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
throaway955 · 1h ago
and it was originally Canadiens, not Canadians :)
nucleardog · 12h ago
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
jdougan · 12h ago
I (West Coast) pretty much entirely associate "all-dressed" with potato chips.
mikrl · 1h ago
Dressed all over, zesty mordant, and gelapenno.
The goalie trinity right there
c-hendricks · 12h ago
The Works is usually a the name for the pizza. Chiming in for the east coast, all dressed is chips.
throaway955 · 1h ago
in MB, never heard of all-dressed pizza in my life. We have the chips and the works pizza
nucleardog · 12h ago
Yeah, mostly came as a surprise to me because I've spent most of my time in Saskatchewan and Ontario near the Quebec border. I somehow managed to spend my entire life bouncing around Canada and never spend much time anywhere where "all dressed pizza" didn't exist, even though it's apparently a highly-specific term.
kps · 1h ago
And bagels.
tomjakubowski · 9h ago
The Works is pretty common in the US, too. Pizza and sandwich toppings
rufus_foreman · 3h ago
It was an Everything pizza at the place I worked at as a kid. They're disgusting.
geophile · 1h ago
"Can confirm".
In the mid 70s, I would order a small pizza, all dressed from McGill Pizza, when feeling peckish. $1.10, delivered to your door in no time at all.
SecretDreams · 10h ago
Old, but good, CBC documentary on this type of thing:
> 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.
--
"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.
That's very common word these days at least here in PEI. Kicking people out to "renovate".
It basically means renovate as in sweep the floor and paint a small patch on the wall, done. All so they can kick out the tenant and up the rent 1,000%.
dackle · 1h ago
In Vancouver in the 1990s, if you wanted to buy a six-pack of beer at 10pm after the government-run liquor store closed, you would walk into a local pub and ask the bartender if they did "off-sales". If yes, they would sell you a cold six-pack for a very small markup.
Also, in Ontario in the 1990s, one-eighth of an ounce of weed was called a "half-quarter", ha ha.
goodcanadian · 6h ago
I've never in my life heard "off-sale" . . .
Off-sale has long been used in Alberta. I have a memory of asking my parents what it meant when I was a kid (and I am in my 40s, now).
kps · 1h ago
Maybe from UK ‘off-license’?
cik · 5h ago
> And Saskatchewan. Which the site notes is "a bit of a mystery".
There's no mystery. This is rubbish research. In parts of Manitoba we also use all-dressed for the same purpose (and of course chips). The unifying factor is French culture. The Riel Rebellion helped bring tremendous franocphones, and French culture out west. There are areas like St. Boniface in Winnipeg where s some people speak only French. The Metis are in both Manitoba and Quebec...
ShroudedNight · 37m ago
It's been a long time now, but from what I remember from school, a critical part of the notability of Gabrielle Roy[1] was that she wrote from the perspective of francophones living in the prairies.
I appreciate the DHCP-3 is not a monolithic work, but to have both authorship and editorial oversight of a corpus that presents itself as a rigorous treatise of Canadianisms demonstrate either broad ignorance of, or reckless disregard for a significant portion of our heritage is just baffling to me. What's the point if one is not going to be ruthlessly thorough?
Manitoba was founded by French speakers and about 2000 Metis were supposed to get most of what is now downtown Winnipeg. Their culture was eventually suppressed by Ontario.
asplake · 9h ago
Kerfuffle is British - quite common here. 19th century Scots apparently!
marctrem · 11h ago
In Quebec French we use “toute garnie” to refer to a pizza with red sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, green peppers and pepperonis.
lynguist · 3h ago
Do you call “tomato sauce” “red sauce”?
ShroudedNight · 28m ago
I can't speak authoritatively for the OP, but yes, I would expect red sauce to be tomato-based. Compare with "sauce brune" [brown sauce ~= gravy] which is what gets put on poutine.
chongli · 11h ago
Here in Ontario English we call that pizza deluxe!
nucleardog · 9h ago
Depends where in Ontario!
I'm in Ontario but in a heavily French area (i.e., East of Ottawa) and "toute garni / all dressed" is common. You'll find it places like Ottawa as well given the proximity to Quebec and French population.
fracus · 10h ago
That is what OP said. "All dressed" is a direct translation from French.
olalonde · 9h ago
Yes, they both refer to the same pizza. Many francophones actually say "une pizza all dress" - it refers to that specific combination of toppings though, not literally every available topping.
pjot · 12h ago
A “fully dressed” poboy in New Orleans is one with all the fixing’s
nucleardog · 9h ago
Huh, that makes sense given "all dressed" came from French and New Orleans' French history.
