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A Typology of Canadianisms

dchp.arts.ubc.ca

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Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#51

Post by nucleardog »

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 attribute that to it having been "seeded" by some Hudson's Bay advertisements run at their original 6 locations all in Western Canada.

Some other words/terms that surprised me: renoviction, gong show, kerfuffle, off-sale, stagette

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#52

Post by jdougan »

MegaDeKay wrote: post #4
badc0ffee wrote: post #3

Seems very thorough. I don't see "transport" or "transport truck" though. I think It's an Ontario expression and it sounds kind of weird to me as an Albertan.

Never here that term used but I'm out west as well. We're all semi's, all the time. "two-four" is there and can confirm that is more an eastern term as well. Never heard the term until I spent a year out in Ontario many years ago. Still hasn't really made its way to the west in all that time.

It made some inroads in to BC in the 80s, mostly thanks to Bob and Doug McKenzie, but never really stuck.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#54

Post by qualeed »

nucleardog wrote: post #50
SECProto wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a weird (or perhaps regional) definition. Brown bread I've had is always molasses sweetened. Source: ontario and provinces east. The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy thing, not something regularly consumed.

Lived in BC, SK, and ON. I'm far enough east that I regularly hit up both Ottawa and Montreal. In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white). I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened bread everyone is talking about.

BC, AB, ON. Same as you, brown bread = whole wheat. Not sure I've even heard of molasses-sweetened bread, let alone eaten it.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#55

Post by throw0101a »

wredcoll wrote: post #43
scarecrw wrote: post #40

I'll have to go through this with my family; we have a number of terms we use that we're never sure if they're Canadian, non-regional uncommon words, or just things our family say. My grandpa called toonies "bearbucks", which isn't listed, but is in one of the quotes on the toonie entry. No listing for "reef" as in yanking on something, though I don't know if that's a Canadianism or not.

You reef lines (ropes) on a boat.

You reef sails (by using lines):

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefing

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#56

Post by jdougan »

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.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#57

Post by wk_end »

gpm wrote: post #44
bardak wrote: post #35

The one subtle difference I've noticed between Canadian and American English is on school grades. American say "first grade" where as Canada say "grade one".

Toronto here, I think approximately I'd say first-sixth grade, and grade 7-12. Grade one just sounds wrong though.

Odd, I grew up in Toronto and Grade 1 sounds fine to me.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#58

Post by wk_end »

Even though I lived in the US for a decade, it still surprises me to learn that certain words are Canadianisms. I wonder how often people had no idea what I was talking aboot and just didn't speak up.

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#59

Post by SECProto »

nucleardog wrote: post #50
SECProto wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a weird (or perhaps regional) definition. Brown bread I've had is always molasses sweetened. Source: ontario and provinces east. The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy thing, not something regularly consumed.

Lived in BC, SK, and ON. I'm far enough east that I regularly hit up both Ottawa and Montreal. In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white). I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened bread everyone is talking about.

Yeah when I think further on it, I've never heard of it here in Ontario. In Atlantic Canada though, it's definitely made with molasses. Google search results [1] suggests this is a regionalism (Atlantic Canada and new england states)

If I was offered brown bread and got a boring whole wheat, I'd be sorely disappointed.

[1] https://my-mothers-cook-books.ca/2021/05/29/brown-bread-vs-p...

Re: A Typology of Canadianisms

#60

Post by c-hendricks »

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…

The Works is usually a the name for the pizza. Chiming in for the east coast, all dressed is chips.
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