A Typology of Canadianisms

I (West Coast) pretty much entirely associate "all-dressed" with potato chips.

> Surprising one for me was "all dressed" as a term for, e.g., a pizza with all the toppings.

What on Earth. Wikipedia tells me:

> An all-dressed chip called The Whole Shabang is produced by American prison supplier Keefe Group. It became available to the general public in 2016.[4] Frito-Lay began selling all-dressed Ruffles potato chips in the United States that same year.[5]

I had assumed the entire time that everyone uses this term for potato chips (and that everyone has the flavour) and that the Quebecois were just being weird by also applying it to pizza.

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"Renoviction" is a very recent neologism that's mainly used in the specific major cities where it's an issue (because of the housing market).

"Gong show" I think is relatively old-fashioned (as in Gen X) by comparison. I'm actually surprised Americans don't say that, given that the actual show was on NBC.

I can easily find "kerfuffle" in supposedly American online dictionaries so I think their claim is rather dubious. On the flip side, I've never in my life heard "off-sale"; and in Ontario it's only quite recently (https://www.ontario.ca/document/alcohol-master-framework-agr... https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/1003988/ontario-consumers...) that you can even legally purchase beer and wine at a grocery store.

The Works is usually a the name for the pizza. Chiming in for the east coast, all dressed is chips.

Kerfuffle is British - quite common here. 19th century Scots apparently!

Old, but good, CBC documentary on this type of thing:

https://youtu.be/eIoTpkM5N64?si=FnGploZrLZ1XRVXO&utm_source=...

In Quebec French we use “toute garnie” to refer to a pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, green peppers and pepperonis.

There are several parking structures called "parkades" in Salem Oregon.

A “fully dressed” poboy in New Orleans is one with all the fixing’s

Wow! I remember getting soakers as a kid! I had no idea it was a Canadianism!

I can relate to the experience, but never even thought of having a word for it...

In Southern Ontario, it feels like it's soakers all winter long!

> Like when I told her that my parents' hydro had been out all day.

When I immigrated to Canada (Ontario) a decade ago, the term hydro was the most confusing to me. I assumed it meant water supply or plumbing, but it was always in the wrong context. I imagined the disaster of hooking up the plumbing to the electrical service! Now it’s completely natural to call it “hydro” but confusing at first.

I always assumed we just called it hydro in BC because so much of the power comes from hydroelectric, but then I moved and it seems we call it hydro everywhere no master source..?

do people look at you puzzled when you say "keener"?

As an Australian I always find it funny going places and having to remember which dance-around word everyone uses for "toilet". Washroom, restroom, bathroom, there's so many!

This one (among others) does really fascinate me. Maybe it’s due to spending a lot of time around diverse groups of people but I’ve never really seen a huge distinction between these words. Washroom, bathroom, toilet, I and everyone I know pretty much would use interchangeably? Or at least wouldn’t blink at someone else using them.

Restroom, and a variety of others, might be slightly more usage specific but still… wouldn’t be unexpected or weird, I’d say?

> most single-family homes in Canada have a “powder room” where people can wash their face and hands.

I think only people of a very specific upbringing ever call it that here. Certainly nobody in my circles would.

I use washroom and bathroom interchangeably.

Animal shithouse

I strongly suspect most language / communication is clear from inference and context, and the exact words used aren't super important unless they are really out there or a different language entirely. It's the same with learning a foreign language (english in my case), you read books and posts on the internet but once you reach a certain base level, except for the really out there words, you can infer the meaning from context.

Popularized by Trailer Park Boys in the 2000s, if not well before

Apparently originated in Australia, though it is definitely an established usage in Canada. I seem to recall hearing that usage in Vancouver in the 90s.

https://gikken.co/mate-translate/blog/from-darts-to-cigarett...

Darts an old one. At least since my parents age.

"Dart" is absolutely still used. "Eh bud. Can I bum a dart from ya?"

“They went to hospital” is a Britishism and definitely not something you’ll hear all the time in Canada.

I've never heard a fellow Canadian say "to hospital" over "to the hospital", in person, or on TV.

I usually hear "they went to emerg(e?)"

In America you do something similar with school. I went to school (not “the school”).

Toronto here, I think approximately I'd say first-sixth grade, and grade 7-12. Grade one just sounds wrong though.

For chirping, I'll bring up Shoresy, spin off of Letterkenny TV show, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoresy

The film Slapshot with hockey banter/ribbing (at a Gilmore Girls-type pace).

Having courtside seats at a basketball game means getting to listen to the players chirp each other.

It might be more popular in Canada but I think "chirping" is pretty common in the US.

Nah if you say someone chirped you say, on the street or in a pub, it's fighting words...

Crayons are the fat sticks of wax (e.g. Crayola brand). Colored pencils are, well, colored pencils.

There are also various different ways to pronounce “crayon”; is that also true in Canada? For example I pronounce it with one syllable: “cran”, just like the beginning of “cranberry”. I get the feeling that’s not the majority pronunciation but it’s not exactly rare either (at least where I grew up).

In a feeble attempt to rationalize the Canadianism "pencil crayon"...

Pencils have cores based on graphite or charcoal.

Pencil crayons have cores based on wax or oil, with pigments added. This is basically the composition of crayons or pastels. Then it's wrapped in wood like a pencil. Thus ... "pencil crayon".

Colored pencils

One of the frequent debates with my wife lol... "But they are not crayons" does not help my case at all :-)

That also blew my mind.

That's the first gloss DeepL gives me for it. I've never before in my life heard "pastèque" and I doubt I'll remember it.

Is that in all of canada or just west coast

There must be so many tiny little differences like this. I remember when I lived in Toronto for a bit that the way they phrased whether you wanted a fast food order to eat at the restaurant or to take home was a little different from in Alberta. I know in Alberta, they would ask "to stay, or to go?" when ordering, but in Toronto I think it was "for here or to go?" which is how I've heard it phrased in the U.S. as well.

Totally minor difference, but it did feel jarring when I heard it differently from the first time as someone who grew up in Alberta.

Never here that term used but I'm out west as well. We're all semi's, all the time.

"two-four" is there and can confirm that is more an eastern term as well. Never heard the term until I spent a year out in Ontario many years ago. Still hasn't really made its way to the west in all that time.

This classification seems extremely arbitrary. What purpose, exactly, does this classification serve? What insights about “Canadian as she is spoke” do we learn by using this?

Your method wouldn't detect me. But you'd get me when I pronounced "Z" as "Zed".

Mine's listening for proe-ject instead of prah-ject.

Also if they refer to a washroom instead of a bathroom or restroom.

Never heard of bearbucks but can confirm that "reefing" is pulling hard on something.

You reef lines (ropes) on a boat.

That's a weird (or perhaps regional) definition. Brown bread I've had is always molasses sweetened. Source: ontario and provinces east.

The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy thing, not something regularly consumed.

Can? Where in Canada is this canned brown bread at?

A little less derogatory, in my estimation.

Skookum as frig!

Actually they should just watch a few AvE videos, he’s a goldmine for old Canadian lingo.