I'm not sure why we both ended up with "dressed" given the French is literally "all garnishes / toppings" or "wholly garnished / topped". I'm sure some linguist could probably do a dissertation on this or something. And hopefully also cover how Saskatchewan ended up with using "all dressed" because I'm really curious about that outlier.
zahlman · 8h ago
> I'm not sure why we both ended up with "dressed" given the French is literally "all garnishes / toppings" or "wholly garnished / topped".
> 1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
(Bonus: "garnish" is etymologically related to "warn". There are many such other pairs in English, e.g. "guarantee" / "warranty" and "guard" / "ward". (As I understand it: the Gauls could pronounce the "g", but the Franks couldn't.)
embedded_hiker · 12h ago
There are several parking structures called "parkades" in Salem Oregon.
joshdavham · 14h ago
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.
cik · 5h ago
Yup, they'll forever be booters to me to. Go Bison?
joshdavham · 1h ago
And go Jets!
chongli · 12h ago
Wow! I remember getting soakers as a kid! I had no idea it was a Canadianism!
throwaway290 · 4h ago
When and why/how did you stop getting soakers? Asking for a friend
chongli · 3h ago
I no longer walk to school! When I walk into a store or into work I always watch where I step, regardless of the season or the weather. I’m especially cautious walking around my back yard after a rain!
throwaway290 · 2h ago
Yes I guess once you learn to tell the signs of thin ice, soakers are rare... but now in tropics I get soakers being adult! Sometimes deep water is hard to notice or there is no route around a puddle. Maybe these are not really soakers (no ice involved) but I like the word
zahlman · 8h ago
I can relate to the experience, but never even thought of having a word for it...
throaway955 · 1h ago
got a booter eh bud?
SecretDreams · 10h ago
In Southern Ontario, it feels like it's soakers all winter long!
teqsun · 2h ago
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.
Rendello · 2h ago
I'm from Northern Ontario and never heard that one, but I was also surprised by a missing term: "transport". In my neck of the woods, that's how we refer to a semi-truck / 18-wheeler.
eigenspace · 1h ago
Where are you from? I'm from BC and I've never heard that one either.
werdnapk · 1h ago
I've never heard that one... what part of the country is that from?
throaway955 · 1h ago
never heard of that, but always delighted my friends when id ask for the channel changer
michaelmior · 12h ago
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.
mykowebhn · 3h ago
I initially worked in Canada where it wouldn't be uncommon to go out for a work lunch and order a beer.
When I got a new job in the US, my boss took me and several coworkers to a restaurant for lunch as a way to welcome me. When the waitress asked what I wanted to drink I asked for a beer. I then heard one of my coworkers who was sitting next to me ask me incredulously, "What are you doing?" I responded that I was ordering a beer. He said that I could get fired for that. That's when I realized that for a country that seemed so similar to Canada on the surface it was quite different below that surface.
slumberlust · 2h ago
Many companies and cultures in the US are fine with a drink or two at lunch. What industry was this company in?
mykowebhn · 1h ago
Good to know. This was in suburban Chicago, Naperville, IL to be exact, during the 90s. The industry was Telecomm. Maybe it was a more conservative area compared with the Bay Area or Boston.
astura · 2h ago
It's common to order a beer at work lunch in the US too.
Though I have worked at places if the company was paying for the lunch they won't pay for alcohol. In those cases we've always asked for the beers to be on a separate check so the expense report is easier.
red-iron-pine · 1h ago
had plenty of drinking lunches w/ US companies. the current (Canadian) company I'm at is quite strict about drinking -- would likely be fireable.
the Aussies would have been disappointed if I only had one...
dghughes · 1h ago
The term Hydro for electrical power (power lines) is not used in PEI the older generation would call it the "light bill" younger people now may call it the "power bill". If it was out we'd just say the power is out.
throaway955 · 1h ago
Hydro is from Canadian provinces that use mostly hydro power
nsavage · 4h ago
I travel to the UK a lot and am usually pretty careful with my Canadianisms, but during my last trip I accidentally asked a server for both a pop and a serviette at the same time, leading to a blank stare.
kashunstva · 8h ago
> 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.
Forricide · 11h ago
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..?
retrac · 9h ago
Hydroelectric was historically even more dominant in Canada than today. In places that aren't majority hydro now, they were in the past, like in Ontario and Alberta.
