Eh?

If you’ve ever watched an American version of Canadians then you’ve seen this. It’s true, we do often end sentences with “eh?”.

“Eh?” is sort of our equivalent of saying “right?” or “you know?”. It’s just much more succinct and over the years its become a part of our national identity.

Yeah, No

This is a Commonwealth trait that we have leftover from Britain, as it’s just as rampant in New Zealand.

Canadians will be agreeing with you, but they say “yeah, no”.

It’s confusing to newcomers, especially if English isn’t your first language.

We apologize, but for some reason it’s ingrained in us!

Sorry

You may have noticed I just snuck in an apology above.

Well it’s true what they say, Canadians are the kindest people in the world. Ok, maybe not the kindest but we’re pretty polite.

To fit in while you’re in Canada, be sure to say please and thank you to anyone who serves or assists you in any way. Hold doors open for people and, even if someone stumbles into you, apologize.

This is another holdover from our British colonizers but we’ve seemed to up the ante over the years and now have them beat for politeness (maybe because we didn’t invade most of the world… just saying).

Out East vs. Out West

Across Canada, we tend to think of our home as being the centre of the country. It doesn’t matter where you are, that’s the middle. Everything is east or west of you.

For BC, that means that the whole country is “out east”. For the Maritimes, the rest of the country is “out west”.

Even from Toronto, we refer to “out west” as everything west of us. Oddly, we don’t think of Quebec as east – it’s sort of its own thing. So “out east” is the Maritimes from Ontario.

South vs. North

This messed-up spatial awareness continues when we talk about going north or south.

All Canadians know that we have a vast northern landscape, but hardly any of us actually visit it. It’s more likely that if you hear someone say they are going “north”, they mean north of their current location.

I often use this to describe going cottaging in Muskoka, which is barely halfway up Ontario.

However, going south is a whole other thing. Typically if you’re going south, you’re going down somewhere warm like Florida or the Caribbean.

Out and About

As you can tell, I have a special relationship with “out and about”, since I named my blog after it.

“Out and about” is the cliche thing that every American I meet always gets me to say in my Canadian accent. They find it hilarious for reasons I can’t quite figure out.

Despite all their teasing, it is actually a term we use. I don’t know which came first: America’s obsession with it or our general use.

Either way, you probably will hear someone say it in passing while you’re in Canada.

National Canadian Slang

Generally speaking, these are Canadian slang terms used across the country. Some are more obscure than others, but they’re all really fun.

There are some that I genuinely didn’t know were Canadian phrases and judged friends I’ve met around the world for not knowing them. Like “kitty-corner”; how else do you say when things are diagonally across an intersection without so many words??

We have a lot of Canadian slang, so I’ll be dividing these into categories to make them easier to understand.

Toque

A toque is a knit winter hat like a beanie.

Lumberjack Jacket or Mackinac/Mackinaw Cloth

This jacket is typically checkered with large black and red or green squares. It was the uniform of the lumbermen working in Canada, but is now more popular in the grunge fashion movement.

Joggers

Joggers used to mean sweatpants. It still does, but sweatpants have become more prominent. It can now be confused with the term joggers for baggy women’s pants.

House Coat

This is an older Canadian term. Nowadays, we’ve become properly American-ized and call then bathrobes or robes. If people have a housecoat, it’s often nicer than your simple plush bathrobe.

Again, this is a term Americans love to make us say.

Canadian Tuxedo

By now most of the world knows the Canadian tuxedo: wearing an all-denim outfit. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake helped get this horrible fashion choice into the mainstream, but it continues to be a thing in Canada. Many people wear a denim shirt with denim pants and/or a denim jacket.

I’ve found them most common in the Prairies although the Maritimes was full of them in Fall.

Gotch/Gitch/Gonch/Ginch

These words are all interchangeable for underwear, think tight whities. They’re most common in the Prairies, though Saskatchewan and Alberta debate the “i” vs. “o”.

It seems like they are used more often for male underwear than female.

Runners

Running shoes!

We use terms like sneakers and running shoes as well, but something about saying runners is apparently distinctly Canadian.

