h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thought I might suggest two things to be added to the list.

First is Kraft Dinner, the staple food of Canadian university students. Everywhere else it's called "Kraft Macaroni and Cheese" and I don't think it has acquired the same 'cult' status that it has here (here being southern Ontario, if not all of Canada). (I've got a page on Kraft Dinner at A140211).

The second is "Puck Bunny", which is essentially the same as a "Hockey Chick". This too is present in southern Ontario, if no where else.

Oh, also I'd like to suggest a second definition for "hosed", since I've heard it used to mean "screwed-up" as in: "Man, I really hosed that exam". I initially thought this was just in use by my friends and I, but I recently heard my computer science prof say something along the lines of "Some of you really hosed that last coding assignment".

Just thought of another. "Pop" seems to be a term that Americans frown questioningly at you for using, and then tell you that you mean "soda". Not sure if pop is specific to Canada alone though.

Hmm... and perhaps "Tim Horton's" merits an entry for being the wonderful Canadian institution that it is.

Kraft Dinner is how it's known in Vancouver, in general. I think there's an assumption that it's macaroni and some powered stuff that could qualify as anything from spray-on cheese to glue. BTW: Kraft Dinner makes excellent body-filler on cars. Once dried in place the stuff's nearly impossible to shift and even rain won't dislodge it. (I don't know how well it takes a grinding, though.)

Fruitbat

Here are a few:

Slough - Prairie - Noun - A stagnant body of water filled during the spring and by rainfall. Commonly refered to in other areas as a pond or dug-out.

Social - Manitoba - noun - A gathering of friends and family to celebrate any possible event with the goal of raising money and getting good and ripped. (raising money is optional).

Gapper - Canada wide - Adverb - Used by some to describe people who live in an area they consider a "waste of space". Classicly Saskatchewan or the Prairies. ie She's a Gapper.

"Kraft Dinner" is now internationally famous through all Canadians' favourite cartoon series, "South Park"

what about Newfie.. affectionate name for Newfoundlanders.
and downhomer...Maritimer
Bluenoser.. Nova Scotian..
Acadian...Maritimer of French extraction
The Rock... referring to the island of Newfoundland

also hogtown...(another name for Toronto)
Steeltown( Hamilton)
The Falls..(Ontario term for referring to Niagara Falls)
cottage country.. (Ontario..for Muskoka..and sometimes includes Haliburton)

sourdoughs..
cheechakos..


the Farce ( Royal Canadian Air Farce..comdey show on CBC appeals to all generations)
Mike from Canmore... character..from the Farce

fuddle duddle...term coined by former Prime Minister PET ..when trying to cover up the use of a certain well known phrase

Trudeaumania..term to explain the stir caused by PET when he ran for prime Minister..mainly among younger voters..

PET... Pierre Elliot Trudeau..former Prime Minister
old Shakey.. nickname for former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
Joe Who..nickname for former Prime Minister Joe Clark
Tequila Sheila.. nickname for Cabinet Minister Sheila Copps..given by John Crosby..

Double Blue..nickname for Toronto Argonauts football team
Stamps...nickname for Calgary Stampeders football team..

Habs..nickname for Montreal Canadiens..hockey team..

La Fleur.. nickname for hockey great Guy LaFleur..
or the English..version..The Flower

Mr. Hockey...nickname for hockey great Godie Howe..(the great One's hero)


and this is just for starters...~G~

snark -- a sarcastic, wise-cracking comment

to snark -- to make many comments of a sarcastic and wise-cracking nature

snarky -- describes a person who is snarking a lot

Some examples of usage:
Oooh, somebody's feeling snarky today.
Snark, snark, snark. Can't you say something useful?
What's with all the snarks?

I first heard this term when I came to Montreal. Oddly, I understood it immediately, though if I say it to anyone not living in Montreal, they look blank. I don't know if any other regions of Canada or Quebec also use snark, so some feedback from more Canadians would be appreciated.

Is it just me, or are dep and depanneur really not mentioned at all in this forum? This is most definitely a Canadian term.