The name of the utility companies in most provinces was probably an influence. Until 1999 in Ontario it was the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission, shortened normally to Ontario Hydro. Manitoba Hydro. Hydro Quebec. I think in Toronto they still stamp manhole covers with THES (Toronto Hydro-Electric System).
ShroudedNight · 15m ago
In Ontario, we still have Hydro One as a (the?) primary distributor of electricity outside urban environments.
If I remember correctly, Hydro One also serves some parts of the Ottawa area, and their delivery rates were different enough from Hydro Ottawa that it was often a material consideration for where one chose to buy one's house.
standeven · 11h ago
I think it’s primarily BC and Ontario. And maybe a French version in Quebec.
skipants · 10h ago
I think it's pretty common in Western Canada. Definitely the norm in Manitoba.
djkivi · 1h ago
Not common in Alberta but people probably will know what you mean.
Forricide · 11h ago
That would definitely make the most sense. It’s also hydro in Quebec (hydro-Québec).
umanwizard · 11h ago
Hydro-Québec is the name of the power company there so I’m guessing it is.
dledesma · 11h ago
I've had to explain to an Albertan friend that hydro meant power, they mostly use coal out there from what I understand.
osigurdson · 10h ago
Alberta doesn't use any coal actually.
zahlman · 8h ago
They have only recently finished phasing out coal, such that it appears in last year's statistics. And it's still mostly natural gas, i.e. a fossil fuel.
do people look at you puzzled when you say "keener"?
sheepscreek · 14h ago
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.
trashchomper · 14h ago
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!
bcoates · 12h ago
'Toilet' itself is a euphemism, an archaic term for dressing/washing room and/or the act of washing up
umanwizard · 11h ago
“Toilette” is still used that way in normal everyday French. “Je fais ma toilette” - I’m washing up/getting ready/getting dressed/doing my morning hygiene routine/etc.
mitthrowaway2 · 11h ago
It was pretty surprising to be reading some old books on Project Gutenberg and seeing the word "toilet" being used meaning "outfit" or "wardrobe".
Biganon · 4h ago
Let's call it the poop room
gerdesj · 13h ago
Toilet, bog or lav in the UK are some options.
The easy to remember terms and will work nearly anywhere without giving offence are: "loo" in a residential property or "gents/ladies" for a non-residential property.
xeonmc · 11h ago
and also the lavatory
ajdude · 14h ago
Don't forget water closet!
xeonmc · 11h ago
Not to be confused with Tungsten Carbide, a ceramic used for abrasives and ballpoint pen tips.
pards · 14h ago
other notables include the loo, the can, the john, and of course the dunny
ChoGGi · 1h ago
The pisser
kurtis_reed · 14h ago
Toilet is the object, not the room it's in
KayEss · 13h ago
Only in some parts of the world. In many it's the room and the object
xattt · 12h ago
Soviet apartments had a separate rooms for the toilet and the area with a bath/shower/sink. The area behind the toilet was usually a hinged wall that could be opened to reveal the entry point for utilities.
I assume toilet hands were an unspoken issue, because there was no possible way to traverse from the toilet room to the washroom without touching anything.
For a complete tangent, I’ll mention that Soviet toilets had a “poop shelf” so that people could eyeball their stool to gauge their health. One flaw of this design is that there was no odour suppression offered by toilets that immediately immerse stool in water.
shawn_w · 9h ago
I believe German toilets have the same shelf.
TonyTrapp · 4h ago
Mostly in older buildings. I don't think you see it as often in more modern bathrooms anymore.
pcthrowaway · 6h ago
And the last 2-bed apartment I rented was a scam, the rooms didn't even come with beds.
Restroom has always puzzled me. Seems like it should be an alternate name for a bedroom instead.
Forricide · 11h ago
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?
throaway955 · 1h ago
its been said that Canada is still mentally stuck in the Victorian age somewhat
zahlman · 8h ago
> 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.
throaway955 · 1h ago
yeah can't say I know of anyone with a powder room
koakuma-chan · 14h ago
I use washroom and bathroom interchangeably.
