A Conversation for Canadian Slang (english)
essential canadiana
greensheep Started conversation Oct 11, 2000
how about..
great canadian plural nouns, like bluenoser..
names for cities, like hogtown (toronto), steeltown (hamilton), lotusland (vancouver), cowtown (calgary) .. and the hill (parliament hill, ottawa)
great political terms like the neverendum..
fuddle duddle.. trudeau invented that, man.
loonie, toonie? both important
call it the sev, call it the depanneur .. it's an integral part of canadian life
and sports vocabulary like the rocket (obviously not pavel bure), the pocket rocket, habs (derived from habitants), puckbunny..
homo milk.. man i've gotten stares for that one.. it means homogenized!! homo milk. it's a normal thing to ask for at a store.
serviette raises eyebrows south of the border
canadians stand in line-ups .. not lines.. apparently
mountie.. whatever happened to mountie..
that is all.
essential canadiana
Bagpuss Posted Nov 24, 2002
Hey, green, I've copied this list to A881471 and am adding to it. If you could explain bluenoser, neverendum, fuddle-duddle, sev, depanneur, rocket, pocket rocket and habs, I'll add them. Maybe I'm not the perfect person to write about Canadian slang, having only been here a year or so, but there's probably something to be said for an outside perspective.
I won't mention serviette or Mountie as they would be understood in most of the English-speaking world.
essential canadiana
Fruitbat (Eric the) Posted Feb 24, 2003
From what I've come to understand, serviette is the American term for a napkin;
The RCMounted Police were the national police force, dating back to the time when Canada consisted of Ottawa and Montreal (English and French), and was being explored rather haphazardly. The Mounties went into the wilds to keep the peace.
Don't know or care how well they fared.
fruitbat
essential canadiana
BudyChrist Posted Jun 6, 2004
I must say you've forgotten the Island!!
In Newfoundland, they are Islanders.. and the rest of the world.. no matter where you're from, are Mainlanders.
Cheers
Thats a good list you've got
essential canadiana
BudyChrist Posted Jun 6, 2004
Actually, it wasn't Ottawa and Montreal.. It used to be Montreal, Toronto, and Kingston... Kingston being the old capital of Canada.. but after the war of 1812, it was decided that it was a bit too close to the USA.. actually resting right on top of it.. and there was a little too much kuffufle (there's another one for you) between English and French Canada, so they created Ottawa to make a happy medium, yet still keeping it on English speaking soil
Cheers
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essential canadiana
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