7 Canadian Words I Just Can’t Seem To Kick
Written by Jaillan Yehia
International linguistic differences, eh? Just how much fun are they? Lately I’ve been chatting to some Canucks on patios around Vancouver with a cold beer, discussing just how many Canadian words seem humorous to a foreigner like me. These have gotta be the top 7, right?
What Does This Post Cover?
1. Right?
A certain breed of Londoner might say ‘innit’ a lot at the end of a sentence. In South Africa it’s ‘izzit’ and in Arabic the word ‘yani’ peppers sentences. In Canada it’s ‘right’. Well sometimes it is, and the rest of the time it’s definitely ‘eh!’
2. Eh!
No other nation says ‘eh’ the way they do in Canada, eh?
It’s omnipresent, pervasive and inseparable from my memories of Canada – these two little letters define Canadian speech. Plus in terms of tourist T Shirt slogans, ‘Canada,eh?’ is right up there with ‘My friend/mum/dad/boyfriend went to London and I all I got was this lousy T Shirt’.
3. Canuck
Until I went to Canada I didn’t actually know that Canuck was Canadian slang for, well a Canadian. The highlight of my time in the country was my Canadian friend announcing ‘Oh you’re a real Canuck now!’ I’ll take that as a compliment.
4. Patio
Beers on the patio
It just isn’t possible to overstate the love affair that exists between Canadians and patios. Patios in this case roughly translated as beer gardens or indeed any small patch of outside space adjoining a bar or restaurant. The ultimate goal being to facilitate the enjoyment of alcoholic refreshments during the all too brief summer in an outdoor location. So far so very British.
Patio is quite simply the word of my trip to Canada and cannot be ignored. Think of our dogged determination to go to the seaside on a scorching weekend and double it, and you have the strength of feeling that exists for finding a spot in the sun on the humble patio.
5. Pop
A selection of pop at Vancouver’s Hubbub Sandwich Bar
I spent some of my formative years up north, where children were bairns, people went out on the toon and fizzy drinks were known as glasses of pop, so it seemed a quaint little blast from the past for me to hear pop being offered up to me for the first time since I was a wee bairn myself.
6. Sorry
$1 figurines at Vancouver Flea Market. Even they look really, really sorry.
I’m not the first to notice or single out most Canadians’ super-tuned sense manners and predilection to apologise even when it’s you that’s bumped into them. If the defining word of a trip to Canada is ‘eh’, the defining emotion is one of genuine heartfelt sorrow for having inconvenienced someone in any way, usually followed by a good 5-10 minute chat about how they are and how their day is going, just to show how sorry you really are.
7. Donair
Donna Air. Not a kebab.
I’ve googled it and I still don’t know why Canadians call Doner Kebabs ‘Donairs’. All I can say is that it makes me think of Donna Air and frankly that’s really weird as pretty blond lasses and big chunks of greasy meat aren’t two images that usually go together. I’ll be chuckling about this one for a while.
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Guest
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How else would an English speaking person in Vancouver pronounce something heshe thought was “French” Doner becomes Donair.
I do admit though I cringed when I read Beers on the Patio. I don’t know anyone that would say ‘Beers’. Soda Pop, we say Pop so nobody mistakes us for being American, they say Soda.
Well Canada is spelt C eh N eh D eh n’est pas?
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Jaillan Yehia
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So donair is based on French pronunciation is it? I say beers, but then I’m British and being British is all about beers 😉
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Madelyn CK
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Sorry to tell you this, but Donair must be highly regional, because in Ontario, Kebab = Shawarma. Except Shawarma is a whole lot better than kebabs, especially if you hit up Shawarma Palace or Castle Shawarma in Ottawa, which are the two best places in the entire universe! I know these things. Trust.
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Jaillan Yehia
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Thanks for letting me know Madelyn – I must admit I only made it as far as Vancouver but plan to correct that soon enough! As an Egyptian I’m always happy to have shawarma though and will totally take your recommendations – and right back atcha, in London it’s Ranoush Juice on Edgware Road you want for tasty shawarma 🙂
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Jarmo Järvi
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I couldn’t believe when I got there how much the Canadians do use the word eh, such a little awesome word 🙂 eh
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Jaillan Yehia
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I think I spot a fellow Canada convert Jarmo, eh? 🙂
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The Travel Hack
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I work with some Canadians and one thing I’ve picked up is over using the word ‘awesome’. It’s something us Brits can’t get away with saying without sounding ridiculous or sarcastic but it just slips out all the time now!
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Jaillan Yehia
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Oh my god you’re so right, I found myself saying awesome a lot as well!
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