SecretDreams · 10h ago
Animal shithouse
dghughes · 1h ago
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.
walthamstow · 1h ago
On one of the recent seasons of Alone there was a guy from Labrador who had an solidly Irish accent, no hint of North America, right down to saying 'tree' for '3'. I can only imagine that's who the settlers were and the isolation meant the accent never changed.
bardak · 13h ago
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".
gpm · 13h ago
Toronto here, I think approximately I'd say first-sixth grade, and grade 7-12. Grade one just sounds wrong though.
wk_end · 12h ago
Odd, I grew up in Toronto and Grade 1 sounds fine to me.
fsckboy · 7h ago
in the US, people tend to say "first grade", but if you say "grade 1" nobody would blink, people say it all the time, teachers, administrators, etc.
suddenlybananas · 7h ago
Well, Toronto is ground zero for Americanization. First grade sounds super American to my ear, I'd never say it over grade one.
neurobashing · 14h ago
Sad to not see "dart" in there, I assumed from Letterkenny that it was a regular Canadianism. Perhaps it's too new?
mikrl · 1h ago
In southern Ontario a dart is also called a bogey
throaway5454 · 14h ago
Popularized by Trailer Park Boys in the 2000s, if not well before
rapind · 14h ago
We called em darts when I was in highschool back in the 90s.
olalonde · 9h ago
Another Trailer Park Boys classic: "That's the way she goes"
I don't remember darts as much on TPB... the phrase "Corey, Trevor, two smokes, let's go" stands out.
throaway955 · 1h ago
Ricky is shot with multiple tranquilizer darts.
Ricky, get the darts out!
Ricky dazily pulls out his cigarettes.
Not those darts!
xutopia · 14h ago
As a Nova Scotian I can tell you it was present before 2000s... at least 90s.
jdougan · 14h ago
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.
"Dart" is absolutely still used. "Eh bud. Can I bum a dart from ya?"
ChoGGi · 1h ago
Throw me a dart, yeah?
wk_end · 12h ago
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.
Cthulhu_ · 6h ago
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.
darkwater · 5h ago
> 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.
Yes. Unless you are like me, you think you are good at inferring from context, never lookup a word in the dictionary and think for a few years it means something while it actually means the opposite.
0xEF · 4h ago
Could be worse, and be like me, who instantly looks up any word he doesn't understand, and because he does it so often, forgets the definition almost as soon as it is read after moving on.
It probably takes me a good seven to ten times of looking up a new-to-me word to really nail it down. As a result, a lot of my blog/personal writing is filled with odd phrasings of things because I never quite learned the prescriptive way of using said word.
20after4 · 4h ago
AKA wollah¹ (according to this made up dictionary)
As American who's recently discovered Corner Gas, I just learned that nearly every resident of Saskatchewan is named "Jackass".
joshdavham · 13h ago
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 film Slapshot with hockey banter/ribbing (at a Gilmore Girls-type pace).
RandallBrown · 11h ago
It might be more popular in Canada but I think "chirping" is pretty common in the US.
red-iron-pine · 1h ago
yeah heard it a bunch in the context of talking shit in sports
mikepurvis · 13h ago
Having courtside seats at a basketball game means getting to listen to the players chirp each other.
dismalaf · 13h ago
Nah if you say someone chirped you say, on the street or in a pub, it's fighting words...
slumberlust · 2h ago
I've always took it as the opposite. Chriping is just noise with no real threat (most chirping birds are not a threat to humans). It's just someone being friendly with their banter usually in a making fun of you type context.
kashunstva · 8h ago
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.
bregma · 4h ago
It's the same people mispronouncing "asphalt" with a "sh" that also use "nucular" energy to watch filums about athuletes in the artic. Some of them have even visited Warshington in the USA.
I don't think any of that is particularly Canadian though.
bawolff · 15h ago
Americans dont use the term "pencil crayons"???
What do you call them?
umanwizard · 11h ago
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).
pasc1878 · 8h ago
Same in UK for what they are ie sticks of wax (They can be thin for cheap ones that break)
In UK it is two syllables.
umanwizard · 8h ago
FWIW I’m American. According to the “Harvard Dialect Survey” which I found on Google, about 14% of people in the US pronounce it like I do and most of the rest with two syllables.
emptybits · 7h ago
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".
pcthrowaway · 6h ago
Wait, coloured pencils aren't actually pencils?
I've never heard Pencil Crayon, in British Columbia, but then again I did live in the U.S. for all of my school years.
cka · 15h ago
Colored pencils
pards · 14h ago
pencils of color :)
wild_egg · 9h ago
Pencils experiencing colourfulness
NikolaNovak · 11h ago
One of the frequent debates with my wife lol... "But they are not crayons" does not help my case at all :-)
nucleardog · 52m ago
Well... they're generally wax or oil based like a crayon. Just wrapped in wood like a pencil rather than in paper. Like some sort of... pencil... crayon. >_>
joshdavham · 14h ago
That also blew my mind.
