
| in BC.
| maxglute wrote:
| I remember being very amused at a party when hockey, baseball
| and football players were teaching each other their respective
| lockerroom slang.
| bardak wrote:
| The 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 wrote:
| Toronto here, I think approximately I'd say first-sixth grade,
| and grade 7-12. Grade one just sounds wrong though.
| wk_end wrote:
| Odd, I grew up in Toronto and Grade 1 sounds fine to me.
| fsckboy wrote:
| in 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 wrote:
| Well, Toronto is ground zero for Americanization. First grade
| sounds super American to my ear, I'd never say it over grade
| one.
| scarecrw wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| You reef lines (ropes) on a boat.
| throw0101a wrote:
| You reef sails (by using lines):
|
| * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing
| MegaDeKay wrote:
| Never heard of bearbucks but can confirm that "reefing" is
| pulling hard on something.
| PieUser wrote:
| "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 wrote:
| That 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 wrote:
| Surprising 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
| jdougan wrote:
| I (West Coast) pretty much entirely associate "all-dressed"
| with potato chips.
| mikrl wrote:
| Dressed all over, zesty mordant, and gelapenno.
|
| The goalie trinity right there
| StrictDabbler wrote:
| As 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 wrote:
| It's just like "aboot" and milk in bags.
| madcaptenor wrote:
| I (US) also associate "all-dressed" with potato chips since
| we started getting them down here.
| c-hendricks wrote:
| The Works is usually a the name for the pizza. Chiming in for
| the east coast, all dressed is chips.
| nucleardog wrote:
| Yeah, mostly came as a surprise to me because I've spent most
| of my time in Saskatchewan and Ontario near the Quebec
| border. I somehow managed to spend my entire life bouncing
| around Canada and never spend much time anywhere where "all
| dressed pizza" didn't exist, even though it's apparently a
| highly-specific term.
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| The Works is pretty common in the US, too. Pizza and sandwich
| toppings
| rufus_foreman wrote:
| It was an Everything pizza at the place I worked at as a kid.
| They're disgusting.
| throaway955 wrote:
| in MB, never heard of all-dressed pizza in my life. We have
| the chips and the works pizza
| kps wrote:
| And bagels.
| cwillu wrote:
| Having spent a large portion of time answering phones in the
| pizza business, I can assure you that a great many people in
| Saskatchewan will order an all-dressed pizza even though we
| had no such thing on the menu.
| embedded_hiker wrote:
| There are several parking structures called "parkades" in Salem
| Oregon.
| pjot wrote:
| A "fully dressed" poboy in New Orleans is one with all the
| fixing's
| nucleardog wrote:
| Huh, that makes sense given "all dressed" came from French
| and New Orleans' French history.
|
| I'm not sure why we both ended up with "dressed" given the
| French is literally "all garnishes / toppings" or "wholly
| garnished / topped". I'm sure some linguist could probably do
| a dissertation on this or something. And hopefully also cover
| how Saskatchewan ended up with using "all dressed" because
| I'm really curious about that outlier.
| zahlman wrote:
| > I'm not sure why we both ended up with "dressed" given
| the French is literally "all garnishes / toppings" or
| "wholly garnished / topped".
|
| https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dress
|
| > 4. (also figuratively) To adorn or ornament (something).
| [from 15th c.]
|
| https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/garnish
|
| > 1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
|
| (Bonus: "garnish" is etymologically related to "warn".
| There are many such other pairs in English, e.g.
| "guarantee" / "warranty" and "guard" / "ward". (As I
| understand it: the Gauls could pronounce the "g", but the
| Franks couldn't.)
| marctrem wrote:
| In Quebec French we use "toute garnie" to refer to a pizza with
| red sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, green peppers and pepperonis.
| chongli wrote:
| Here in Ontario English we call that pizza deluxe!
| nucleardog wrote:
| Depends where in Ontario!
|
| I'm in Ontario but in a heavily French area (i.e., East of
| Ottawa) and "toute garni / all dressed" is common. You'll
| find it places like Ottawa as well given the proximity to
| Quebec and French population.
