I didn't have yesterday off but I think I was the only person who didn't take the extra day!
It's nice having today off though and the weather looks like it's going to be beautiful!
I think I've missed the strawberry and pancake breakfast down at one of our lakes but am going to a BBQ for dinner down to the fireworks.
I thought these were funny - I didn't realize that some of these were "Canadianisms"...
Taken from "An American's Guide to Canada"
brown breadIn most of Canada, whole wheat bread. If you are at a diner for breakfast and you ask for whole wheat toast, they'll understand you, but "brown toast" is a lot more Canadian. Down east, "brown bread" refers to a sweetened, molasses bread.
butter tartA very small (single-serving) pie. They taste like pecan pies without the pecans. This is a fairly typical recipe. They're yummy.
chocolate barCandy bar. Popular Canadian brands include Aero, Crispy Crunch, Crunchie, Coffee Crisp, Caramilk, Bounty. Mars Bars have darker chocolate and no nuts. Other Canadian candies include Smarties (imagine very sweet M&Ms in brightly colored boxes, not the sweet-tart chalky things), Mackintosh toffee, and Callard & Bowser toffees.
donairA pita containing spiced meat and a sauce made from sugar, vinegar, milk, and garlic.
GlosettesBrand name for chocolate-covered raisins.
homo milkHomogenized milk. Known in the States as whole milk. Homo milk is homogenized milk with a butterfat content of 3.25%. Whole milk is not homogenized (it will separate if left standing for any period of time; this is the milk our parents drank). Almost all milk today is homogenized, although whole milk can still be found if one looks."
icing sugarpowdered sugar
Kraft Dinner, or KD Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. No difference between what's in the boxes, just what's on them. (Thanks to another visitor for this one.) Canadians eat a lot of KD. Referred to in some areas as "rubber bullets."
Nanaimo barA confection, named for the town of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, that resembles a brownie but is topped with a layer of white butter cream icing and another of solid chocolate. The brownie part usually has coconut. Here's a recipe from Tourism Nanaimo. A friend notes that in the western part of the country, a Nanaimo bar is sometimes called a "New York Slice."
popA sweetened carbonated beverage. Canadians: not all Americans call it soda. Some call it pop, some call it coke (regardless of the brand or kind: "D'ya want a Sprite coke or a root beer coke?") -- it's a regional difference, rather than a national one.
poutine (pron. poo-TEEN)Quebecois specialty. French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. Hyurgh.
ShreddiesA brand of breakfast cereal, vaguely resembling Chex.
SmartiesNot the ones you're used to seeing in the US. In Canada, Smarties are a candy resembling M&Ms. They do melt in your hand, and they're a lot sweeter. (Thanks to a visitor for this one.) Smarties conoisseurs eat the red ones last.
TimbitsDo(ugh)nut holes from Tim Horton's. Several people with dark senses of humo(u)r have pointed out to me that these were introduced shortly after Tim Horton, a famous and beloved hockey player who started the chain, was killed in a car accident.
whitenerPowdery stuff to put into coffee or tea. Called "non-dairy creamer" in the US.
case [of beer]A package containing twelve bottles of beer. (Some tell me that a case isn't a twelve-pack at all, it's a two-four. People tend to feel strongly both ways. A friend suspects that the "two-four" meaning of "case" is unique to Ontario and points east. A visitor says, "Having lived in many parts of Canada, I have found that in Ontario a 'case' refers to 24 beer, while in other parts of the country (specifically the Maritimes) a case is 12 beer and 24 beer is called a two-four." I'm sure others will disagree with him.)
flatA two-four.
forty-pounder A bottle of liquor containing 40 ounces. Also called a "pounder" or a "bottle."
mickeyA measurement of alcohol (13 ounces: it's a flat, curved bottle, supposed to fit in your pocket, but it doesn't, really).