PieUser · 13h ago
"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)
bregma · 4h ago
That usage came about during the right-wing political swing of the 1990s, just as the phrase was becoming popular in connection with computers. Generally, costs and responsibilities were downloaded and revenues and control were uploaded.
throwawaymaths · 9h ago
as someone who learned continental french, when i visited quebec i saw "melon d'eau" and i nearly lost it.
mikrl · 1h ago
Meanwhile I went hiking up on Georgian bay and saw a bilingual sign for a local landmark
“Overhanging point
Point Overhanging”
zahlman · 8h ago
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.
af78 · 4h ago
« Melon d'eau » ? For watermelon? I thought it was a joke, but well, Wikipedia mentions it: « La pastèque [...], parfois appelée melon d'eau » (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past%C3%A8que)
Everyone says « pastèque » in mainland France, where I've lived for over 40 years.
I've never seen melon d'eau and I doubt anyone will understand it unless they know the English word.
talos_ · 3h ago
This is a remnant of British colonization. French-speaking population didn't know any English, so you have a lot of these literal translations.
I've heard "flour" uttered with the French pronounciation (fl-oo-r, instead of homonym of "flower") in New-Brunswick. I was floored. Took me a while to figure out what they meant.
Clearly, this originates from non-English speakers reading "flour" on a sign and just running with it.
Also, consider that the British conquest happened before watermelon was highly prevalent in France or North-America. It's unsurprising to see terminology diverge in this case.
olalonde · 2h ago
Conversely, I'm a native French speaker from Quebec, and honestly, this is the first time I've ever come across the word "pastèque."
No comments yet
werdnapk · 1h ago
Quebec has it's own dictionary.
No comments yet
nucleardog · 47m ago
Also good luck planning any meals.
Dejeuner is breakfast in Quebec (lunch in France).
Diner is lunch in Quebec (evening meal in France).
throaway955 · 1h ago
how about une boîte aux lettres?
no_ja · 12h ago
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.
jt2190 · 11h ago
“They went to hospital” is a Britishism and definitely not something you’ll hear all the time in Canada.
samplatt · 10h ago
Confirming britishism - both are in use here in Australia.
BJones12 · 11h ago
I usually hear "they went to emerg(e?)"
umanwizard · 11h ago
In America you do something similar with school. I went to school (not “the school”).
jdougan · 9h ago
Also varies by region in the US for referring to highways. In Southern California it is usually "the I-5" while on the other coast you will hear a plain "I-95".
anon7725 · 6h ago
I think Americans have the most variety of names for roads - kind of like the Inuit have many ways to talk about snow.
in LA it's most definitely "the 5" and state highways are also named with their numbers with no distinguishing. it's all "the N"
umanwizard · 8h ago
I’m from Arizona and I don’t think this is settled law here. I’m just as likely to say the 10, the I-10, or just I-10.
chuckadams · 3h ago
In Colorado, people tend to say "The I" and the automatic assumption is I-25. At least if you live on the front range anyway, which 80% of the state does.
fracus · 10h ago
I've never heard a fellow Canadian say "to hospital" over "to the hospital", in person, or on TV.
throaway955 · 1h ago
went to hospital is a British thing and ive never heard it in Canada
badc0ffee · 15h ago
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.
allenu · 12h ago
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.
Rendello · 1h ago
I'm from Northern Ontario and me and my buddy went to a poutine place in Toronto. He asked for a poutine (naturally), and the worker didn't understand him. Southern Ontario says "poo-teen" /pu.tin/, but we say "p'tin" /pə.tɪn/ where I'm from. The original French way is [pu.t͡sɪn].
MegaDeKay · 15h ago
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.
jdougan · 12h ago
It made some inroads in to BC in the 80s, mostly thanks to Bob and Doug McKenzie, but never really stuck.
bethekidyouwant · 14h ago
Yeah it’s a flat
dismalaf · 13h ago
"Two-four" hasn't made its way out west because we call it a case of beer, and we already have "two-six", which is a 26oz bottle of liquor.
dmalik · 7h ago
In Ontario "two-six" is called a twixer
bregma · 4h ago
It's a 750.
jt2190 · 14h ago
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?
ChoGGi · 1h ago
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)
nsavage · 4h ago
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).
ShroudedNight · 3m ago
I'm surprised "Four Oh [X]" is specifically a Canadianism. I would have expected it to manifest more broadly, given things like:
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.
