The Great Canadian Word, Unique Phrases and Words of Canada
I was watching the CBC this morning and a great segment was featured about The Great Canadian Word. It got me thinking about people that come to Canada to travel. They must be pretty confused when we tell them that a “Coffee Crisp costs about a Loonie, pretty good deal eh?” We have some very unique words in Canada and if you really want enjoy yourself to the fullest while traveling this vast land, I recommend diving in and learning how to use a few of our more popular phrases.
Here are a few of the staple words used daily in Canada.
1. Eh: This is our most popular phrase that we receive the most flack about from the rest of the world. Everyone always makes fun of us. They mock us by using “eh” in the most ridiculous phrases and they never get it right. So I am going to give you a quick lesson on how to use the word “eh”. It is so simple to use and anyone can do it. All you have to do is make a statement like “It is a very nice day out today.” If you add “eh” to the end of that statement, you can turn it into a question that will require a friendly reply from the person you are talking to. For example…”It is very nice day out today eh?” To which the other person will reply “Yes it is.” See how easy it is? Now before coming to Canada, you can practice your use of the word “eh” and fit right in once you get here.
2. Loonie: By far the silliest word for currency on the planet. When our one-dollar coin came out in the early nineties. Nobody really knew what to call it. You can’t exactly call it a dollar-bill any more, and a dollar coin just didn’t roll off of the tongue. Well, obviously a Loonie would be the next choice for a name. (Ok, I am kidding, it doesn’t make sense at all.) That is until you see the coin. It has a picture of a Loon on it. So naturally we all decided to call it a Loonie. And of course when the two-dollar coin came out with a picture of a Polar Bear on it we called it a Bearie or a Polie right? No way…we ended up calling it a Toonie, because it rhymes with loonie and we like things that rhyme.
3. Tuque: I went my entire childhood and a large portion of my adult life not realizing that this was a word only used in Canada. I watched Bob and Doug Mackenzie as a kid wearing their tuques telling each other to “Take Off Eh” and never thought anything of it. Then I started traveling and made statements like “Its cold tonight, I should have brought my tuque” People looked at me like I was from another planet. It is simple a tuque is a knitted hat used to keep the head warm. The Edge from U2 often wears a tuque and Jacques Cousteau always wore a tuque. Now you know.
4. Washroom: When I first started to travel the world. I was surprised to see the word Toilet used so much. In Canada we call it a washroom. I don’t think that I have ever heard the term washroom anywhere else except for Canada. In the U.S. They use bathroom, and restroom, I have seen water closet, the loo… But I never see washroom. I like washroom. I think I will keep using washroom.
5. Double Double: Ok, I could do an entire post on how Tim Hortons has shaped our coffee drinking as a nation. Mediocre coffee that we are all mysteriously addicted to. We have even opened a Tim Hortons in Afghanistan for our troops overseas. “I am going to Timmies to grab a box of timbits and a large Double Double.” That is what you say when leave the house to order an assortment of tasty doughnut centres and an oversized cup of coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars at Tim Horton Doughnuts. Yummy. Tim Hortons by the way was founded by hockey legend Tim Horton. We love our hockey almost as much as we love our Timmies.
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6. 2-4. One of my favourite phrases that is uniquely Canadian. This is our phrase we use when we go to buy beer. I am going to get a 2-4 of Canadian at the Beer Store. Yes, we buy our beer at the Beer store in Canada and a box of 24 beers is simply shortened to the words “two four.” Our favourite holiday is Queen Victoria’s Birthday on May 24th. Not because it is the Queens birthday. It is because it is a holiday to celebrate our great Canadian Beer. We all call it May 2-4 Weekend, because that is exactly what we do. Grab a 2-4 of beer and go to the cottage to work on our “Molson Muscle.” A Molson Muscle is our endearing term for the beer bellies we have developed over years of drinking Molson Canadian Beer. Yee Haw!
7. Chinook: I had heard this word as a child. I was born in Alberta, and my parents would often talk about when the Chinooks would blow in and how nice it was. I had no idea what this meant until I was older. It is quite amazing actually. I learned today on the CBC that it is an Inuit word for “The snow that melts.” What a Chinook is, is a warm wind that comes over the mountain in the dead of winter and instantly melts the snow and raises the temperature. It is needed because Alberta can be extremely cold. My mom and dad love to tell the story of a pair of boots that my grandmother sent to them to keep warm in the winter. Well, my dad wore them out on one cattle drive and it was so cold that his boots cracked right open and shattered. They didn’t have gortex then. And that is why everyone wore leather my friends.
8. Chocolate Bar: Canadians call our Candy Bars Chocolate Bars and I like it. That is what they are made out of. Chocolate, therefore they should be called chocolate bars. I rest my case.