| fracus wrote:
| That is what OP said. "All dressed" is a direct translation
| from French.
| olalonde wrote:
| Yes, they both refer to the same pizza. Many francophones
| actually say "une pizza all dress" - it refers to that
| specific combination of toppings though, not literally
| every available topping.
| lynguist wrote:
| Do you call "tomato sauce" "red sauce"?
| ShroudedNight wrote:
| I can't speak authoritatively for the OP, but yes, I would
| expect red sauce to be tomato-based. Compare with "sauce
| brune" [brown sauce ~= gravy] which is what gets put on
| poutine.
| BunsanSpace wrote:
| Which is funny because that translates to "fully garnished"
| not "all dressed". Tabarnac
| cwillu wrote:
| IMO that's a mistranslation; "stuffed with everything"
| would be more accurate.
| SecretDreams wrote:
| Old, but good, CBC documentary on this type of thing:
|
| https://youtu.be/eIoTpkM5N64?si=FnGploZrLZ1XRVXO&utm_source=...
| asplake wrote:
| Kerfuffle is British - quite common here. 19th century Scots
| apparently!
| zahlman wrote:
| > Surprising one for me was "all dressed" as a term for, e.g.,
| a pizza with all the toppings.
|
| What on Earth. Wikipedia tells me:
|
| > An all-dressed chip called The Whole Shabang is produced by
| American prison supplier Keefe Group. It became available to
| the general public in 2016.[4] Frito-Lay began selling all-
| dressed Ruffles potato chips in the United States that same
| year.[5]
|
| I had assumed the entire time that everyone uses this term for
| potato chips (and that everyone has the flavour) and that the
| Quebecois were just being weird by also applying it to pizza.
|
| --
|
| "Renoviction" is a very recent neologism that's mainly used in
| the specific major cities where it's an issue (because of the
| housing market).
|
| "Gong show" I think is relatively old-fashioned (as in Gen X)
| by comparison. I'm actually surprised Americans don't say that,
| given that the actual show was on NBC.
|
| I can easily find "kerfuffle" in supposedly American online
| dictionaries so I think their claim is rather dubious. On the
| flip side, I've never in my life heard "off-sale"; and in
| Ontario it's only quite recently
| (https://www.ontario.ca/document/alcohol-master-framework-
| agr... https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1003988/ontario-
| consumers...) that you can even legally purchase beer and wine
| at a grocery store.
| goodcanadian wrote:
| _I 've never in my life heard "off-sale" . . ._
|
| Off-sale has long been used in Alberta. I have a memory of
| asking my parents what it meant when I was a kid (and I am in
| my 40s, now).
| kps wrote:
| Maybe from UK 'off-license'?
| goodcanadian wrote:
| Similar concept, I suppose. When I was young, alcohol for
| consumption at home was generally only available for
| purchase in government run liquor stores. (This is still
| the case in some provinces, but no longer true in
| Alberta.) However, a few licensed premises (bars and
| restaurants) were permitted to do off-sales and sell
| alcohol that you were allowed to take with you off the
| premises.
| j_not_j wrote:
| "off-sale" at a licensed premises means sale for off-
| premise consumption.
|
| In BC.
| dghughes wrote:
| > Renoviction
|
| That's very common word these days at least here in PEI.
| Kicking people out to "renovate".
|
| It basically means renovate as in sweep the floor and paint a
| small patch on the wall, done. All so they can kick out the
| tenant and up the rent 1,000%.
| dackle wrote:
| In Vancouver in the 1990s, if you wanted to buy a six-pack of
| beer at 10pm after the government-run liquor store closed,
| you would walk into a local pub and ask the bartender if they
| did "off-sales". If yes, they would sell you a cold six-pack
| for a very small markup.
|
| Also, in Ontario in the 1990s, one-eighth of an ounce of weed
| was called a "half-quarter", ha ha.
| cik wrote:
| > And Saskatchewan. Which the site notes is "a bit of a
| mystery".
