Glossary of useful Canadian terms

Phoenix_Rising

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20100119/ap_tr_ge/cn_travel_brief_canada_speak

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press Writer Leanne Italie, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jan 19, 5:09 pm ET



Have a sit-down on the chesterfield with your double-double and learn ya some Canadian.

With the caveat that not all Canadians may agree on the language, definitions and spellings below, and not all may use all expressions listed here all the time in all contexts in an all-joking or an all-earnest manner, let's begin:

LOONIE: One-dollar coin bearing the image on one side of a diving bird known in North America as the Common Loon.

TOONIE or TWOONIE: Two-dollar coin bearing the image on one side of a polar bear. Named as a play on Loonie and for its double-dollar denomination.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE: A coffee with two creams and two sugars.

TRIPLE-TRIPLE: You guessed it, same as above plus one each.

CHESTERFIELD: Generic term for couch. Refers elsewhere to a specific leather style.

TIMMIES: Shorthand for Tim Hortons, Canada's answer to Starbucks and making its first foray into the United States.

TIMBITS: Doughnut holes at Tim Hortons.

TWO-FOUR OR TWOFER: A case of beer that contains 24 bottles.

TOQUE or TUQUE: Pronounced TOOK, a knit cap called a ski cap in the United States.

THAT'LL LEARN YA: Meaning, "That will teach you," said in response to a stupid or non-fatal avoidable bad outcome.

HYDRO: In some areas, refers generically to electrical power and power bills.

HOMO MILK: Non-homogenized milk

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And here I thought "That'll learn ya" was a Southern (American) term! :laugh:
Are these phrases Canadians really say?

drvvork

Giving way to my age ... LOL... :laugh: I guess Bob & Doug McKenzie was educational after all!

havingitall

The only one that isn't for all Canadians is " That will learn ya" The others are all very common.

Carleybby

Yeah I've never heard that will learn ya...

I also thought everywhere used double double.

mommared53

:laugh: Those sound so funny to me. I've heard "that'll learn ya" here in the states. I thought chesterfield was a brand of cigarettes so when I read "Have a sit-down on the chesterfield . . . ", I thought it was an invitation to sit on a pack of cigarettes. :laugh: :laugh:

stef_e_b

It seems so strange that those words would need an explanation. What do American's call power?

lotusfromthemud

It seems so strange that those words would need an explanation. What do American's call power?

"Electric Bill". or something similar.

I moved from the states to Canada. Here are a few others:

Washroom (I have gotten actual confused looks when I asked for the "bathroom") and "regular" coffee (which I have always thought meant black, but apparently means w/ one cream and one sugar. . .why not "single/single" ).

omid990

i think ohio is the only place in the states that has a tim hortons.

i love my timmies. The ice capps are to die for

Phoenix_Rising

I'd never heard of any of these phrases except "that'll learn ya" before. A double double makes sense but I wouldn't have known what it was. Hydro.... um, Power or Electricity. (Power bill, electric bill.)

JaneanAriel

I say That'll learn ya all the time! lol

catherine1979

Ha, I've never heard anyone say that'll learn ya. I'm an East Coaster, we don't have hydro here either, just plain old power.

cmriverside

Of course in the States you can get confused from one Coast to the other!


East =Shore, West =Coast (the areas where the ocean bumps into the land)

Southern= Coke
Midwest= Soda
West Coast=Pop (you guessed it- any carbonated sugary beverage)

Midwest = Warshcloth
Everywhere else =Wash Cloth

South = Canal
Midwest=Crick
West = Slough or Stream

South = slew (meaning a lot of something)
West = Slough (same pronunciation - see previous "water" definitions)

Starbucks (i.e.- when I first moved here to the West) Grande Skinny No Foam whatever......
Everywhere else - a big frikkin lowfat coffee - Geez lighten up Starbucks.

MercuryBlue

LOL. Well, I don't know ANY Canadians who say 'Chesterfield'. We all (the ones I know) say 'Couch', but I'm a BC girl. Maybe that's an Eastern thing?

Toque is pronounced Tuuk, not 'took'. I thought that needed clarification since I read 'took' as in 'I took a book from the shelf.'

Also, most Canadians drink POP, and not soda. But we do have Hydro here. Probably because we get our power from a company called BC Hydro, and most people shorten that to 'hydro'.

MercuryBlue

Also, for clarification...

Many Canadians do say 'eh?' but FEW of us have the accent that Canadians always do in American movies. It's more like, 'Hey?' without an 'h'.