9. Knapsack: This is what we Canadians call our Backpack or Rucksack. To us it is a knapsack. All through my school years I would pack my Knapsack with my schoolbooks. When I first started traveling 10 years ago, I said to myself, “Well, I better buy a new Knapsack to carry everything.” I now use the term Backpack more often but I haven’t been able to say the term Rucksack, it is just odd to me. I really miss my knapsack days.
10. OK, food is an easy cop out:, but I need to round out my top 10 list of great Canadian Phrases. Plus you can read more about it in an article I wrote about Canada’s Lack of Cultural Food Identity. So here are a few popular food choices unique to Canada.
a: Smarties are Canada’s answer to M&M’s only better!
b: A Coffee Crisp is a chocolate bar is layered chocolate and wafers with a coffee cream centre. I eat mine in layers.
c: Poutine. Sinfully delicious. French Fries Topped with Cheese Curds and Gravy. I am hungry as I write this. And my personal favourite,
d: Dill Pickle, All Dressed and Ketchup Chips. I think the rest of the world is catching on, but as far as I know these two flavours are unique to Canada.
So there you have it.
Can you think of any other Canadian words that are unique to your region or the country? Tell us some words unique to your country, we want to hear them.
A Canadian Moment, Tuque, Beer, Winter
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Hey guys! Fantastic post – Now that it’s summer I’m seeing more and more 40+ year old men mowing their lawn flexing that Molson Muscle like no other. A few days ago a friend and me spotted a guy going for a jog in some short shorts, rocking an Ipod & a very athletic Gut.
I wrote a bit of a write up about you two on my blog as well, along with a link to this post. Any potential backpackers heading to Canada need to know a few of these sayings.
http://www.ibackpackcanada.com/2009/06/unique-canadian-words-phrases-planetd.html
Once again, keep up the good work.
Haha, yes you do see a lot of the Molson Muscle cutting lawns in the summer time Corbin. Good one!
At last, I can dazzle my Canadian expat friends here in L.A. with my knowledge of “Loonies” — and I have you to thank!
For the record, I grew up in Washington, D.C., and called a backpack a knapsack. So, I’ve got that going for me. If only I’d known I was mimicking Canadians, I could have had a much happier childhood.
And lastly, I don’t know if you guys have a special name for Tim Horton’s doughnuts, but my husband would like to suggest, “Wonder rings of goodness.” Sure, it’s a long one…but pretty darn accurate.
Wonder rings of Goodness, I like that. I do love my Tim Hortons Doughnuts!
Yeah! We share the knapsack with Washington D.C. I knew that the capital city was a smart one:-)
Oooh, I’d have to do a more in-depth investigation on this one. Oh, I have one…serviette!! (oops, maybe the French use them, too?).
I lived in the Philippines for 20 years. We called our washrooms there…comfort room!
Serviette! That is a good one, my family calls them that too, I didn’t think of that one. I kind of like comfort room. Are the washrooms comfortable in the Philippines?
Is that MGD I see…? Some Canadian…
Very true, but that is such a Canadian moment in it’s own way. Using an American product is very Canadian.
I’ve been so busy picking up (and writing about) words from different countries, that I realize I’ve forsaken my own Canadian heritage! I agree wholeheartedly on all the above terms (“toilet” sounds so much dirtier than “washroom”!), and will also say that I’ve brought Poutine to Australia, and they dig it here. (score! 1 for Canada! They also like pumpkin pie….that’s 2 for Canada!)
Enjoyed this post! I linked to it from my site, Living Abroad in Canada, that provides advice for people relocating to Canada:
http://www.livingabroadincanada.com/2009/07/03/speaking-canadian-tips-from-canadas-adventure-couple/
When I moved to Canada from the U.S., I also had to learn words like garburator (what I knew as a “garbage disposal”), till (cash register), and “writing exams” (rather than “taking exams”).
Excellent contributions Carolyn. I didn’t know that garburator was Canadian or till, or writing exams. Huh, the things you learn writing a blog post:-)
Very funny. I could have used this a few years ago when we lived in Prague. I shared an office with a Canadian and my husband did consulting for a Canadian-owned mobile phone company. Perhaps you could offer cross-cultural courses around the world for Canadian companies
“Parkette” (i.e., small park) is a Canadian word. I believe it originated in Ontario.
Thanks for the addition to great Canadian Words Lucy, I have totally used Parkette before. Love it!
We are learning so much. I use the word Parkette too and didn’t know it was from Ontario, our home Province.
Awesome! Hahaha. This post is hilarious. I’d like to do one just for Newfoundland words. I was stunned when my solder friend told me that there’s a Tim Horton’s at his base in Afghanistan, he even took some pics for me.
Some additional comments from this Newfie…try adding some turkey dressing to your poutine. Seriously. It’s delicious. In these parts, we also have chips flavoured like Roast Chicken and Fries and Gravy, and soft drinks like Pineapple Crush.
