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Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:13pm On Jul 01, 2006
All dressed (of pizza or Harvey's burgers) With all the toppings.
Arborite Apparently, few others use this generally to refer to the laminated composite woodlike building material often found in cheap tables and counters.
Baby bonus Have a child, get money from the government. This used to be universal.
Bird course At least in this part of the U.S., easy college/undergrad courses are called guts. Incidentally, speaking of undergrads, calling students in four-year programs freshmen, sophomores, juniors, or seniors seems not to have caught on in Canada. Rather, they are referred to as first-year students, second-year students, etc. "Frosh" is used occasionally.
Bunny Hug Hooded sweatshirt
Canadian Tire money A fine item associated with one of the greatest store concepts ever. Paul paid part of his term bill with it back in Windsor.
Chesterfield A couch
Concession road Okay, so this is only an Ontario and Quebec thing.
From Casselman's Canadian Words: A Comic Browse through Words and Folk Sayings invented by Canadians by Bill Casselman’s (Copp Clark Ltd., Toronto, 1995): In medieval French une concession was a grant of land. The term was first used in Canada for parcels of land that a seigneur rented to tenants. Now, in Ontario and Québec, concessions are parallel lots of 200 acres each. The word also refers to the survey lines and roads that delimit such lots.
Corollary It seems that Americans like to make this word sound like "coronary" whereas most Canadians put the emphasis on the second syllable.
Deke A hockey term for faking out an opponent
"Dick all" Nothing
Eavestrough Gutters that are on the ground, not on roofs.
Elastics
Rubber bands
Foyer When Americans pronounce it, it makes us think something's burning in the vestibule. Maybe we just associate with the wrong Americans.
Garburator A great name for a kitchen sink garbage disposal. Some claim that this was once or may still be a trade name. We do not know. We have also seen it spelled "garburator".
Girl Guides The Americans call them Scouts, just like the boys. They get confused by the expression "Girl Guides" the same way they do when we talk about Social Insurance Numbers.
Housecoat Basically a bath robe
Hydro Originally short for "hydro-electric power". Now synonymous with electricity (produced by any method), as in "Get the lantern; the hydra’s out again."
Idiot string A thingy string that holds your mittens together
Javex Generally, bleach, in the same way that all facial tissues are called Kleenex, or all antimotion sickness drugs are referred to generically in Canada as Gravol.
Keener A brown nose or teacher's pet
Khaki Canadians pronounce this as "car key". Apparently the genesis of this pronunciation was any of various wars fought alongside Great Britain. Canadian soldiers heard the word from the Brits and just assumed that there had to be an "r", just like there is in "dark" or "park". This also explains why cork boots have no cork, but are caulked.
Kraft Dinner The best dinner ever: macaroni and cheese
March break
Every school seems to have a week-long break some time around March or April. Study week? Slack week? March break.
Mr. Dress up Hey, this is how kid's TV should be, plus the Friendly Giant. Americans, who are weaned on the hyperactive Sesame Street, tell me that they find the name of this show odd. Incidentally, people are urged to check out the "Exclusive Interview with Mr. Dressup" track on Radio Free Vestibule's album, Sketches Songs and Shoes. [Note: they now go by the name "The Vestibules", apparently the better to appeal to American audiences.]
Parkade
We couldn't believe they had never heard of this: a parking garage
Pogey The dole or UI. (welfare money)
Poutine In Europe, the French are known for their fine cuisine. Québec is known for poutine, which makes a fine French Canadian meal when served with Pepsi. Poutine is comprised of French fries, preferably fried in lard; a particular sort of gravy; and cheese.
Seat sale A ticket or fare sale (usually for a plane or a bus, but occasionally for an event). 
Serviette Napkin
Shag A Thunder Bay Ontario term for an event. The intended bride and groom hold a pre wedding fund raiser of sorts held up to 6 months before the wedding. Tickets are sold to the event for $2-$3. Tickets are sold to anybody whether they know the bride and groom to be or not. Alcohol is cheap, dancing, music/dj, 50/50 draws, door prizes etc. it’s a huge party!
Runners Sneakers/tennis shoes
Shit disturber
A reasonable definition would be an instigator, particularly one who for no good reason turns stones better left unturned.
Smarties The Yankees think these are just the little sugar pills given out on Hallowe'en. Of course, they're essentially M&M's without the 'M' but with a little more wax in the shell. Coffee Crisp bars make a nice light snack but don't get their own entry here since the Americans don't confuse them with another product. Shreddies are yet another Nestle product that doesn't seem to have made it to the States.
Snarky The meaning is “somewhere in the marriage between sarcastic and offensive”, There's an element of irritability in there as well. Although this word is not strictly Canadian, Americans tend not to have heard it.
Tenting Camping
Toboggan Sled
Toonie The Canadian two dollar coin (aka "the Queen with a bear behind"wink. The name stems from loonie, the Canadian one dollar coin, which has a loon on the back.
Toque   Winter hat far more specific than the American "knit hat", although you still have to specify if there's a pom-pom or not.
Two-four A case of 24 beers. Those of you from Ontario should be thinking of the sound as one makes its way down the rollers before bursting into sight at the Beer Store, eh.
Vico Chocolate milk.
Washroom A bathroom for the civilized.

1 Like

Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Badman888(m): 6:17pm On Jul 01, 2006
wow, they are alot, i only now about a quater of those stuff, but canadians do have lots of funny words, i wonder what they are talking about.
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by eveseh(f): 6:31pm On Jul 01, 2006
SOOOOOOOOOOO,many
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:32pm On Jul 01, 2006
lol i know cheesy
therez even more but am too lazy to put the rest
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Badman888(m): 6:34pm On Jul 01, 2006
shawna how long have u been in canada
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:37pm On Jul 01, 2006
6 years grin i lived in london for a bit though
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Badman888(m): 6:38pm On Jul 01, 2006
what 6 yrs wow thats long, i have been schooling 4 like 2yrs though, but away now
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:40pm On Jul 01, 2006
what school do u go to?
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Badman888(m): 6:42pm On Jul 01, 2006
,  in halifax, N.S but probably moving back to ON soon,
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:45pm On Jul 01, 2006
am still like in high school i have one more year to go before university or college
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Badman888(m): 6:46pm On Jul 01, 2006
ooo ok, study hard and dont party too much in ur last year. grin grin
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by shawna(f): 6:47pm On Jul 01, 2006
i'll try not to party too hard but c'mon its the last year tongue
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Kadeejah(f): 3:30am On Jul 02, 2006
hah so canadien eh cheesy wink
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by diddy4(m): 4:20am On Jul 02, 2006
couldnt finish reading the stuff. it is too much.
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Ciaralover(f): 4:43am On Jul 02, 2006
@Diddy
I am wit u on that one!!!Its too long but she did a nice job typing!!
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by diddy4(m): 4:47am On Jul 02, 2006
yeah she did.
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Kadeejah(f): 8:17am On Jul 02, 2006
uuhh cudda been copy & paste undecided
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by Hardeytohlar(f): 3:45pm On Jul 05, 2014
nut funny
Re: Canadian Words/Slangs and their meaning by TriciaRay: 12:27pm On Jun 12, 2021
grin

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