Rendello · 1h ago
A good test would be "ice eyes garage sorry resources".
For me it would be something like /ʌɪs aɪz ɡəˈɹæʒ ˈsɔːɹi ˌɹiˈzɔɹsɪz/.
easy way is "figure it out" -- that seems to be common in Alberta to Montreal
strong emphasis on the out as "ooot" -- "figure it ooot, bud"
MegaDeKay · 10h ago
Your method wouldn't detect me. But you'd get me when I pronounced "Z" as "Zed".
throaway955 · 1h ago
car door gets me
tricolon · 9h ago
Mine's listening for proe-ject instead of prah-ject.
__turbobrew__ · 7h ago
Do you call program “prah-gram”? Do you call pro shops at the golf course “prah shops”? I will die on the proe-ject hill.
umanwizard · 11h ago
Also if they refer to a washroom instead of a bathroom or restroom.
mykowebhn · 3h ago
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"
scarecrw · 13h ago
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.
MegaDeKay · 10h ago
Never heard of bearbucks but can confirm that "reefing" is pulling hard on something.
My favo(u)rite Type 1 has got to be “whippersnipper” (string trimmer).
SteveVeilStream · 8h ago
Love to see Skookum in there.
0xEF · 4h ago
Same. As an American living on the Canadian border most of my life, I learned most of my Candaianisms from factory coworkers and AvE's youtube channel.
It's mostly West coast. Origin is Pacific West Coast pidgin (Chinook). Some people in Yukon and the prairies use it, but it becomes rarer the further you are from B.C.. It has become more widely used in recent years though.
throaway5454 · 14h ago
Chesterfield, serviette?
werdnapk · 1h ago
Those are British words which Canada uses a lot of.
fsckboy · 8h ago
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
red-iron-pine · 1h ago
No mention of bunnyhugs
bee_rider · 14h ago
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.
SECProto · 12h ago
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.
nucleardog · 12h ago
Lived in BC, SK, and ON. I'm far enough east that I regularly hit up both Ottawa and Montreal.
In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white).
I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened bread everyone is talking about.
bee_rider · 12h ago
I found a sort of fun blog post that points out that technically, it could be considered a pudding rather than a bread, because it is steamed rather than baked.
Although the consistency is more like a dense, very moist bread. It wouldn’t be great for a conventional sandwich. Could reasonably steal the English muffin’s job, though. Or a regular muffin. Maybe a bit messier.
qualeed · 12h ago
BC, AB, ON. Same as you, brown bread = whole wheat. Not sure I've even heard of molasses-sweetened bread, let alone eaten it.
It’s made with ungodly amounts of molasses. My grandmother used to make it with lard or shortening, yikes.
bee_rider · 14m ago
I bet you knew it was a treat, though. Compare to some folks’ daily sugar cereal diet… I dunno, unhealthy habits are usually unhealthy because they are habits.
SECProto · 12h ago
Yeah when I think further on it, I've never heard of it here in Ontario. In Atlantic Canada though, it's definitely made with molasses. Google search results [1] suggests this is a regionalism (Atlantic Canada and new england states)
If I was offered brown bread and got a boring whole wheat, I'd be sorely disappointed.
Nova Scotian here: it’s definitely made with molasses. It’s really moist and doughy when it’s fresh. Goes very well when dipped in a chowder.
Or do like my Mom did: mix a little peanut butter with molasses into a slurry on top.
All of this will kill you, of course, but it does taste good!
drdec · 12h ago
Massachusetts native, we regularly are brown bread from a can as a kid. Not a touristy thing.
bee_rider · 12h ago
My family were definitely not tourists, but come to think of it I don’t recall seeing the canned stuff in my friends’ houses. So maybe we were just locals who fell for a prank that was being played on the tourists, or something.
throaway5454 · 14h ago
Can? Where in Canada is this canned brown bread at?
bregma · 4h ago
Check the foreign foods section of your local supermarket. Probably right beside those chocolate sprinkles intended for making sandwiches.
bee_rider · 14h ago
It isn’t, apparently, that’s what I’m upset about. Canada and New England are supposed go way back, longer than the countries. But apparently we didn’t share our bread technology advances.
rapind · 14h ago
I've had it. You're really not missing out. I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
bee_rider · 13h ago
> I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
It it rare in matters of taste to be able to say it, but you sir or madam are objectively incorrect!
