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"