Canadian slang

Some words I've said when visiting Americans in the South where no one knew the meaning of some of these:

Touque: It's a hat. Wool. Worn in the winter. (Someone thought I meant a tobaggan or sled)
Two-Four: Case of beer. (Unlike in the States, they come in cases of 24, not usually 30)
Twooine: A two-dollar coin.
Loonie: A one-dollar coin.
Eh: Yes, we all say it.
Line-up: We wait in these. For some reason, we don't wait in lines.
Snowmobile, sled, Skidoo and snow machine are acceptable terms for any "vehiclie" (other than a car/truck) that drives over snow.
Pop: We all call it pop, unline in the States where some states and areas call it soda.
Washroom: As dumb as it sounds, we never call it the bathroom here.
Zed: Not Zee to end the alphabet.
Hogtown: Another name for Toronto
The Big Smoke: Another name for Toronto
Centre of the Universe: Another name for Toronto
Cowtown: Another name for Calgary
Pogey: Financial Gov't assistant or collecting unemployment

That's about it.

 

Tree-huggers.

 

My favorite bit of Canadian slang that I picked up in my four years in Toronto was the comment that somebody is in "over their skates," which usually meant that a dude was dating a girl that most thought was wayyyy out of his league.

 

Every Canuck knows what "double double" means in terms of coffee. I went into a Tims in Saginaw and asked for an extra large double double and they had no idea what I was talking about.

 

But did they know who Tim Horton was?

 

East Coasters are the best. I did an opera with a Newfie tenor a few years ago. I said I hoped we were breaking for lunch soon to which he replied "Me too. I'm so hungry I could eat the arse off a low flying duck". One of my all-time favourite expressions.

The other that tickles me is the Newfoundland expression for someone who's name you've forgotten "Buddy Wassisname". If it's a group, it's "Buddy Wassisname and dem other fellas".

 

A Books Thread drop-in: I highly recommend The Day the World Came to Town by former Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede. Really good book.

From the editors' blurb

 

I've seen this passage numerous times.

DeFede got so screwed by the Herald. But that was a thread for long ago.

 

I've heard "duck" for people who come north for the summer and then flee for the winter. (I guess a more derisive term for snowbird.)

I'm not sure whether "colder than a witch's tit" is Canadian, but it sounds like it might be.

Oh, and don't forget the Bloody Caesar. My wife asked for one in New York and she got a goddamn salad.

 

There was a CBC doc on that. Very touching.

People made friends for life.

 

I remember asking for one --I think I was in Kansas City and the bartender looked at me like I had two heads.

But I remember also asking for vinegar for my fries when I was in a truckstop somewhere in midwest USA. The woman stared at me and then said, "Are you German"?

 

Isn't Newfoundland technically part of North America?

If so, there is a place like Newfoundland in North America. . . it is called Newfoundland.

<sarcasm>