Ok well, maybe that is a bit over the top. But anyway, since it comes in a can, hopefully anyone curious can just try it. Pop it in the toaster oven, put some cream cheese on it, and have it for breakfast. It is a treat, IMO.
wobblyasp · 14h ago
We call it spoon bread in the east. True spoon bread is baked in an old tin can. Not sweet.
allenu · 12h ago
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.
bregma · 4h ago
A keener is an ardent enthusiast. A brown-noser (aka a browner) is a sycophant. Not the same thing at all.
Also, a brown-noser should not be confused with a blue-noser.
jdougan · 9h ago
A little less derogatory, in my estimation.
sophacles · 16h ago
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?
physix · 8h ago
Take off, eh!
It's missing.
jdougan · 12h ago
I'm pleased to see some of the Chinook jargon is there.
switchbak · 9h ago
Skookum as frig!
Actually they should just watch a few AvE videos, he’s a goldmine for old Canadian lingo.
jdougan · 8h ago
I still use "saltchuck" when I'm distracted. Confuses the heck out of Californians.
emptybits · 7h ago
I've seen Chinook words used in California, both in place names and businesses. Skookum, Siwash, Tyee, etc.
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
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
The goalie trinity right there
In the mid 70s, I would order a small pizza, all dressed from McGill Pizza, when feeling peckish. $1.10, delivered to your door in no time at all.
https://youtu.be/eIoTpkM5N64?si=FnGploZrLZ1XRVXO&utm_source=...
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.
--
"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.
That's very common word these days at least here in PEI. Kicking people out to "renovate".
It basically means renovate as in sweep the floor and paint a small patch on the wall, done. All so they can kick out the tenant and up the rent 1,000%.
Also, in Ontario in the 1990s, one-eighth of an ounce of weed was called a "half-quarter", ha ha.
Off-sale has long been used in Alberta. I have a memory of asking my parents what it meant when I was a kid (and I am in my 40s, now).
There's no mystery. This is rubbish research. In parts of Manitoba we also use all-dressed for the same purpose (and of course chips). The unifying factor is French culture. The Riel Rebellion helped bring tremendous franocphones, and French culture out west. There are areas like St. Boniface in Winnipeg where s some people speak only French. The Metis are in both Manitoba and Quebec...
I appreciate the DHCP-3 is not a monolithic work, but to have both authorship and editorial oversight of a corpus that presents itself as a rigorous treatise of Canadianisms demonstrate either broad ignorance of, or reckless disregard for a significant portion of our heritage is just baffling to me. What's the point if one is not going to be ruthlessly thorough?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Roy
I'm in Ontario but in a heavily French area (i.e., East of Ottawa) and "toute garni / all dressed" is common. You'll find it places like Ottawa as well given the proximity to Quebec and French population.
I'm not sure why we both ended up with "dressed" given the French is literally "all garnishes / toppings" or "wholly garnished / topped". I'm sure some linguist could probably do a dissertation on this or something. And hopefully also cover how Saskatchewan ended up with using "all dressed" because I'm really curious about that outlier.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dress
> 4. (also figuratively) To adorn or ornament (something). [from 15th c.]
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/garnish
> 1. To decorate with ornaments; to adorn; to embellish.
(Bonus: "garnish" is etymologically related to "warn". There are many such other pairs in English, e.g. "guarantee" / "warranty" and "guard" / "ward". (As I understand it: the Gauls could pronounce the "g", but the Franks couldn't.)
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.
When I got a new job in the US, my boss took me and several coworkers to a restaurant for lunch as a way to welcome me. When the waitress asked what I wanted to drink I asked for a beer. I then heard one of my coworkers who was sitting next to me ask me incredulously, "What are you doing?" I responded that I was ordering a beer. He said that I could get fired for that. That's when I realized that for a country that seemed so similar to Canada on the surface it was quite different below that surface.
Though I have worked at places if the company was paying for the lunch they won't pay for alcohol. In those cases we've always asked for the beers to be on a separate check so the expense report is easier.
the Aussies would have been disappointed if I only had one...
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.
The name of the utility companies in most provinces was probably an influence. Until 1999 in Ontario it was the Ontario Hydro-Electric Power Commission, shortened normally to Ontario Hydro. Manitoba Hydro. Hydro Quebec. I think in Toronto they still stamp manhole covers with THES (Toronto Hydro-Electric System).
If I remember correctly, Hydro One also serves some parts of the Ottawa area, and their delivery rates were different enough from Hydro Ottawa that it was often a material consideration for where one chose to buy one's house.
https://www.aeso.ca/aeso/understanding-electricity-in-albert...
