The Canadian Dictionary

Having gone back and forth from the States the last few years has also brought me some insight into my home country of Canada. I’m constantly learning about differences in taxes, holidays, traditions, school systems and even ways of speaking.

To keep me in touch with Canada while I’m away, I listen to CBC Radio 3, the Canadian indie off-shoot of our public national radio station CBC. Sometimes they have a feature called “The Canadian Dictionary”, which highlights a uniquely Canadian word and provides the definition. I thought I’d present my own version of the Canadian Dictionary, featuring words that I sometimes say and Americans have no idea what I'm talking about.

In alphabetical order:

Boxing Day – December 26th (the day after Christmas Day); origin explained on Wikipedia

brown bread - whole wheat bread

caesar – a cocktail apparently originating in Calgary – made with vodka and Clamato (clam & tomato) juice with tabasco sauce served on ice with a stick of celery

cheezies - cheese puffs; a genericized trademark based on a brand of crunchy cheese snack sold only in Canada

cheque - a written order to a bank to pay the stated amount of money from one's account; a check (Am)

chesterfield - a couch or a sofa

fountain pop – drink machine commonly at fast food restaurants; mixes drink syrup and water to make pop

freezie - a frozen, flavoured sugar-water treat

ginch or gonch – slang for (male) underwear

gongshow - a slang word meaning "everything is chaos" or a way to describe a crazy event/experience

keener – someone that is really enthusiastic towards something, often a student, over-achiever

line up – a queue, a line

loonie – a one dollar coin

mickie - a pint/flask sized bottle of liquour

Ogopogo – a fabled sea serpent that lives in Okanagan Lake, like the Loch Ness monster

parkade - a parking garage or parking structure

pencil crayon - coloured pencils

poutine – a delicious dish originating in Quebec consisting of fries, cheese curds and gravy; often consumed late-night after the bar

runners - athletic sports shoes

serviette – a napkin

skookum - sturdy, heavy duty

stagette - a bachelorette party

suck - a weak, self-pitying person; a crybaby or a sore loser. Can be used as a term of endearment for pets or children

toonie – a two dollar coin

toque – a knit/wool winter hat, sometimes with a pom-pom on top

two-six - a 26 oz (750 mL) bottle of liquor

washroom – a public bathroom, also “I have to go to the washroom”

zed - the last letter of the alphabet, not zee (Am)

Also, a few strange pronunciations or phrases that throw off my fellow American friends:

grade 3 - as opposed to "3rd grade"

pasta - pronounced pahsta (Can) not posta (Am)

process - pronounced pro-cess (Can) not prah-cess (Am)

1st year, 2nd year, etc - as opposed to freshman, sophomore, etc; refers to year of post-secondary study

It's all very fascinating, isn't it? Now just think about how misunderstood I must feel sometimes!

If you're interested in learning more about this interesting topic of Canadian English, check out these sites:

Wiki How's "How to Understand Candian Slang"

Wikipedia's "Canadian English"

CoolSlang's "Canadian Slang Dictionary"

The Feeling of Christmas

For the first time ever I was in California right up until December 21st. Usually I go back to Canada near the beginning of December. Before I left I was discussing with a couple of friends who had recently moved to Santa Cruz from Georgia how much it didn’t feel like Christmas. That day it was about 18 degrees C (64 degrees F), which may have had something to do with it. We also just weren’t feeling the Christmas spirit around town- we had collectively noticed there weren't as many Christmas decorations on the city streets, in the shops or on people’s houses.

On December 21st when I arrived in Vancouver it was chilly and definitely felt wintery (by Vancouver’s standards). My sister Brady lives right near City Hall and there were lights all over the lawn, as well as a huge tree covered in lights. On Tuesday, when Brady and I went out shopping and wandering around the city, it was bustling. People walking around with Santa hats, stores were all decked out with decorations, there was Christmas music playing everywhere. When we went into Barbara Jo’s Books to Cooks, a great little cookbook and food & wine book shop, they offered us some mulled wine to sip and sugar cookies to eat while we browsed. As we walked along the street Brady said “It barely feels like Christmas. There’s no snow and it's weird to not be at home with Mom and Dad, getting ready for the holidays.” My sister graduated from university earlier this year and is now working as a nurse. She will be starting her 4 day work week on Christmas Day and then will fly up to Smithers to join the rest of our family at our brother and sister-in-law’s house. Our brother Conor also works through Christmas at the mine and will be arriving home from camp the same day. We'll have our own, post-poned version of Christmas on the 30th, including gift opening and turkey dinner. Guaranteed that our sister-in-law Shawna will have the house decked out and plenty of food!

Will that feel like Christmas? Probably not really, but maybe it coud. What does Christmas feel like?

I think it has a lot to do with what you grow up with. When Brady said it didn’t feel like Christmas, it was likely because she was missing out on what she normally associates with this time of the year. Based on our experience of Christmas when we were younger, I'd say she was probably yearning for: hunting for a Christmas tree with Dad, having snow on the ground, horsedrawn sleigh rides, visiting with extended family, toboggan races, filling the cupboards with baking, nuts & candies, decorating the tree and the house, strings of lights, Elvis Christmas records, Christmas morning rituals, board games in the evenings…

Then as we grow up, the feeling of Christmas inevitably shifts, but hopefully isn't lost. What it really comes down to is being with family, to hang out, eat together, play games and share each other’s company, no matter what the day, the weather, how many decorations and what music is playing.

Happy Holidays!