- 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 "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
by nucleardog
10 subcomments
- 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
by joshdavham
6 subcomments
- 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.
- 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.
by michaelmior
7 subcomments
- 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.
- 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).
by sheepscreek
7 subcomments
- 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.
by c-hendricks
0 subcomment
- 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/
by CoastalCoder
0 subcomment
- As American who's recently discovered Corner Gas, I just learned that nearly every resident of Saskatchewan is named "Jackass".
by joshdavham
5 subcomments
- 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.
- 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".
by neurobashing
6 subcomments
- Sad to not see "dart" in there, I assumed from Letterkenny that it was a regular Canadianism. Perhaps it's too new?
by kashunstva
1 subcomments
- 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” (ˈæʃfɑlt) as opposed to U.S. pronunciation like “ass fault.” (ˈæsfɔlt)
Also “pasta” is often ˈpæstə as opposed to ˈpɑstə in American English.
- Americans dont use the term "pencil crayons"???
What do you call them?
- "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?
- 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.
- 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.
by throwawaymaths
5 subcomments
- as someone who learned continental french, when i visited quebec i saw "melon d'eau" and i nearly lost it.
- "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)
- 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.
by badc0ffee
3 subcomments
- 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.
by ShroudedNight
0 subcomment
- How does "Rip" not contain an entry for the driving equivalent of mall rats' loitering?
"Out for a Rip?"
- "wet coast"
Slang for BC. It's a joke, because (coastal) BC is mostly wet. And BC is the westernmost province.
- 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.
- My favo(u)rite Type 1 has got to be “whippersnipper” (string trimmer).
- 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.
by throaway5454
1 subcomments
- Chesterfield, serviette?
by mykowebhn
1 subcomments
- 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"
- 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)
by SteveVeilStream
2 subcomments
- Love to see Skookum in there.
- 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
by bee_rider
2 subcomments
- 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.
- I wish there was a random button
- 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.
by red-iron-pine
0 subcomment
- No mention of bunnyhugs
- 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?
- I'm pleased to see some of the Chinook jargon is there.
- Take off, eh!
It's missing.
- 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?
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