Canadian 'Slang'

[Anonymous]

Hoser was used in the early 80s because of a comedy skit (Bob and Doug McKenzie were the characters - I think one of them may have been Rick Moranis). I'm surprised it's still used, it seems very dated.

[Anonymous]

You forgot:

Serviette
Timmies
Goof
Runners

[Anonymous]

I'm British, I know kerfuffle (I thought that one was British, so live and learn), and pop, which is used in some parts of the UK. The others were all new to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hoser was used in the early 80s because of a comedy skit (Bob and Doug McKenzie were the characters - I think one of them may have been Rick Moranis). I'm surprised it's still used, it seems very dated.

Yeah, I still have relatives who will at the slightest holiday provocation start singing about a beer in a tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently watched a video on Canadian slang. I am Canadian and I really think most of these words are broadly used and not just Canadian and not even really slang but I am curious to see how many you know right off the bat without looking any of them up?

hoser - a loser, usually used for a loud, obnoxious, drunk, uneducated type guy
clicks - slang for kilometres, sometimes used as distance
two four - a box of 24 beer
give'r - to go hard or to really put an effort in
toque / tuque - a winter hat
mickey - a small bottle of alcohol
dart - a joint
gitch or gotch - underwear
gong show - a complete mess / disaster / nothing went right
out for a rip - take for a ride or to give something a try
kerfuffle - confusing, disorganized, mess up
double double - two creams, two sugars (coffee order)
pop - soft drinks
back bacon - th kind of bacon that is more like ham, often with cornmeal
loonies / twoonies - one / two dollar coins
chesterfield - sofa or couch, used mostly for more formal type sofas
rink rat - same as pool rat, someone who hangs around the rink / pool all the time
chirping - talking but in an annoying way, chatter in your ear, sports banter

The answers!

I've spent half my life in Pittsburgh and half in MD. Only a few of these are familiar.

Like others, I know Hosers from the song "Great White North". Clicks are purely military jargon for me, but I knew what it was. Toque is not used here. It would be confused with toke (a hit off a marijuana joint). A mickey is a drug. Kerfluffle is used here. Pop is a midwestern slang, used most commonly between Pittsburgh and Chicago. Didn't know back bacon, but now i see that here in the US we call that Canadian Bacon. I always thought Chesterfield was a British term (I know it mostly from theater, it's used in British drawing room comedies/farces).

The others are not familiar and I haven't heard of them, let alone, heard them used commonly here in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You forgot:

Serviette
Timmies
Goof
Runners

And snowbird

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What makes a chesterfield a chesterfield?

The older generation used it for all sofas or couches. I don't think any of my grandparents would ever have used the word sofa or couch. It was always chesterfield. My generation uses couch. I have never used sofa. I only use chesterfield if it reminds me of my grandparents furniture. The couch at grandmas was a chesterfield.

My grandmother had a Davenport

[Anonymous]

A few more that are apparently Canadianisms

donair
pablum
pencil crayons
hooped
freezies
homo milk

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently watched a video on Canadian slang. I am Canadian and I really think most of these words are broadly used and not just Canadian and not even really slang but I am curious to see how many you know right off the bat without looking any of them up?

hoser - a loser, usually used for a loud, obnoxious, drunk, uneducated type guy
clicks - slang for kilometres, sometimes used as distance
two four - a box of 24 beer
give'r - to go hard or to really put an effort in
toque / tuque - a winter hat
mickey - a small bottle of alcohol
dart - a joint
gitch or gotch - underwear
gong show - a complete mess / disaster / nothing went right
out for a rip - take for a ride or to give something a try
kerfuffle - confusing, disorganized, mess up
double double - two creams, two sugars (coffee order)
pop - soft drinks
back bacon - th kind of bacon that is more like ham, often with cornmeal
loonies / twoonies - one / two dollar coins
chesterfield - sofa or couch, used mostly for more formal type sofas
rink rat - same as pool rat, someone who hangs around the rink / pool all the time
chirping - talking but in an annoying way, chatter in your ear, sports banter

The answers!

OP here. I have never called anyone a hoser, it was a word a lot of Canadian comedians used.

Bob and Doug Mackenzie. "Hoser" - which was used in the 80's and "Take off, eh?"

Just so you know, bob & doug are fictional (and played by two Canadian comedians).

Yeah.... I know that. Grew up with their comedy on Canada in the 80's. Now I have the theme song in my head. Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chesterfield - sofa or couch

Not in use in the US.

It's definitely in use in the US, but a Chesterfield is a very specific type of couch. This:



Do Canadians call all sofas/couches Chesterfields? I sincerely don't know, but suspect not. For us the above is a Chesterfield and we call them that. This is not:

For the pendatically inclined, I will explain. Chesterfield is not in common usage in the US as slang for a synonym for sofa or couch.

[Anonymous]

I picked up tuque from some Canadian programmers who visited briefly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few more that are apparently Canadianisms

donair
pablum
pencil crayons
hooped
freezies
homo milk

Canadian married to an American, and I don't think I'll every forget the expression on my husbands face when I asked him to pick up some homo milk at the store. Having a hydro bill and a water bill amuses him along with hydro poles. Asking for just a regular coffee at Timmies did not go well, especially when he said they screwed up his order as there is cream and sugar in it. Ended in a lesson in Canadian coffee lingo:

plain old coffee with nothing in it - a black coffee
one cream and one sugar - a regular coffee
two cream and two sugar - double double

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hoser was used in the early 80s because of a comedy skit (Bob and Doug McKenzie were the characters - I think one of them may have been Rick Moranis). I'm surprised it's still used, it seems very dated.

The McKenzie brothers didn’t introduce “hoser.” Canadians and others (in northern US states) used this word frequently and inspired the skits/movie. The same way Valley Girl speak was a localized to “the valley” but the movie created an epidemic of valley girl speak. Same kind of phenomenon with skateboarding “dude” and surfing “tubular” expressions. SNL church lady, “isn’t that special,” psych’s homage to Ed Lover’s com’on son, the hideous contribution of the Kardashians to vocal fry. Slang is ever evolving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few more that are apparently Canadianisms

donair
pablum
pencil crayons
hooped
freezies
homo milk

Canadian married to an American, and I don't think I'll every forget the expression on my husbands face when I asked him to pick up some homo milk at the store. Having a hydro bill and a water bill amuses him along with hydro poles. Asking for just a regular coffee at Timmies did not go well, especially when he said they screwed up his order as there is cream and sugar in it. Ended in a lesson in Canadian coffee lingo:

plain old coffee with nothing in it - a black coffee
one cream and one sugar - a regular coffee
two cream and two sugar - double double

The coffee definitely gets confusing! We had American visitors and they thought homo milk was just a colloquial nickname. Showed them at the grocery store that it is the official name on the packaging. Homo milk in bags! It is a whole new world up here!

Here is a link to a current grocery flyer at one of our grocery stores. https://www.nofrills.ca/Food/Dairy-and-Eggs/Milk-%26-Cream/2%25-%26-Whole-Milk/Homo-Milk/p/20305664_EA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few more that are apparently Canadianisms

donair
pablum
pencil crayons
hooped
freezies
homo milk

Yes, donairs after a night out.

Remember this SNL skit? This was all about the Greek place called Kojax in Montreal.

https://vimeo.com/148763852