Also, a lot of Americans make fun of us for pronouncing 'About' as 'Aboot'. That's another Eastern thing. My American friends claim I pronounce it 'aboat'.

kaytbognar

People do notice an accent, I've found. Guests here will ask me where I'm from and when I say I'm Canadaian (from "Traw-na") they're always saying "ooooh, that explains it!"

My friend in Cali came to visit me in the Rockies last summer and apparently Canadians say "sorry" differently-- saw-ree.

Other things that perhaps don't need definition, but are amusing: Many provinces (not Alberta, I know for sure, but Ontario and Quebec at least) have milk in bags. At least in Cali and the Carolinas, no milk in bags south of the border. I thought that was so weird.

Does anyone remember that old I Am Canadian beer commericial for Molson Canadian, and the Q107 spoof of it (I Am NOT Canadienne for the quebequios)--Gosh when I have always thought those were SO funny.

Hahaha, sorry for the length. I'm kind of homesick for the GWN. (A-rooo-coco-co-coco-co! Rick Moranis makes my life!---> did anyone else just adore Strange Brew? I convinced my English teacher in high school to let us watch it in class because it's Hamlet, hoser-style!)

Ok, for reak: Takin off, you hosers.

MercuryBlue

Lol. We don't have milk in bags in BC either, but I remember that we did, at a time. When I went to Ontario 15 years ago I was like, "WTF???"

Yes, we do pronounce it 'sa-rry', lol. How else are we supposed to pronounce it???

I LOVED that old "I Am Canadian" beer commercial. Freak yah.

jb_sweet_99

I say 'That'll learn ya' all the time! LOL. We do have bags of milk here in Ontario, I just thought everyone did, lol! I agree with Carrie too, I don't say 'Aboot' either, and Americans that I've heard say it like "abowt' hard to spell it how it sounds, lol!. I do admit that I say 'eh' a lot, lol :bigsmile: And I've never heard anyone here say "chesterfield" either LOL
We have London Hydro here too, so it ends up being called Hydro...
Hahaha, you're a hoser Kayt! I forgot that word, too funny!
I used to LOVE those Canadian Commercials too!! Soo funny..I wish they were still on, they were funny...but fairly true :bigsmile:
Ok, I think I've taken up enough space on here, lol!
Jenn

Phoenix_Rising

Also, for clarification...

Many Canadians do say 'eh?' but FEW of us have the accent that Canadians always do in American movies. It's more like, 'Hey?' without an 'h'.

Also, a lot of Americans make fun of us for pronouncing 'About' as 'Aboot'. That's another Eastern thing. My American friends claim I pronounce it 'aboat'.

I don't really think that many Canadians say "ey" and "aboot" the way portrayed on movies, but it's fun to mimick! I do know some Wisconsin folks that talk like that though.... :huh:

melanieann48111

i think ohio is the only place in the states that has a tim hortons.

i love my timmies. The ice capps are to die for

Heck no, it isn't! Michigan has a TON of Tim's....yum! I have one right next door to the building I work at. :drinker:

melanieann48111

Also, for clarification...

Many Canadians do say 'eh?' but FEW of us have the accent that Canadians always do in American movies. It's more like, 'Hey?' without an 'h'.

Also, a lot of Americans make fun of us for pronouncing 'About' as 'Aboot'. That's another Eastern thing. My American friends claim I pronounce it 'aboat'.

I don't really think that many Canadians say "ey" and "aboot" the way portrayed on movies, but it's fun to mimick! I do know some Wisconsin folks that talk like that though.... :huh:

I live very close to the canadian/michigan border and I say "eh" all the time. I don't know how I picked it up but I did and it's stuck with me for years. Part of my charm. lol

kaytbognar

Iris says that she usually says/hears it "so-ry" and instead of "saw-ree"

Hahahha, Jenn. My pops is ALWAYS telling me I'm a hoser. And I counter by calling him a honkee. Such is the eternal battle. LOL. There's this one HILARIOUS episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshall takes Robyn to a canadian bar and, to check that it's really Canadian, she bumps into someone on purpose to see if they apologize--and they do! I laughed so hard at that because it's totally true. Likewise, I was in Berlin a few years ago and my friends and I found this place called "Tim's Canadian Bar." I think it was the funniest place I've been to. They didn't have rye, they didn't have ANY canadian beers (not even Molson Canadian, like really?) but it was decorated with plush mountie teddy bears, postcards from Niagra falls and the CN Tower, and for-show containers of maple syrup. SO FUNNY.

I dont really notice the "aboot/about" thing, but I say eh all the time. So my friends, but then...we're a bunch of hosers and canuckleheads.