I’ve been saying it for years and annoying my dad that I won’t just say shoes, but apparently I was being patriotic the whole time!

Two-four

A two-four is a 24 (2 and 4) pack of beer.

Note: this is not to be confused with May two-four (24) weekend, which is a holiday in Canada. However, the holiday does tend to involve a lot of beer, so do with that what you will.

Mickey

A Mickey is about a flask-sized measure of alcohol that you can buy from the grocery store.

Timmies

Tim Hortons is such an intrinsic part of Canada that we’ve built it into the dialogue. Timmies (among other nicknames) refers to Canada’s largest coffee and doughnut chain, Tim Hortons.

Double Double

A double double is a coffee order from Tim Hortons. If you order your coffee this way, you’ll get one with two creams and two sugars. Similarly, you can order a single single or a triple triple (although that sounds like a lot of dairy and sugar).

It’s become so ubiquitous that you can now order your coffee this way across Canada, even outside of a Tim Hortons!

Timbits

A right of passage in Canada was bringing timbits into your school classes. We even have them at office meetings now.

Timbits are essentially a doughnut hole (as American’s would know them). However, Tim Hortons makes a cakier style of doughnut than most, so expect it to be a bit denser and less fried than a doughnut hole.

They come in a variety of flavours and are sold individually or by the box. I’ve always loved them because it lets me sample a bunch of doughnut flavours when I’m too indecisive to pick one.

Timbiebs are an example of a timbit.

Molson Muscle

This is both a slang and a trend among Canadian men. A Molson Muscle refers to a beer belly, typically acquired by drinking too much Molson beer.

KD

KD is a childhood classic that’s become a university classic…and now a Canadian classic.

Kraft Dinner is a box of mac and cheese that you can make at home. It’s super simple and oddly delicious for something made with powdered cheese.

Fun fact: KD is our most consumed product in Canada, even beating out maple syrup!

Freezies

Freezies are what Americans call “ice pops”, “freeze pops” or “otter pops”. We call them freezies which to me makes the most sense since you freeze them and they aren’t fully popsicles.

Homo Milk

No this isn’t a derogatory term or anything.

It means homogenized milk, or milk with 3.25% fat that’s blended in differently than in 2% milk.

It’s not the same as whole milk, so we came up with a short form. If you don’t expect it, it’s weird to see “homo milk” laid out in an aisle of the grocery story.

LCBO/LDB/NSLC/SAQ/LC

These are all the names of the liquor stores across Canada.

In Canada, our liquor stores are government-run and cannot be in grocery stores. These abbreviations are for the longer form government names for our liquor stores.

Loonie

The $1 Canadian coin. Its name comes from the Loon (a bird) on the Tails side of the coin.

Twoonie/Toonie

Toonie (as I prefer to spell it) comes from Loonie. It’s basically two loonies, so we came up with toonie.

It’s our $2 coin.

Bucks

Like Americans, we refer to dollars and bucks. That comes from our history fur trading.

Toboggan

I didn’t know this was a Canadian thing for a long time.

In the winter, Canadians break out their toboggans or sleds to go tobogganing down snowy hills.

Muskoka Chair

Muskoka chairs are classic wooden chairs made for lounging. They are usually brightly painted and have quite a low seat with a very high back and thick arms.

In the US, these are called Adirondack chairs. The name changes based on the significant body of water near you.

Chesterfield

This is another one of those American-entertainment terms. I’ve literally never heard anyone outside of American television use this term.

Chesterfields are sofas or couches. It’s a very old term that has mostly fallen out of fashion.

Serviette

I didn’t know this was a Canadian thing, but apparently it’s not common around the world. Serviettes are napkins. It may be a holdover from our British colonialism or due to the French populations of Canada.

Darts

Darts refer to cigarettes.

Pencil Crayons

Another term I had no idea was very Canadian-specific! Pencil crayons are pencils that feature coloured graphite.

Pencil crayons are what Americans call “colored pencils” and the British call “colouring pencils”.

I don’t know why we broke away from the two places that we get a lot of our language, but it’s sort of a fun rebellion on our part.