|
| There's no mystery. This is rubbish research. In parts of
| Manitoba we also use all-dressed for the same purpose (and of
| course chips). The unifying factor is French culture. The Riel
| Rebellion helped bring tremendous franocphones, and French
| culture out west. There are areas like St. Boniface in Winnipeg
| where s some people speak only French. The Metis are in both
| Manitoba and Quebec...
| throaway955 wrote:
| Manitoba was founded by French speakers (the Metis) and about
| 2000 Metis were supposed to get most of what is now downtown
| Winnipeg. Their culture was eventually suppressed by Ontario.
| ShroudedNight wrote:
| It's been a long time now, but from what I remember from
| school, a critical part of the notability of Gabrielle Roy[1]
| was that she wrote from the perspective of francophones
| living in the prairies.
|
| I appreciate the DHCP-3 is not a monolithic work, but to have
| both authorship and editorial oversight of a corpus that
| presents itself as a rigorous treatise of Canadianisms
| demonstrate either broad ignorance of, or reckless disregard
| for a significant portion of our heritage is just baffling to
| me. What's the point if one is not going to be ruthlessly
| thorough?
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Roy
| throaway955 wrote:
| A lot of French history has been erased from the Canadian
| West
| geophile wrote:
| "Can confirm".
|
| In the mid 70s, I would order a small pizza, all dressed from
| McGill Pizza, when feeling peckish. $1.10, delivered to your
| door in no time at all.
| cwillu wrote:
| There's a significant (though not exactly large) french-
| speaking population in Saskatchewan.
|
| I live a couple blocks from a large french-only school.
| jdougan wrote:
| I'm pleased to see some of the Chinook jargon is there.
| switchbak wrote:
| Skookum as frig!
|
| Actually they should just watch a few AvE videos, he's a
| goldmine for old Canadian lingo.
| jdougan wrote:
| I still use "saltchuck" when I'm distracted. Confuses the
| heck out of Californians.
| emptybits wrote:
| I've seen Chinook words used in California, both in place
| names and businesses. Skookum, Siwash, Tyee, etc.
|
| Definitely less common than in BC/WA/OR though.
|
| Klahowya tillicum!
| wk_end wrote:
| Even 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_ wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| Could 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 wrote:
| AKA wollah1 (according to this made up dictionary)
|
| 1.
| https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/word/wollah
| allenu wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| A little less derogatory, in my estimation.
| bregma wrote:
| A 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 wrote:
| The distinction between an ardent enthusiast and a sycophant
| was lost on many I encountered using the term.
| morkalork wrote:
| A keener is also a bit of a try-hard.
| CoastalCoder wrote:
| As American who's recently discovered Corner Gas, I just learned
| that nearly every resident of Saskatchewan is named "Jackass".
| no_ja wrote:
| Discussions 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 wrote:
| "They went to hospital" is a Britishism and definitely not
| something you'll hear all the time in Canada.
| samplatt wrote:
| Confirming britishism - both are in use here in Australia.
| umanwizard wrote:
| In America you do something similar with school. I went to
| school (not "the school").
| jdougan wrote:
| Also 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".
| umanwizard wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| In 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.
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _In Southern California it is usually "the I-5"_
|
| in LA it's most definitely "the 5" and state highways are
| also named with their numbers with no distinguishing. it's
| all "the N"
| anon7725 wrote:
| I think Americans have the most variety of names for roads
| - kind of like the Inuit have many ways to talk about snow.
|
| Parkway, Freeway, Highway, Tollway, Expressway, Interstate,
| Byway, etc
| 7402 wrote:
| In Northern California it's also just "5" "880" etc. We can
| pick out Southern Californians by their use of the pronoun.
|
| If you want to show your geographical sophistication within
| California, you can safely refer to "80" (I-80 passes
| through only the northern part of the state) and "the 10"
| (which passes only through the southern part). As for "5"
| vs. "the 5" just make sure that if you're heading south
| you've switched by the time you reach the Grapevine (q.v.).
|
| I'm not sure where the N/S dividing line is, though. Any HN
| readers from Bakersfield or Coalinga?
