{"id":7,"date":"2017-01-21T10:08:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T10:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/?p=7"},"modified":"2018-02-21T09:12:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T09:12:06","slug":"the-gateway-words-to-canadian-slang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/the-gateway-words-to-canadian-slang\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gateway Words to Canadian Slang"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Photo via Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Ever been to Canada and heard a few words you weren\u2019t too sure were actually words?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Canada proudly turned 150 years old this last year and with it was celebrated the vast cultural diversity that makes it country so great!\u00a0<\/span>While the main two spoken languages across Canada are English and French, it’s also host to 200 other spoken languages – that\u2019s one diverse vernacular of a population!<\/span><\/p>\n

Most people are familiar with the typical Canadian colloquialisms or local colour such as \u2018aboot\u2019 instead of \u2018about\u2019 and adding \u2018eh\u2019 on the end of nearly every sentence, but what other ingenious words is this linguistically and culturally diverse country home to?<\/span><\/p>\n

Below we list a few of our favourites and what they mean. Don\u2019t forget to comment at the end if there\u2019s any we\u2019ve missed or if you have any other particular favourites!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo via Flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

1. Toonie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most countries are privy to a few slang words when it comes to their currency, but Canada might be our favourite! Toonie is the slang for a $2 coin. It followed after \u2018loonie\u2019 which refers to a $1 coin and the aquatic bird that adorns it.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Kitty-Corner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sadly, this one is not as literal as you might hope and doesn\u2019t refer to a corner of kittens. It actually means something that is in a diagonal direction from something else. For example \u201cthe bookstore is kitty-corner to the drug store.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Chinook<\/strong><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t get much more Canadian than this one. A chinook refers to a warm wind that is blowing East over from the Canadian rockies, and warming up some of the other colder parts of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Rink Rat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t panic! It\u2019s not as bad as it sounds! A rink rat is the slang for someone who loves to spend time on the ice-skating rink (phew!). No rodents here.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Kerfuffle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only Canadians would come up with such a cute sounding word for this! Kerfuffle refers to a commotion, fuss or chaotic situation! Usually caused by some sort of disagreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Toque<\/strong><\/p>\n

A toque is a particular type of knitted hat that many Canadians like to wear in Winter. Or any season – it\u2019s a pretty cold country! Why is it called a toque? Well it\u2019s actually derived from Arabic, which found it\u2019s way into Medieval French. So the Canadian French influence is to blame for this one!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo via Flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

7. Double-Double<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with Tim Horton\u2019s you will be by the time you leave Canada. And the order you\u2019ll probably be most familiar with is the double-double – the slang for ordering a coffee with double cream and double sugar in this popular coffee shop chain.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Cowtown<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019re spotting a theme here with the animal references in Canadian slang. Not a reference to a dairy farm, but actually a friendly reference to Calgary, Alberta. Even the residents of Calgary themselves use it.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Klick<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canadians have a preference for using kilometres over miles. A klick is a slang term for kilometers! For example, \u201cLet\u2019s go to the mall, it\u2019s only 3 klicks away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Canuck<\/strong><\/p>\n

We saved our favourite for last. Who doesn\u2019t love affectionate slang for our peers? Canuck is a friendly term for fellow Canadians.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there you have it! A list of our favourite Canadian colloquialisms! We\u2019re pretty sure there\u2019s more to be added to this list – let us know any we\u2019ve missed and your favourites in the comments!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever been to Canada and heard a few words you weren\u2019t too sure were actually words? Canada…","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4,11,5,8,7,10,9,6],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","tag-canada","tag-canadian-english","tag-canadian-slang","tag-colloquialisms","tag-language","tag-language-learning","tag-local-colour","tag-slang"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetrainers.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}