We also use the word “b’y” instead of “eh.” It’s kinda like a term of endearment, “Whatta ya at, b’y?” As in “What’s up, friend?”
Candice´s last blog ..Lend me your ears. Or brains.
Hi Candice, Thanks for the Newfoundland words. How do you pronounce b’y? Is there a way to write it phonetically? Mmm, Pineapple Crush sounds great and I believe you, Turkey dressing sounds like it would be a nice addition to poutine!
I just saw a comment on digg and they are soooo right. I forgot all about the word “pop” Americans call it soda and that just sounds strange to we Canadians. We say “do you wanna pop?”
I stumbled on this doing research on the usage of the word “pop”. To say that all American’s call it “soda” is grossly inaccurate. The word “pop” to refer to what we know as “soft drinks” is traceable back to Faygo, a Detroit, Michigan company. Because of that, many Michiganders and people from the upper Midwest say Pop. In America, Soda is more prevalent in the West Coast and the Eastern Seaboard. Whereas, in the South, Coke has become the generic term for all soft drinks, regardless of brand. However, there is no real geographic boundary of usage. All examples can be found pretty much anywhere in America. Long story short, Pop is not just a Canadian phenomena.
Thanks Sean for doing all our research.
Hmmm, kinda hard to sound it out…kinda like “boy” without the “o”. Actually, “bi” would be the best example, hahaha. And yeah, “pop”! Not “soda”! Pshhh.
Candice´s last blog ..Lend me your ears. Or brains.
Thanks Candice, I am going to start using B’y. I have some friends from Newfoundland, so I think that I can hear the accent as I am thinking about how to say it:) Nice!
How fun! Will be great to throw out a couple of these when I make it up that way. A couple of Canadians I met in Ireland last month used “eh” ALL the time, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but snicker!
Also, I have to disagree on the smarties…they had these abroad and I wasn’t overly impressed, I’ll take my M&Ms!!! 
Shannon OD´s last blog ..A Little Warmth…A Wee Bit of Irish Hospitality
Ah! our Beloved Smarties, how could you Shannon??? (I’m just kidding) I didn’t know that they had them abroad. Something tells me that they just don’t make them as well as they do here:-) I do love M&M’s too.
Smarties were introduced by Rowntree of York in 1882. A popular sugar-coated chocolate confectionery available in Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations but not the USA. they were described as “chocolate beans”.
Thanks John, I am always learning so much on this blog.
Lol! Well, with you swearing by them I’ll give them a shot next time I make it up that way; perhaps it’s like Coke, a different formula overseas
Shannon OD´s last blog ..A Little Warmth…A Wee Bit of Irish Hospitality
Hahaha, there’s also several ways you can use it. For example, you can use it when something is incredulous. If your friends say something surprising, spring a “OHHH YIS B’Y!” on them. They’ll love it.
Also works as “you’re an idiot”, but use a different tone. Damn. I should a make a video of this.
Candice´s last blog ..Three-line book review: “Stardust” – Neil Gaiman
How about ‘hoser’ from the MacKenzie brothers?
‘Two-four’ was a big one for me back in the day.
Does your grandmother call ‘lunch’ dinner and dinner ‘supper?’
My grandma also calls her sofa a Davenport.
John Bardos – JetSetCitizen´s last blog ..Interview with World Travelers, Uncornered Market
Hi John, We call our dinner supper a lot as well. I didn’t think of that one. And hoser is a popular one as well. I love that we use two-four when buying beer, it is just so Canadian.
I thought it was toque not tuque.
Hi Person, it can be spelled both ways, tuque or toque. Tuque is the French spelling but the English have adopted Toque and even Touque. Since it is pronounced “tewk” we like spelling it the French way since it looks more like the way it is pronounced. When I see toque, it makes me think that it is pronounced more like Toke, or took. But you are right, either way is the proper spelling.
CHESTERFIELD!!!! My parents always used the term chesterfield instead of couch/sofa
POP…i dunno if this is accurate but i notice most americans and ppl from other countries call it soda…POP!
Thats enough from me….think im gonna go relax on the chesterfield with a pop.
toodles!
So true! Pop is a Canadian thing and everyone else says soda. Soda is so strange to our ear.
You are so right. Soda is what others call it, Canadians call it pop. Chesterfield, that is a good one, I forgot about that one. Thanks for the imput!
How about:
“I am sorry” – The original Canadian phrase we use all the time (trust me I have been to places where people will slam into you and walk away like you were a pilon.
Also:
Canuck – though the term will probably be more of how others call us.
“Beaver tail” –
There are probably more but so far I can not think of any
Rado, so true. We catch ourselves saying it all the time. And wish sometimes others would say it just a little bit. Thanks for the input.