| BJones12 wrote:
| I usually hear "they went to emerg(e?)"
| fracus wrote:
| I've never heard a fellow Canadian say "to hospital" over "to
| the hospital", in person, or on TV.
| throaway955 wrote:
| went to hospital is a British thing and ive never heard it in
| Canada
| michaelmior wrote:
| As 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I think it's primarily BC and Ontario. And maybe a French
| version in Quebec.
| Forricide wrote:
| That would definitely make the most sense. It's also hydro
| in Quebec (hydro-Quebec).
| umanwizard wrote:
| Hydro-Quebec is the name of the power company there so I'm
| guessing it is.
| skipants wrote:
| I think it's pretty common in Western Canada. Definitely
| the norm in Manitoba.
| djkivi wrote:
| Not common in Alberta but people probably will know what
| you mean.
| dledesma wrote:
| I've had to explain to an Albertan friend that hydro meant
| power, they mostly use coal out there from what I understand.
| osigurdson wrote:
| Alberta doesn't use any coal actually.
| zahlman wrote:
| They have only recently finished phasing out coal, such
| that it appears in last year's statistics. And it's still
| mostly natural gas, i.e. a fossil fuel.
|
| https://www.aeso.ca/aeso/understanding-electricity-in-
| albert...
| retrac wrote:
| Hydroelectric was historically even more dominant in Canada
| than today. In places that aren't majority hydro now, they
| were in the past, like in Ontario and Alberta.
|
| The name of the utility companies in most provinces was
| probably an influence. Until 1999 in Ontario it was the
| Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission, shortened normally
| to Ontario Hydro. Manitoba Hydro. Hydro Quebec. I think in
| Toronto they still stamp manhole covers with THES (Toronto
| Hydro-Electric System).
| ShroudedNight wrote:
| In Ontario, we still have Hydro One as a (the?) primary
| distributor of electricity outside urban environments.
|
| If I remember correctly, Hydro One also serves some parts
| of the Ottawa area, and their delivery rates were different
| enough from Hydro Ottawa that it was often a material
| consideration for where one chose to buy one's house.
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| do people look at you puzzled when you say "keener"?
| kashunstva wrote:
| > Like when I told her that my parents' hydro had been out all
| day.
|
| When I immigrated to Canada (Ontario) a decade ago, the term
| hydro was the most confusing to me. I assumed it meant water
| supply or plumbing, but it was always in the wrong context. I
| imagined the disaster of hooking up the plumbing to the
| electrical service! Now it's completely natural to call it
| "hydro" but confusing at first.
| nsavage wrote:
| I travel to the UK a lot and am usually pretty careful with my
| Canadianisms, but during my last trip I accidentally asked a
| server for both a pop and a serviette at the same time, leading
| to a blank stare.
| astura wrote:
| Pop isn't a Canadianisms, is common in a lot of the US too.
|
| https://www.businessinsider.com/soda-pop-coke-map-2018-10
| mykowebhn wrote:
| I initially worked in Canada where it wouldn't be uncommon to
| go out for a work lunch and order a beer.
|
| When I got a new job in the US, my boss took me and several
| coworkers to a restaurant for lunch as a way to welcome me.
| When the waitress asked what I wanted to drink I asked for a
| beer. I then heard one of my coworkers who was sitting next to
| me ask me incredulously, "What are you doing?" I responded that
| I was ordering a beer. He said that I could get fired for that.
| That's when I realized that for a country that seemed so
| similar to Canada on the surface it was quite different below
| that surface.
| astura wrote:
| It's common to order a beer at work lunch in the US too.
|
| Though I have worked at places if the company was paying for
| the lunch they won't pay for alcohol. In those cases we've
| always asked for the beers to be on a separate check so the
| expense report is easier.
| slumberlust wrote:
| Many companies and cultures in the US are fine with a drink
| or two at lunch. What industry was this company in?
| mykowebhn wrote:
| Good to know. This was in suburban Chicago, Naperville, IL
| to be exact, during the 90s. The industry was Telecomm.