Sasquatch

Sasquatch isn’t just a term, it’s actually a Canadian creature. Our Sasquatch is said to be in British Columbia.

Essentially, a Sasquatch is a large, hairy figure in the woods that has a lot of lore surrounding it. It’s like the American Big Foot or the northern Yeti.

Over the years, people have started using the term to refer to Big Foot as well, but he’s supposed to be his own thing.

Rink Rat

Rink rat is a term for someone who spends a lot of time at hockey arenas. It’s more common to use it for men as it was derived when it was less popular for women to play hockey.

Puck Bunny

A puck bunny is a derogatory term for a female fan of hockey. It insinuates that she’s only interested in the game due to attraction to the players or attempting to date the players.

Some women enjoy the term and self-identify as puck bunnies (especially wives of famous hockey players).

Mountie

A Mountie is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). They are the Canadian version of the FBI and deal with a lot of serious crimes. Americans often mock them on television, treating them more like camp rangers, when in fact that do a lot of very difficult work.

The original Mounties were all on horseback, but nowadays they take other forms of transit as well.

The red Mountie uniform is a classic sign of Canada.

Snowbirds

Snowbirds are Canadian citizens, usually retirees, who flee south in the winter to avoid the cold. We call them snowbirds since they seem to migrate like birds.

Typically, they go to Florida where there are large pockets of elderly residents and the weather is more temperate through the winter

Canuck

A Canuck is a slang term for a Canadian person. It used to refer more to the French-Canadians but nowadays it’s a general term.

It’s most used when referring to the Vancouver Canucks hockey team rather than individuals nowadays.

Hoser

Hoser is a classic Canadian stereotype. It’s a mild insult that refers back to the Depression when people in the Prairies used to steal gasoline by sucking it through a hose.

Again, it’s mostly seen on American television. I’ve never actually heard someone say it in real life – but that might be because American TV ruined it for us.

So no, all Canadians don’t use “hoser” as classic slang.

Keener

I genuinely thought everyone had this term. Growing up I was 100% a keener.

A keener is sort of a mix between a know-it-all and a goody-two-shoes. It typically refers to students who are teachers’ pets or trying to be.

Think Hermoine Granger – she’d be a classic keener.

We actually use this term a lot in Canada. Now it’s become more synonymous with “nerd”, but it has an affectionate sound to it so it’s less offensive.

Grit

Grits are members of the Liberal party of Canada.

Kitty-Corner

This is one of my favourite terms, more so now that I know it’s Canadian specific.

Kitty-corner refers to something diagonally across the street from you. For example, you may say that Timmies is kitty-corner to your home if it is diagonally across an intersection.

Hydro

In Canada, our electricity comes from the hydroelectric power company. So where other countries get electrical bills, we get hydro bills.

We now use it to refer to any energy bill.

Klick

Klick is slang for “kilometre”. It’s a military short form that we’ve adopted as a country.

Give’er

This is most often said by hockey dads from what I can tell.

“Give’er” means to give it your all. It’s usually screamed, which is why it’s abbreviated.

Hang a Larry/Roger

Turn left (Larry) or right (Roger). Usually used for driving directions.

It’s unclear where this term came from but from what I can tell no actual hangings were involved (whew!).

Kerfuffle

I dispute this being a Canadian-only term – I think it’s just fancier than what Americans usually use. However, it’s very commonly referred to, even by Canadians, as being Canadian slang.

A kerfuffle is a commotion or fuss. Usually, it’s not used to refer to a physical fight, but that varies.

Beauty

Of course, every country has the term “beauty” or some form of it. But Canadians use it differently.

To us, a “beauty” is something that has done well or a great person. This can range from a car being a beauty (sometimes just “beaut” depending on the accent) to someone who did something nice for you.

It has no relation to their actual appearance.

True

I say this so often it’s ridiculous.

For some reason, rather than saying “ok”, we say “true”. Often it’s not even a true or false statement!

Jokes

If someone says something entertaining, you’d respond with “jokes”.

Usually, the entertaining statement is funny in some way, but I’ve seen it used kind of like “lol” where you just don’t really have another response.