The easy to remember terms and will work nearly anywhere without giving offence are: "loo" in a residential property or "gents/ladies" for a non-residential property.
I assume toilet hands were an unspoken issue, because there was no possible way to traverse from the toilet room to the washroom without touching anything.
For a complete tangent, I’ll mention that Soviet toilets had a “poop shelf” so that people could eyeball their stool to gauge their health. One flaw of this design is that there was no odour suppression offered by toilets that immediately immerse stool in water.
Meaning 1a is the object, 1b is the room. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toilet
Restroom, and a variety of others, might be slightly more usage specific but still… wouldn’t be unexpected or weird, I’d say?
I think only people of a very specific upbringing ever call it that here. Certainly nobody in my circles would.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65w7ha4DZKo
Ricky, get the darts out!
Ricky dazily pulls out his cigarettes.
Not those darts!
https://gikken.co/mate-translate/blog/from-darts-to-cigarett...
Yes. Unless you are like me, you think you are good at inferring from context, never lookup a word in the dictionary and think for a few years it means something while it actually means the opposite.
It probably takes me a good seven to ten times of looking up a new-to-me word to really nail it down. As a result, a lot of my blog/personal writing is filled with odd phrasings of things because I never quite learned the prescriptive way of using said word.
1. https://www.thedictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/word/wollah
The film Slapshot with hockey banter/ribbing (at a Gilmore Girls-type pace).
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.
I don't think any of that is particularly Canadian though.
What do you call them?
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 UK it is two syllables.
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".
I've never heard Pencil Crayon, in British Columbia, but then again I did live in the U.S. for all of my school years.
“Overhanging point
Point Overhanging”
Everyone says « pastèque » in mainland France, where I've lived for over 40 years. I've never seen melon d'eau and I doubt anyone will understand it unless they know the English word.
I've heard "flour" uttered with the French pronounciation (fl-oo-r, instead of homonym of "flower") in New-Brunswick. I was floored. Took me a while to figure out what they meant.
Clearly, this originates from non-English speakers reading "flour" on a sign and just running with it.
Also, consider that the British conquest happened before watermelon was highly prevalent in France or North-America. It's unsurprising to see terminology diverge in this case.
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Dejeuner is breakfast in Quebec (lunch in France).
Diner is lunch in Quebec (evening meal in France).
Parkway, Freeway, Highway, Tollway, Expressway, Interstate, Byway, etc
in LA it's most definitely "the 5" and state highways are also named with their numbers with no distinguishing. it's all "the N"
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.
Totally minor difference, but it did feel jarring when I heard it differently from the first time as someone who grew up in Alberta.
"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.
(rock paper scissors)
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).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/409_(song)
For me it would be something like /ʌɪs aɪz ɡəˈɹæʒ ˈsɔːɹi ˌɹiˈzɔɹsɪz/.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Canadian_English
strong emphasis on the out as "ooot" -- "figure it ooot, bud"
"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"
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.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing
https://www.youtube.com/arduinoversusevil/videos
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
> 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.
The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy thing, not something regularly consumed.
In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white).
I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened bread everyone is talking about.
https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-...
Although the consistency is more like a dense, very moist bread. It wouldn’t be great for a conventional sandwich. Could reasonably steal the English muffin’s job, though. Or a regular muffin. Maybe a bit messier.
It’s made with ungodly amounts of molasses. My grandmother used to make it with lard or shortening, yikes.
If I was offered brown bread and got a boring whole wheat, I'd be sorely disappointed.
[1] https://my-mothers-cook-books.ca/2021/05/29/brown-bread-vs-p...
Or do like my Mom did: mix a little peanut butter with molasses into a slurry on top.
All of this will kill you, of course, but it does taste good!
1860’s apparently.
https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-...
> You're really not missing out.
It it rare in matters of taste to be able to say it, but you sir or madam are objectively incorrect!
Ok well, maybe that is a bit over the top. But anyway, since it comes in a can, hopefully anyone curious can just try it. Pop it in the toaster oven, put some cream cheese on it, and have it for breakfast. It is a treat, IMO.
Also, a brown-noser should not be confused with a blue-noser.
Is there a similar dictionary for US midwesternisms, or Texisms, or really any region?
It's missing.
Actually they should just watch a few AvE videos, he’s a goldmine for old Canadian lingo.
Definitely less common than in BC/WA/OR though.
Klahowya tillicum!