| Maybe it was a more conservative area compared with the Bay
| Area or Boston.
| parpfish wrote:
| It's usually best if the manager/more senior employees
| order first and sets the tone for "is this a beer friendly
| lunch". Definitely don't make the new guy order first and
| guess
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| had plenty of drinking lunches w/ US companies. the current
| (Canadian) company I'm at is quite strict about drinking --
| would likely be fireable.
|
| the Aussies would have been disappointed if I only had one...
| dghughes wrote:
| The term Hydro for electrical power (power lines) is not used
| in PEI the older generation would call it the "light bill"
| younger people now may call it the "power bill". If it was out
| we'd just say the power is out.
| BunsanSpace wrote:
| Hydro is just for QC, ON and BC where the electrical
| companies have "hydro" in their name.
|
| Other parts of the country just call it power/electrical. But
| in NS my grand parents would also call it a "light bill".
| throaway955 wrote:
| Hydro is from Canadian provinces that use mostly hydro power
| regus wrote:
| I 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.
| umanwizard wrote:
| Also if they refer to a washroom instead of a bathroom or
| restroom.
| MegaDeKay wrote:
| Your method wouldn't detect me. But you'd get me when I
| pronounced "Z" as "Zed".
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| Sadly my last name starts with a Z so after a decade of
| living in the US, I lost the "zed".
| tricolon wrote:
| Mine's listening for proe-ject instead of prah-ject.
| __turbobrew__ wrote:
| Do 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 wrote:
| A good test would be "ice eyes garage sorry resources".
|
| For me it would be something like /^Is aIz g@'raeZ 'so:ri
| ,ri'zorsIz/.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English
| red-iron-pine wrote:
| easy 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"
| throaway955 wrote:
| car door gets me
| madcaptenor wrote:
| Most people who refer to "North Americans" collectively are
| Canadian. People in the US can forget Canada exists. People in
| Canada can't forget the US exist and so they need a term that
| includes both.
| chmwils wrote:
| Disappointed there's no ginch/gonch/gotch/gitch:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/nincf2/gotchies_got....
| Closest is gotchies for a wedgie. How can we contribute?
| parliament32 wrote:
| And related, "gooch", as both a noun and a verb.
| frankus wrote:
| My favo(u)rite Type 1 has got to be "whippersnipper" (string
| trimmer).
| sellmesoap wrote:
| I use that one, also "dishswisher"
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| as someone who learned continental french, when i visited quebec
| i saw "melon d'eau" and i nearly lost it.
| zahlman wrote:
| That's the first gloss DeepL gives me for it. I've never before
| in my life heard "pasteque" and I doubt I'll remember it.
| af78 wrote:
| << Melon d'eau >> ? For watermelon? I thought it was a joke,
| but well, Wikipedia mentions it: << La pasteque [...],
| parfois appelee melon d'eau >>
| (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past%C3%A8que)
|
| Everyone says << pasteque >> 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_ wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| Conversely, I'm a native French speaker from Quebec, and
| honestly, this is the first time I've ever come across the
| word "pasteque."
| werdnapk wrote:
| Quebec has it's own dictionary.
| talos_ wrote:
| Office Quebecois de la Langue Francaise (OQLF) promotes the
| french language and adapt new English words (whereas France
| typically integrate English words in their vocab).
|
| The website Banque de depannage linguistique (BDL) will have
| a lot of useful resources if you're interested! For instance,
| how to write a professional sounding email, names of official
| documents, invoice templates.
|
| Highlights (good and bad):
|
| * emails -> courriels (courrier + iels; mail + similar
| sounding syllable)*
|
| * spam mail -> pourriels (pourri + iels; rotten + similar
| lexem as courriels)
|
| * to spoil (as in spoilers) -> divulgacher (divulguer +
| gacher; to reveal + to ruin)
|
| * to mansplain -> mecspliquer (mec + expliquer; man + to
| explain); This one is outrageous (and uncommon) because it's
| an homonym to "m'expliquer" (explain to me)
|
| * to browse (the web) -> naviguer (as in "to navigate";
| browser -> "navigateur")
| kgwgk wrote:
| > * to browse (the web) -> naviguer (as in "to navigate";
| browser -> "navigateur")
|
| I'm old enough to remember when it was called web surfing
| and everyone used Netscape Navigator.
