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A Typology of Canadianisms

dchp.arts.ubc.ca

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Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#261

Post by j_not_j »

goodcanadian wrote: post #148
zahlman wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 every…

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).

"off-sale" at a licensed premises means sale for off-premise consumption.

In BC.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#263

Post by madcaptenor »

jdougan wrote: post #56
nucleardog wrote: post #51

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 att…

I (West Coast) pretty much entirely associate "all-dressed" with potato chips.

I (US) also associate "all-dressed" with potato chips since we started getting them down here.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#264

Post by madcaptenor »

ShroudedNight wrote: post #238
nsavage wrote: post #168

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 ).

I'm surprised "Four Oh [X]" is specifically a Canadianism. I would have expected it to manifest more broadly, given things like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/409_(song)

The Atlanta area code is definitely "four-oh-four" (and also the HTTP error)

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#265

Post by j_not_j »

"brown toast".

When ordering breakfast, such as eggs and toast. "You want white or brown toast?"

Since most toast is toasted to a brown tone, the question confuses Americans (west-coast, anyways).

It's really the question: white bread toast or whole-wheat bread toast?

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#266

Post by abeille »

keoneflick wrote: post #255
talos_ wrote: post #167

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 / ma…

Be sure to also check out how francophone Quebecois have been very effective at revenge - driving out anglophones and allophones from Quebec through vindictive attacks against their language, culture, schooling and employment. It's sad, but I am ultimately glad I will be the last generation of my family born in Quebec. Au revoir and good riddance.

To put things into perspectives, let’s remember that anglophones in Québec, which represent about 10% of the population, have 3 universities, one of which is McGill, and have there theaters and artists, newspapers and tv shows. Many live in Montréal all there life without knowing a word of French, since it is possible to find almost everywhere someone that speaks English. By constrast, it is less and less easy to live only in French in Montréal, since it is not always possible to find someone that speaks French.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#267

Post by talos_ »

keoneflick wrote: post #255
talos_ wrote: post #167

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 / ma…

Be sure to also check out how francophone Quebecois have been very effective at revenge - driving out anglophones and allophones from Quebec through vindictive attacks against their language, culture, schooling and employment. It's sad, but I am ultimately glad I will be the last generation of my family born in Quebec. Au revoir and good riddance.

The original post was focused on history and language, and I added some political spice. Not discussing the politics of language (as in OP) is a bit outrageous.

You're right that French-Canadians are not guilt-free from discrimination et al. Québec only ever had French as an official language, but the last decades we've seen a series of dubious policies

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#269

Post by dadadad100 »

werdnapk wrote: post #203
throwawaymaths wrote: post #117

as someone who learned continental french, when i visited quebec i saw "melon d'eau" and i nearly lost it.

Quebec has it's own dictionary.

And Quebec has it’s own English. I spent a few years working in Montreal and soon learned about “passing the vacuum” and “closing the light”. There are so many bilingual folks that concepts and word orders flow back and forth. I had an interesting discussion with a bilingual anglophone about how in English elsewhere it’s called a “pacifier” and not a “souce”

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#270

Post by talos_ »

abeille wrote: post #266
keoneflick wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be sure to also check out how francophone Quebecois have been very effective at revenge - driving out anglophones and allophones from Quebec through vindictive attacks against their language, culture, schooling and employment. It's sad, but I am ultimately glad I will be the last generation of my family born in Quebec. Au revoir and good riddance.

To put things into perspectives, let’s remember that anglophones in Québec, which represent about 10% of the population, have 3 universities, one of which is McGill, and have there theaters and artists, newspapers and tv shows. Many live in Montréal all there life without knowing a word of French, since it is possible to find almost everywhere someone that speaks English. By constrast, it is less and less easy to liv…

The reality in Montréal is that most people are bilingual. Outside older folks, unilingual French speakers are much rarer than unilingual English speakers, which are structurally preserved via the institutions you described. For instance, English-only schooling from first grade to university is available to them, but not to French-speaking households or immigrants. IMHO, it's a disservice to this population. I've had colleague born in Québec deciding to leave because they felt insecure about their professional abilities in French

English is associated with money (historically from colonial forces, and now foreign capital). Montréal, the metropolis, is an island that was unified as a city. Rich English-speaking borough lobbied in 2006 to become independent entities to control their regulations, policies and taxes. This includes the West Island (Dorval, Pointe-Claire, Beaconsfield), and even the very central Westmount near McGill. Nowadays, poor neighborhoods and their french names are erased by condo promoters: Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is HOMA, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is NDG, Ville-Mont-Royal is TMR, Pointe-Saint-Charles/ Le Sud-Ouest is Griffin Town

ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughs_of_Montreal

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