Depanneur(n): Deriving from depanner, to un-break down, this is what most people refer to as a corner store. In downtown Montreal, they tend to be run by Asian families. These tend to be slightly more expensive than super-markets with closer to expiration merchandise, but they are closer, more numerous, and open later than the super-markets. This is why people frequent them.

Dep(n): short for Depanneur.

I could be really off, but I was pretty sure it was pan-Canadian. If not, it is at the very least pan-Quebec

no, i think that depanneur is strictly a quebec
thing. since i moved to calgary i have been
forced to stop using it on account of the blank
looks. presume that you realize that it is french.

lacky...was common in sudbury area, but never heard
in quebec or alberta. refers to a person who has
to do the unintelligent tasks or is a dummy.

how are you liking montreal. lots of fun eh?

kgb

Crooked (v.) (Newfoundland) - a state of mind, being somewhere between hard to get along with, cheap, angry, irritated, and should have stayed in bed. (CROOK'ed)

Yaffle (n.) (Newfoundland) - an armful. As in, he carried an yaffle of fire logs. Rhymes with raffle.

Ossified (v.) (Newfoundland) - the end result of drinking too many Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters.

Snarky is used in Southern Ontario... or at least in Waterloo... I always thought it was of English origin...

There is slang and pronunciations peculiar to Souther Ontario:

Hydro - used for electricity. Probably because most electricity is supplied by Ontario Hydro. Most municipalities also have a "Hydro-Electric" Commision rather than an electrical utility.

Hosed (addendum to Stipe's comments) - I have usually heard "hosed" in reference to being taken advantage of... as in "you really got hosed on the price of that used car".

Wierd Pronunciations:

"Sowthern" - pronunciation of southern heard in South-West Ontario
"Pamerston" - There is a village name Palmerston... for some reason the locals always drop the "L"...

I had also heard that Americans don't know what a "Toboggan" is... Is that true?

Hmm... here in Quebec we call power or electricity either HydroQuebec or Hydro. Seeing as Hydro Quebec has a monopoly on the power grid, it's kind of obvious why I wonder how many other provinces' power suppliers contain Hydro in the title. Hmm.. I wonder if Ontario Hydro is getting some of their juice from the James Bay?

Ahh, the wonderful post final final exam ramblings of a pleased student.

I know it's been ages since you responded, but thank you for clearing up dep for me. Silly me figured it was one of those French-Canadian things that had permeated English-Canada. Guess not. Now I need to ask some of my Quebecer friends (that's Quebec City) if they use it there, or if it's just a Montreal phenomenon. While I'm at it, I could ask about snark... but they don't seem to speak that much English up there. Nice to hear it's in Southern Ontario... then again, maybe that's just the anglo migration effect, there. *sigh* But what *do* you say instead of dep? Corner store? That's so... lame. Dep is so much more... expressive, eloquent, short in syllables, reminiscent of Chateau de Owl Pith wine and so on.

Yeah, Montreal is a fun place. I think I might write a guide entry about it, as what I've found so far is silly. Wait a minute, this whole site is silly! I forgot! Well, tonight was a great night to be a Montrealer, as my brother and I just watched the Habs whup the Penguins' behinds and there was a good fight in the game, too. Ahhh, the pleasures of finishing all ones finals *grin*. Maybe I should just do somehting on McGill's Universities for now? Maybe I should get sleep and repost my webpage. Hmm... there's an idea. Excuse me for rambling

I once heard that 'bunny-hug' is a canadian term which supposedly originated in Saskatchewan and somehow made it into common slang in various parts of North America (although I have heard that the majority of people outside of Saskatchewan have never heard of the term. For those who don't know, a bunny-hug (not the dance and not the music), is a sort of 'sweatshirt' (smooth - ie. not knitted -, fairly heavy, long-sleeved shirt) with a rather large pouch on the front (much like you would have if you took two side pockets and attached them together), and a hood (usually with draw-strings). I believe these are usually called something along the lines of 'kangaroo sweater' or something (help me out here , or even just 'hooded sweatshirts', elsewhere.