pissed drunk (not generally used to mean "angry," as it is in the States)
loonie A dollar. The Canadian $1 coin has a loon (the bird) on the back.
toonie, doubloon The $2 coin. Gold in the middle, with a silver ring around the outside. The Queen is one one side, and a polar bear is on the other. (Several people have written to remind me of the painful little joke that the coin could be called a "moonie" because it's "the Queen with a bear behind." Har har.) When the coins were introduced in the winter of 1995-1996, Canada was overcome by a frenzy to pop out the middles of the coins. This was especially popular on the Prairies, where there's not much to do in the winter. (Would you go outside any more than you had to when it's -40 for days on end?) The most successful method for destroying this new piece of currency seems to be to put it in the freezer for a while and then hit it with a hammer. Throwing it off tall buildings was popular, too. The craze passed pretty quickly, though.
Boxing Day The day after Christmas. So named because of the British tradition of giving gift boxes to people such as mail carriers, milkmen, etc., on December 26. In Canada, Boxing Day is the date for many huge annual sales.
housecoat robe, bathrobe
runners sneakers, running shoes
toque Rhymes with "kook." A kind of hat, ubiquitous in wintertime.
track pants sweat pants
arena An ice rink with seats around it. Could be any enclosed area with seats for viewing surrounding it, but the implication is that it's primarily for hockey.
arse, bum One's hind quarters. "He kicked me in the bum."
Chesterfield A couch, or sofa, or whatever you call it where you are.
corner store A small variety store, usually on a corner in a residential neighbourhood of a city. Similar to the American "convenience store."
deke To move quickly, especially across the border.
elastic rubber band
frog A derogatory anglophone term for Quebecers.
glove box glove compartment
go missing to disappear, become misplaced
Gravol dramamine
hydro, hydro bill electricity, electric bill (used in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and elsewhere, but not throughout the entire country)
keener Someone very eager and enthusiastic. Sometimes derogatory, in the sense of brown-noser, suckup, bootlicker. Someone obviously trying to get into someone else's good books. (Thanks to another visitor for this one.)
knapsack backpack, book bag
lineupline. "There was a really long lineup for tickets to last night's hockey game." Some Canadians also use the British term "queue." Canadians wait in line or in lineups, never "on line."
parkade A public parking lot. Term most common in western Canada.
postal code The Canadian equivalent of ZIP codes. Postal codes are six characters long and are a mixture of three letters and three numbers.
second-lastNext to last, or penultimate.
ski-doo Generic term for snowmobile. "I'm going out on my ski-doo." Can also be used as a verb: "They're going ski-dooing later." The word "Ski-doo" is the brand name for snowmobiles made by a company named Bombardier (pronounced "bom-bar-dee-AY," not "bom-bar-DEER"). In Canada, "ski-doo" is one of those brand names that have evolved into generic terms.
stubby A short-necked, fat beer bottle once used by Canadian breweries. Very hard to find now.
washroom bathroom
wicket
The desk at the bank where you conduct transactions with a bank teller. When the teller goes to lunch, he or she will display a sign that says "This wicket closed." -
This one is specifically for dustoffmom! ;D beater An old beat-up car. "Winter Beater" qualifies that one is driving a beater only because the "summer car" is in storage. Other visitors mention that a "beater with a heater" is an oft-used term for winter beaters.
DUI Driving under the influence. Same as DWI, although a lot easier to get arrested for as limits in Canada are about 0.08, vs. 0.1 in a lot of States.
klickKilometer, or kilometer per hour. "Better slow down, Vern, the limit's 90 klicks here. Hand me the bottle."
bag versus "sack," especially in US midwest
chips can describe potato chips or french fries
So I don't know about you all.. but I must be a true Canadian cause I use those words all the time - didn't realize that many of them were a Canadian thing!
C'mon people, you must have better things to concern yourselves with! (this is not directed at you dustoffmom, but all the stories I hear from friends who go to school in the US, it's just silly.