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| oh cool pourriels is amazing. Contrastingly the continental
| "mail" for "email" is... disappointing?
| dadadad100 wrote:
| And Quebec has it's own English. I spent a few years working
| in Montreal and soon learned about "passing the vacuum" and
| "closing the light". There are so many bilingual folks that
| concepts and word orders flow back and forth. I had an
| interesting discussion with a bilingual anglophone about how
| in English elsewhere it's called a "pacifier" and not a
| "souce"
| throaway955 wrote:
| how about une boite aux lettres?
| throwawaymaths wrote:
| given the englishisms in quebecois i was amused to see arret
| signs, because I'm pretty sure they say stop in france.
| mikrl wrote:
| Meanwhile I went hiking up on Georgian bay and saw a bilingual
| sign for a local landmark
|
| "Overhanging point
|
| Point Overhanging"
| nucleardog wrote:
| Also good luck planning any meals.
|
| Dejeuner is breakfast in Quebec (lunch in France).
|
| Diner is lunch in Quebec (evening meal in France).
| talos_ wrote:
| dejeuner is a literal translation though. "Breaking fast" ->
| "de-jeuner" (undo fasting).
|
| French people typically say: - breakfast - petit-dejeuner
| (small breakfast) - lunch - dejeuner (breakfast) - diner -
| diner
|
| Quebecois people say: - breakfast - dejeuner - lunch - diner
| - diner - souper (eating soup; probably historical roots like
| "getting your big meal of the day" which is likely broth +
| potatoes)
| kgwgk wrote:
| > Quebecois people say
|
| So do (typical) French speakers in Belgium and Switzerland.
| SteveVeilStream wrote:
| Love to see Skookum in there.
| superconduct123 wrote:
| Is that in all of canada or just west coast
| beloch wrote:
| It'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 wrote:
| Same. 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
| fsckboy wrote:
| title? 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 wrote:
| Take off, eh!
|
| It's missing.
| kashunstva wrote:
| Significant 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" ('aeSfalt) as opposed to
| U.S. pronunciation like "ass fault." ('aesfolt)
|
| Also "pasta" is often 'paest@ as opposed to 'past@ in American
| English.
| bregma wrote:
| It'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.
| talos_ wrote:
| Well, 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
| "Quebec". 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 Montreal in the
| province of Quebec 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 wrote:
| and it was originally Canadiens, not Canadians :)
| keoneflick wrote:
| Be 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 wrote:
| To put things into perspectives, let's remember that
| anglophones in Quebec, 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 Montreal 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 Montreal, since it is not
| always possible to find someone that speaks French.
| talos_ wrote:
| The reality in Montreal is that most people are bilingual.
| Outside older folks, unilingual French speakers are much
| rarer than unilingual English speakers, which are
| structurally preserved via the institutions you described.
| For instance, English-only schooling from first grade to
| university is available to them, but not to French-speaking
| households or immigrants. IMHO, it's a disservice to this
| population. I've had colleague born in Quebec deciding to
| leave because they felt insecure about their professional
| abilities in French
|
| English is associated with money (historically from
| colonial forces, and now foreign capital). Montreal, the
| metropolis, is an island that was unified as a city. Rich
| English-speaking borough lobbied in 2006 to become
| independent entities to control their regulations, policies
| and taxes. This includes the West Island (Dorval, Pointe-
| Claire, Beaconsfield), and even the very central Westmount
| near McGill. Nowadays, poor neighborhoods and their french
| names are erased by condo promoters: Mercier-Hochelaga-
| Maisonneuve is HOMA, Notre-Dame-de-Grace is NDG, Ville-
| Mont-Royal is TMR, Pointe-Saint-Charles/ Le Sud-Ouest is
| Griffin Town
|
| ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughs_of_Montreal
| keoneflick wrote:
| > By constrast, it is less and less easy to live only in
| French in Montreal, since it is not always possible to find
| someone that speaks French.