Parkade

A parkade is a parking garage.

Typically it’s an outdoor structure, but we use it interchangeably to refer to an underground parking garage as well.

Git’r Done

Essentially “git’r done” means “finish it”.

It can be used for assignments, your beer, or anything else you’re trying to finish.

Biffed (It)

To biff something is to mess it up. If you tripped, you biffed it.

It’s a less popular term nowadays, but you will still hear Canadians saying it.

Champagne Birthday

I don’t know if this is common elsewhere, but in Canada we celebrate our champagne birthday with extra fan fair.

Your champagne birthday is when you turn the same age as your birthdate. For example, if you’re born on July 15th, your 15th birthday is your champagne birthday.

It’s a lot more fun when you’re of legal drinking age. If you’re 1, then it’s sort of a letdown.

Humidex

I had to include this term with the insane heat and humidity we’re currently getting in Toronto. I mean, why on earth is it nearly 40C every single day??

Our “humidex”, short for humidity index, is how Canadian meteorologists determine how hot it feels outside. For example, it may be 28C, but with the humidex it feels like 35C.

Deke

Deke comes from the hockey move of faking to maneuver around an opponent. It’s become part of our daily language.

Now you can use it to deke out of a meeting or deke around traffic through shortcuts.

The Rez

This term comes from the reservations that our Indigenous people live on across the country. That’s a dicey history that I won’t get into here, but I wanted to include the term since it’s very common amongst Canadians.

Canadian Slang for Places

Canadians have come up with a variety of nicknames for the provinces, cities, and towns we live in. I haven’t included all of them for two reasons: 1) this list is already insanely long and 2) some can be derogatory.

Larger places like Toronto have gained many slang nicknames over the years, some of which are starting to fade.

Let’s start at the West Coast and work our way East through Canadian slang phrases.

British California

British Columbia

The Big Smoke

Initially, this referred to Vancouver. Toronto has started trying to co-opt it, but Vancouverites still hold on to the term.

Cow Town

Calgary, due to the stampede and its cattle history.

The Chuck

Edmonton. It refers to the city’s Ukrainian population apparently.

The Peg

Winnipeg

Stubblejumper

A reference to anyone from the Prairies. When the fields are plowed, especially the cornfields, it looks like stubble.

The Soo

Refers to Sault St. Marie in Ontario.

Hog Town

Toronto. A derogatory term that has nothing to do with our meat production and everything to do with how the rest of the country felt about us hyping ourselves up.

The Six(6ix)

Toronto. It refers to the 6 neighbourhoods that merged to make up Toronto.

In 1998 the municipalities of East York, Etobicoke, North York, York, Scarborough, and the former Toronto merged to make what is now Toronto.

GTA

The GTA stands for the Greater Toronto Area. It includes all of Toronto as well as neighbouring suburbs and municipalities.

By Town

The original name of Ottawa and now a common nickname.

Maritimer

This refers to anyone from the Maritime provinces in Atlantic Canada. Although Newfoundland isn’t technically a Maritime province because it joined Canada after the Maritime treaty, it tends to be included.

Halifornia

A nickname for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Commonly shortened to “hali”.

Blue Noser

Anyone from Nova Scotia. This comes from the famous Blue Nose ship that used to fish and race in Nova Scotia.

Newfie

A term to refer to a Newfoundlander.

The Rock

Newfoundland. Refers to the island itself and not Labrador.

Islander

Although we have many islands, this term is meant for people from Prince Edward Island in the Maritimes.

Caper

Someone from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

Bogtrotter

Someone from New Brunswick. It seems to relate to their Irish ancestry.

Regional Canadian Slang

Canada is HUGE.

Even though all of our population is gathered towards the south of the country, there’s still a lot of country there. Accents and slang develop differently in each city and province, creating a great tapestry of Canadian dialects.

I was fascinated to learn how differently people speak a province over or a few cities north.

To help keep track of where these Canadian slang terms come from, I’ll be grouping them by their location.

So let’s look at some regional Canadian sayings!

