Language of the Day: Canadian Slang
In honour of Canada Day at the end of the week, this post is all about slang you’ll only hear in Canada.
Check out the list below for a few of the most common Canadian-isms!
POP: This is what Canadian call carbonated beverages like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, or Root Beer. In the US, they mostly call it “soda”
SNOWBIRDS: In Canada, winters are obviously pretty cold. That’s why so many of our older generation prefers to travel south to places like Florida or Arizona for the winter. And what else travels south for winter? Birds, of course! That’s why we call these travelling senior citizens “snowbirds”
CHESTERFIELD: In Canada, a chesterfield is a couch or sofa; that is, a large, cushioned seat that can fit more than one person. Note that if the couch can seat exactly two people, that type of couch is typically referred to as a loveseat.
TOQUE: This Canadian-only vocabulary term is just a warm winter hat. People from other English-speaking countries are usually surprised to hear this term when they travel to Canada because it is quite unique to us!
MOUNTIE: Did you know that the police in Canada are called the RCMP? That stands for Royal Canadian Mounted Police. For short, we call them “mounties” and especially when they are wearing their ceremonial red outfits.
SERVIETTE: this is just a Canadian word for napkin, like the kind you might get at a restaurant.