|
| Sorry you went to a restaurant in chinatown that didn't
| speak french. I hope you can recover safely from that
| experience. Meanwhile, this is the truth of living in
| Quebec as an allophone:
| https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article505933.html
| ande-mnoc wrote:
| If you read the article you posted, she faced
| discrimination because she was indigenous. Nowhere in the
| article was the language she spoke ever mentioned. It's
| pretty disingenuous to use this to push a political
| viewpoint.
| keoneflick wrote:
| She died because she didn't speak french and the staff
| laughed at her rather than try to communicate with her.
| If you think racism in Quebec doesn't have a connection
| with language, you are dangerously misinformed.
| ande-mnoc wrote:
| Did you actually read the article? Because I did.
|
| The case was well reported in media and they basically
| all agree that it's a symptom of systemic racism against
| Indigenous people in Canada. The hospital staff thought
| she was on welfare based on her ethnicity in this case,
| or straight out "bet" on the patient's blood level in
| another case in BC the same year. She would have got the
| same treatment even if she spoke French.
|
| > If you think racism in Quebec doesn't have a connection
| with language
|
| Where have I said this? Not everything is about the
| language though.
| keoneflick wrote:
| I am well read on this case.
|
| > She would have got the same treatment even if she spoke
| French.
|
| This is simply untrue and I would be happy to hear a
| source for your position. It happens to allophones and
| white presenting anglophones:
|
| https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/anglophone-accuses-
| fre...
|
| Feel free to have the last word. My last word is leaving
| Quebec and never coming back.
| ande-mnoc wrote:
| I mean, if you read the entire story and all the horrific
| incidents happening to Indigenous people across the
| country and still made it about yourself, not much I can
| say about it.
| talos_ wrote:
| The original post was focused on history and language, and I
| added some political spice. Not discussing the politics of
| language (as in OP) is a bit outrageous.
|
| You're right that French-Canadians are not guilt-free from
| discrimination et al. Quebec only ever had French as an
| official language, but the last decades we've seen a series
| of dubious policies
| laurencerowe wrote:
| > 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"
|
| According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province this is a
| false etymology:
|
| > In fact, the word province is an ancient term from public
| law, which means: "office belonging to a magistrate".
|
| "State" is an overloaded term. In British English it usually
| refers to the top level political entity, e.g. "head of state"
| unless specifically talking about the US (except for the
| Secretary of State...)
|
| I wonder if the word choice was influenced by the US civil war
| ending only a couple of years previously and wanting to make it
| unambiguous where the centre of power lay.
| talos_ wrote:
| From the link you shared:
|
| > The English word province is attested since about 1330 and
| derives from the 13th-century Old French province, which
| itself comes from the Latin word provincia, which referred to
| the sphere of authority of a magistrate, in particular, to a
| foreign territory.
|
| The fact that British authorities picked a French word that
| the conquered would understand is significant.
|
| > I wonder if the word choice was influenced by the US civil
| war ending only a couple of years previously
|
| Interesting interpretation! I would agree given Canadians
| were given the opportunity to ally with the 13 colonies at
| the time (but didn't). British loyalists also fled the United
| States. "Province" made allegiance to the crown oversea clear
| laurencerowe wrote:
| > The fact that British authorities picked a French word
| that the conquered would understand is significant.
|
| That seems unavoidable given almost all English words
| related to government/law/administration (including
| "state") derive from French! The only counterexamples I can
| think of are "borough" and "riding".
|
| > "Province" made allegiance to the crown oversea clear
|
| There is a much clearer term for that though, "dominion" as
| in "Dominion of Canada". At least to my British English ear
| "province" simply doesn't have those connotations.
| talos_ wrote:
| I like to joke that "Dominion of Canada" is actually a
| railroad company
| talos_ wrote:
| > That seems unavoidable given almost all English words
| related to government/law/administration (including
| "state") derive from French!