There's also
by's (Newfoundland) - refers to a group of people. As in what are you and the by's at tonite?

Townies (Newfoundland) - refers to anyone from the city of St John's.

Toutons (Newfoundland) - Deep fried bread dough, usually dipped in molasses.

Baymen (Newfoundland) - Term used to denote someone from a coastal community.

I'm a bit late to the party it seems but I do have some additions to your list of Canadian Slang.

As a Winnipeg boy who has lived in the Geek Mecca of Northern California for awhile now I've run across a couple of common terms that Americans, inexplicably don't know.

The strangest, perhaps, is 'Parkade'. Which refers to a parking garage, generally of multiple floors. They do have them here in San Fran but the major differences are that they cost more than most Winnipeggers pay in rent and there's no place to 'plug in the car'. Wholly aside from the similarities they do not call them Parkade's, or even Car Parks but are merely 'Parking Garage's'. Boring but effective. They sure did look at me funny though.

They also do not have Garburetor's, they have 'Garbage Disposals'. Those are the things in your sink that you throw food down and flip a switch to eliminate the wastes which we can't bother to compost. See the film 'Fargo' for a rather over the top example of its operation.

Down here in California a Chesterfield is a Cigarette, to us it is a couch/sofa. Perhaps the word is becoming a bit arcane but it's still worth furrowing the brow of a yank.

These last few may be Manitoba only, or perhaps west to the Rockie's.

Another poster described an Ontario word for this person as a Wanker. Well in Manitoba, at least, they are a 'Banger', referring, no doubt to the head banging action with which some early eighties males felt they could 'get chicks' (which is always the primary motive for anything a group of young males will do together). The more detailed description from the Ontario post applies in all other aspects.

Still another poster proposed that depanneur is a pan-Canadian term. In Manitoba, which is a very Francophone province the word is in common use only among the FrancoManitobans and those that hang with them (which is a sizable population). But even more common is the term 'Sev' which refers to any convenience store but derives directly from 7-Eleven the most popular of these stores. It may also be mentioned for any potential travellers that the reason Sev is so popular is the Slurpee, an American invention perfected in Winnipeg. With the Canadian syrup and the near perfect water quality of the unspoiled Shoal Lake, the Large Coke Slurpee is a Winnipeg delicacy that is as sorely missed as perogies and catfish.

The last one I was quite amused to find out was actually a regional slang. It is "Gitch", I don't know it's origins or how widely it is used outside the red river valley but it is a common word for underwear. Generally referring to Men's underwear but as far as I know it is technically gender neutral, I think women just prefer to use words they find to be nicer or more exotic. But I'd be willing to bet that if you find a Winnipeg girl who is neither prim nor exotic she'll refer to her underwear as Gitch. Note that 'Gotch' is also acceptable, the most common joke is that it's Gitch in the past tense.

The others that I've found in my time down here have already been mentioned. I would note though that Slough (proposed by one poster) is a commonly understood word down here and that the Inuit speak Inuktitut not Inuit as reported here, it is an official Paliamentary language in the new Canadian Territory of Nunavut, a change which I'm sure will not be reflected in American maps for 50 years

The Canadian Identity is strong and proud, perhaps you have to leave to see it, but trust me we are not simply a middle ground between Americans and Brits. I probably meet 2 Canucks a month down here and I couldn't tell you how we recognize one another but there is something unique about us, at least unique enough that we can see it and that's really all that matters. It could be language or simple character, I might figure it out one of these days. But there will always be a kinship among people who know what a slurpee is supposed to taste like.

Howzitgoin eh

In some areas of BC a beer is a *Lucky* and no other brand is accepted or called anything else (Lucky Lager). The ocean is the *Chuck* and something good is *Skookumchuck* or just *Skookum*. Beer comes in sixers, a case or a two four. Booze is in mickeys, 2-6ers, or 40 pounders.

And what do they mean?