Sour Toe Shot

The sour toe shot is a rite of passage in the Yukon. You can have the alcohol of your choice, drink it fast or slow, but your lips must touch the toe.

If you eat the toe, you’ll be fined HEAVILY.

It is in fact a real human toe that’s been mummified or preserved. It’s not the original any longer. Now, people actually donate their toes for it. If you lose one in a lawn mowing accident or to frostbite, send it over to the Yukon and they’ll put it to good use.

Ever

Northern Canadians use ever before words to add emphasis, sort of like saying very.

Masi

Technically this isn’t slang since it’s a translation, but it means “thank you”.

Muktuk

Northern slang for frozen whale skin and blubber.

Sourdough

The Yukon really loves sour things!

A sourdough is a permanent resident of the Yukon who has lived there for all four seasons.

It comes from the gold rush days when people had to live through harsh winters. Without yeast, sourdough was the only kind of bread they could make.

Skookum

This is a BC-specific term that means impressive or exceptional. I’ve also heard it used to describe someone who looks good, like complimenting a girlfriend.

Vancouver Special

A Vancouver special is a type of house with no basement where the first floor is rented out. Your living area is above the first floor.

It refers to the bedrock in Vancouver that prevents basements and the insane housing prices that mean people need to rent.

Others

BC has a lot of slang to refer to certain cities, often in a derogatory way. They also refer to their islands and the island (Vancouver Island) differently depending on where they live in the province.

Vi-Co

Means “chocolate milk” in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Bunnyhug

My favourite Canadian slang term that I use all the time – even though I don’t often wear them!

A bunnyhug is a pullover sweatshirt with no zipper. I’m guessing something about the coziness of a hoodie led to the name, but I couldn’t find a good explanation.

Chinook

An unseasonably warm wind.

This is actually a strain of wind, like the El Niño, but people don’t usually say it to refer to the weather phenomenon. It’s become more of a colloquial term amongst Prairie residents.

Buckle Bunny

Much like a puck bunny, buckle bunny is a derogatory term for a woman who follows rodeos. It’s most used in Calgary, where we have our largest rodeo.

It implies that she’s only there for the cowboys, which isn’t always the case.

Boot/Pull

Oddly both terms mean the same thing: to seek a provider of alcohol.

The Patch

This refers to the oil industries in Alberta.

Chirp

To chirp someone is to verbally tease them in a mean or aggressive way.

Takitish

Means “take it easy”. Not a common term in Southern Ontario.

Wheeling

This was a term I hoped died when I left high school, but unfortunately, it’s stuck around.

Wheeling means to be in the early stages of dating someone. I’d call it courting but it’s never as romantic or reserved.

The Dep

If you’re looking for a corner store, you’re looking for the dep. It comes from the French word “depanneur” which is the actual name for a convenience store.

They usually sell alcohol so it can also be used to refer to a liquor store.

The Habs

The term comes from the French “les habitants”, but I guess we decided that’s too long and shortened it. Initially, the term referred to French Canadian settlers of Quebec. Now it mostly refers to the Montreal Canadien hockey team.

Blochead

A term for an anglophone in Quebec. It can also be a derogatory term for supporters of the Bloc Quebecois.

Flyé

Flyé means something is over the top or extravagant.

Tof

Much like it sounds, tof means something is tough or difficult.

Screech

Screech is a Newfoundland rum that I think tastes a little better than lighter fluid.

It’s part of their tradition (much like the sour toe shot). When you become a Newfoundlander, you have to drink Screech and kiss a cod (a dead fish they’ve got sitting around at the bar). Do this and you’ll be “screeched in”.

Fill yer boots

Means “go for it” or  “help yourself”, especially when referring to food.

Sloshed

This term is starting to gain traction in Ontario, but it’s got its roots in the East Coast. To be sloshed is to be drunk.

Greasy

Greasy is a term that Maritimers use to refer to someone who is sketchy or seems untrustworthy.

Pogey

Pogey refers to unemployment. If someone is on unemployment, they are on pogey.

Scivey

Nova Scotian slang for someone who is sketchy or greasy.

Hosed

If you’re hosed, you’re drunk.