|
| Interesting. I always thought that Britain adopted
| parliamentary system earlier than France. I'm guessing
| this has to do with the period Normandie (i.e., the
| French king) ruled over England
| laurencerowe wrote:
| Norman French was the language of administration in
| England for about 300 years following the Norman conquest
| in 1066 and the term "parliament" emerged during this
| time.
| skeeter2020 wrote:
| >> Their chant "go, habs, go" refers to the "habitants"
|
| The province of Quebec has very strong language laws intended
| to protect the French language. Heavy-handed? You be the judge.
| City buses in Montreal were recently "pressured" to stop
| displaying the chant (one of the most Quebecois things you can
| say to promote your pride) because it's English. Instead they
| were told to use the super-common-rolls-off-the-tongue-and-way-
| better "Allez! Canadiens Allez!"
|
| edit: this was later reviewed because of public pressure about
| just how stupid it is and now "go" is ok. But the language
| police still say "go" is an Anglicism and public bodies are
| obligated to use "exemplary" French, so you can see some of
| that snooty OG France perseveres - I guess the system works!
| kunzhi wrote:
| _> For anyone interested in Canadian history, always check-out
| the French version of a wikipedia page_
|
| In reading about Canadian history this entire comment strikes
| me as very "East" biased? (Because I'm reading a strong
| implication that the French are the true holders of the history
| and the English just showed up later. Which may very well be
| true)
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_alienation
| PotatoPancakes wrote:
| > _I 'm reading a strong implication that the French are the
| true holders of the history_
|
| I interpreted this more as "don't forget to check out the
| French-language Wikipedia articles too, since they might have
| contents that are absent from the English-language Wikipedia
| articles." This would likely be the case for anything
| concerning Quebecois or Acadien culture, or the early
| settlements by the French; but not likely for most things
| west of Ottawa (aside from some pockets like Grande Prairie,
| Alberta or Saint Boniface, Manitoba).
|
| It seems everyone outside of Ontario feels some kind of
| alienation or other. The west, as you mentioned, but also the
| maritimes, and especially the Quebecois.
| nsavage wrote:
| This 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).
| Ylpertnodi wrote:
| "Four-oh-one", is equally very British to me.
| ShroudedNight wrote:
| I'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)
| wk_end wrote:
| I don't really think it is...in Washington State for instance
| the highway through the Seattle suburbs is called "the four-
| oh-five" (there's a Death Cab For Cutie song about this one).
| mynameisvlad wrote:
| But that might be just because it's a bypass to I5/5/the 5
| (depending on who you ask).
| madcaptenor wrote:
| The Atlanta area code is definitely "four-oh-four" (and also
| the HTTP error)
| js2 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I 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.
| sillywalk wrote:
| I'm genuinely curious what else it would be called. I live 5Kms
| away from it, and that's just "what it's called."
|
| Four _zero_ one? Or Four-Hundred and One?
| mykowebhn wrote:
| Growing 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 wrote:
| "In place of" sounds like a direct translation of "En lieu"
| teqsun wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I've never heard that one... what part of the country is that
| from?
| eigenspace wrote:
| Where are you from? I'm from BC and I've never heard that one
| either.
| cluoma wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| never heard of that, but always delighted my friends when id
| ask for the channel changer
| tempest_ wrote:
| Converter 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| No mention of bunnyhugs
| dghughes wrote:
| Here 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 wrote:
| On 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 wrote:
| Growing 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 wrote:
| How does "Rip" not contain an entry for the driving equivalent of
| mall rats' loitering?
|
| "Out for a Rip?"
| c-hendricks wrote:
| sad 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
|
| nova scotia: https://theshuffledemons1.bandcamp.com/track/barmp-
| your-horn
|
| newfoundland: https://barmp.com/
| j_not_j wrote:
| "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?
| j_not_j wrote:
| "wet coast"
|
| Slang for BC. It's a joke, because (coastal) BC is mostly wet.
| And BC is the westernmost province.
| nikanj wrote:
| I wish there was a random button
| maxglute wrote:
| I want to see Ausralian version.
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