A few more Canadianisms
More things I’ve learnt, as a British girl, from my eight months in Canada.
- A huge holiday home in the country is called a cottage, even though it doesn’t have a thatched roof, and an actual cottage is called a “pioneer house”
- Whether talking Bond or talking phone numbers, you wouldn’t say ‘double oh seven’… Canadians don’t say ‘double’ in phone numbers and it’s not ‘oh’, it zero
- A jumper is a sweater, a worktop is a counter, a lift is an elevator, the boot is the trunk, a tram is a street car
- A lorry is a truck, but if you can get a Canadian to say lorry do, because it’s humorous
- People don’t say aboot but they do say about differently than we say about
- Maple syrup is not like golden syrup, but impress Canadians by buying 100% maple syrup, not Aunt Jermima’s
- Everything is drive-thru, you can get coffee, ice cream, burgers, fries and donuts without ever having to leave the car
- Tim Horton’s is like Starbucks but Canadian. You can buy a box of TimBits, which look like the bits taken out of the middle of doughnuts
- Nobody’s excited by snow, snow is an unavoidable and unremarkable feature of everyday life
Ontario specific;
- When people say they’re moving to London, don’t excite yourself and start babbling on about rain and the Tube, there’s a London in Ontario. Also, for you suburbanites, there’s a Kingston and an Uxbridge
- There’s a place called Ajax, but it’s actually pronounced Ajax, not Eye-Axe
- The Canadian side of Niagara Falls, I’ve been assured, is much more impressive than the American side
- You cannot buy alcohol in grocery stores (supermarkets), you must go to the LCBO, which is a whole store (shop) full of alcohol, like a sweetshop (candy store) for adults – it’s magnificent
- You cannot have a bottle of open alcohol in the front of the car, it’s illegal
- When there are too many street cars going one way, the TTC short turn them, meaning everybody has to get off and wait for the one behind
- Tell someone from Toronto you’re going to anywhere further north than Finch and they’ll look at you as if you’re venturing to the moon on public transport
Things Canadians say
After eight months as a British girl in Canada, I’m still learning new Canadianisms every day.
- A fringe is called bangs, which I find strange to say because it’s a plural
- Baked beans are not for breakfast, and they’re not for putting on a baked (jacket) potato. I think they’re for putting next to mashed potato
- Bathroom doors, more often than not, have gaps between the door and the cubicle down either side. I do not remember this ever happening in England
- Canadians say “thank you so much”, my favourite reply is “you’re welcome so much”
- Car dealership, not showroom, gas not fuel, gas not accelerator, trunk not boot
- Full stops are called periods
- Grey, three-walled office cubicles as seen in the movies are a common feature of workplaces
- Painkillers of choice are Advil or Tylenol not Nurofen and Anadin, Lemsip is called something completely different, but I can’t remember what it is
- Paper isn’t described as A4 or A3 unless you’re really into paper. A3 is a 11 x 17
- Someone said I had “good teeth for a British person” and inquired about blood pudding, so some old British stereotypes are still knocking about
- Spring onions are called scallions
- The useless, annoying office jargon seems to be the same here in the most part. Touch base, low-hanging fruit, whizz that email across
- The word fanny isn’t funny
- There are places called Moose Factory and Yellow Knife
- Ulcers are called cankers (incidentally, cankers always makes me think of cankles)
Canadianisms
Today on the bus I witnessed the true spirit of Canada. This girls phone died in the middle of a conversation, so she asked another girl on the bus if she could ask the bus driver to hold for a min so she could use the payphone. Instead she gave the girl her phone to use, with a huge smile on her face!
In all seriousness I love my country and all it’s over friendly people, all the sorry’s & thank-you’s.
Canadianisms...
I promised a friend…
What do these mean?
- Eh?
- Canuck
- clicks
- hoser
- keener
- kerfuffle
- Molson muscle
- lineup
- for sure
- to be on pogey
- mickey
- two-four
- arse, bum
- give’em a shout
- to phone someone
- going on holiday
Canada calls it/US calls it
Food
- back bacon = Canadian bacon
- icing sugar = powdered sugar
- whitener = powdered non-dairy creamer put in coffee or tea
- processed cheese = american cheese
- chocolate bar = candy bar.
- brown bread = whole wheat bread
- homo milk = whole milk
- rye & ginger = canadian whiskey and gingerale
Academic
- write (a test) = take a test
- invigilate (an exam) = to proctor an exam
- tutorial = recitation
- marking (a test) = grading a test
- public school = elementary school
- supply teacher = substitute teacher
- college = community college
Other
- zed (Z) = zee (Z)
- chesterfield = couch
- the bill = what Canadians ask for in a restaurant (Americans ask for the check)
- eavestrough = rain gutter on the eaves (edge of the roof) of a house
- elastic = rubber band
- girl guides = girl scouts
- highway = freeway
- housecoat = robe or bathrobe
- hydro = electricity
- serviette = paper napkin
- tap = faucet or spigot
- washroom = bathroom
- track pants = sweat pants
- runners = tennis shoes
- muskoka chair = large, usually wooden deck chair
- postal code zip code
More at:
hwook replied to your post: is canadian an actual language? can you communicate to other canadians with it? do you have an accent? do you say oot and aboot? do you have an igloo?
Yes, Canadian is a real language. Deanna and I talk to each other all the time in Canadian. We have Canadian accents, including oot and aboot. And yes, we live in igloos. Jealous?
Yup, we Canucks have the greatest language, eh, being francophones and anglophones? We just sit here on our chesterfields with our double-doubles from Timmies, eating our Kraft Dinner, that we bought with our loonies and toonies. We’ll drink our pop and eat our timbits while wearing our tuques and playing shinny. We’re just keeners, eh, Joelle?
