Canadian English Trivia

1. In which province or territory is "sourdough" a slang term?

From Quiz Canadian Slang

Answer: Yukon

In the Yukon, the term "sourdough" is used both as a reference to the bread, and to people. Anyone who has lived in the territory for longer than the four seasons is referred to as a "sourdough". The term "cheechako" is used in the Yukon to refer to a newbie or someone who has only recently moved to the northern territory. Both of these slang terms stem back to the gold rush in the 1890s when miners who lasted the seasons needed sourdough to make food, and the Indigenous Chinook word for a person who was newly arrived to the mines was used for newcomers.

From Quiz Could You Pass As a Canadian?

Answer: Parka

In wintertime we wear parkas, thigh-length jackets consisting of an outer shell (nowadays that's usually nylon or some other manmade fabric), and an inner lining of wool or another manmade fabric. In between the inner and outer shell is down or polyester wadding for warmth. The Inuit people, who invented the parka, made theirs of sealskin, worn with the hair side in. Tuktu is the Inuit word for caribou - nice to look at, photograph, and, I'm told, in stew, but hard to wear. Similarly, ookpik is the Inuit word for the snowy owl. Nunavut (which means 'our land' in Inuktituk, the Inuit language) is the northern territory lying west and north of the Hudson Bay. It was carved out of the Northwest Territory in 1993 and officially became a separate territory in 1999. It is the fifth largest country sub-division in the world.

From Quiz Canadian from Eh to Zed

Answer: A kind of snow storm

The Alberta Clipper brings freezing temperatures and powdery snow into Manitoba, the Dakotas and Minnesota, sometimes as far south as Texas.

From Quiz Canadian Slang, Eh?

Answer: A 12 pack of beer

A twelve pack of beer, with its ingenious pop-up handle can only be purchased (in Ontario) at an "In and Out" store! Not to be confused with two dozen, also known as a two-four! Scarborough is a suburb of Toronto, sometimes known as Scarberia. This phrase is not used much by those who live there.

From Quiz Canadianisms

Answer: Calgary

Calgary is home to the NHL Flames, and the world famous Calgary Stampede, a rodeo which takes place in July of each year.

From Quiz Canadian Slang

Answer: Both refer to articles of clothing

In this case, it is very common for the people of Alberta to refer to men's underwear as "gitch" or "gotch". On the other hand, the people of Saskatchewan call a hooded sweatshirt a "bunnyhug" even if it is worn by adults. How cute is that? ;-)

From Quiz Could You Pass As a Canadian?

Answer: Poutine

Poutine is a highly indigestible (for me, anyway) fast food offering that became popular at roadside chip stands in 1960s Quebec. It consists of chips (or french fries to Americans), smothered in gravy and topped with cheese curds. Its popularity has spread beyond the borders of Quebec and it is now on the menu of most fast food restaurants across Canada. Tourtiere doesn't come in bowls. It is a meat pie which originated in Quebec as a mainstay of the feast following Christmas Eve mass. It, too, has become popular across Canada. Laine is the French word for wool and if you want to eat a bowl of wool, be my guest. Brewis is not a Quebec dish. You'd have to travel to Newfoundland and Labrador for a bowl of brewis, which consists of bread, potatoes and fish with crunchy fried pork bits on top.

From Quiz Canadian Terms

Answer: Toonie

As with all Canadian coins, the Heads side features Queen Elizabeth II, our head of state; the Tails side features a polar bear. It was introduced roughly around the same time as Nunavut became a new territory, approximately three years before.

From Quiz Canadian from Eh to Zed

Answer: Eat it

This Newfoundland dish consist of flour, molasses, soda and some kind of animal fat, usually suet.

From Quiz Canadian Slang, Eh?

Answer: A person who steals gas from a parked car by siphoning it out with a hose

The hoser was a gas thief in Western Canada. The term became a widespread nickname for the average Canadian when used by Bob and Doug MacKenzie on SCTV.

From Quiz Canadian English

Answer: gitch

The origin of this word is unknown, although it is thought that it might be an alteration of the word "gotch." "Gotch" is another Canadian slang word for "underwear," and is probably derived from Eastern European languages. As the Hungarian word for underwear is "gatya," while the Serbo-Croat word is "gace," this seems to be a likely explanation. This also fits with the fact that "gitch" and "gotch" are most commonly used in the Canadian west, which was, in large part, settled by Eastern Europeans.

From Quiz Canadian Terms

Answer: loon

Sir John A. Macdonald was not known as a "loonie", but he was rumoured to be an alcoholic which does not lessen most Canadians' opinion of him. Loons are common features in Canadian lakes. Even if you don't always see them, you can hear their haunting calls from the opposite side of the lake.

From Quiz Canadian English

Answer: toque

Toque is derived from the French "tuque", which is related to the Italian "tocca" and Spanish "toca", all of which mean hat. The word is pronounced "tuke", although the spelling confuses many non-Canadians who pronounce it "toke". Canadians need their own short word for "knitted woolen cap," because it's so cold here in winter we'd freeze before we got more than one syllable out of our mouths.

From Quiz Canadianisms

Answer: Goods and Services Tax & Goods Services Tax

The GST is currently as of Aug. 2002, 7%.

From Quiz Canadian Slang

Answer: Hosting a dinner and dance

The people of Newfoundland and Labrador are known for hosting kitchen parties where they eat delicious meals, then kick up their heels to dance the night away. Most of the music at these parties is quite lively, and is influenced by the British Isles.

From Quiz Could You Pass As a Canadian?

Answer: Coffee with two shots of cream and two sugars

A double-double is coffee with two hits of cream and two sugars and it's a standard order at the Canada-wide Tim Horton's coffee shops. Tim's is so popular in Canada that, when asked what they missed most about home, Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan said "Tim's", so Tim's obligingly opened a Tim Horton's to serve the troops in Kandahar province. Canadian sailors also get supplies of Tim Horton's special roast coffee aboard ship. I'm told that a double or even a triple shot of rye warms the insides on a cold night, but since I'm not partial to imbibing spirits I've never tested that theory for myself. Beer, next to Tim Horton's coffee, is the preferred potable of most Canadians (I'm not one of them because I can't stand the taste), and anyone who orders two servings of poutine at one go deserves to get indigestion!

From Quiz Canadian Terms

Answer: Winterlude

The main attraction of Winterlude is the Rideau Canal, the largest skating rink in the world, although in recent years the entire length has not been opened due to thin ice. There are snow and ice sculpting competitions from world-class sculptors and with the right light, the ice looks like Swarovski crystal.

From Quiz Canadian Slang, Eh?

Answer: Beer

The Beer Store, or Brewer's Retail, has large orange signs in the parking lot denoting the in driveway and the out driveway, thus the term "The In and Out Store"!

From Quiz Canadian English

Answer: keener

I was amazed to discover that this is a Canadianism, but that's what the dictionary tells me. Let me know if you use it in your part of the world. Obviously, it is derived from the word "keen."

From Quiz Canadianisms

Answer: Halifax

Halifax is the capital city of the province of Nova Scotia--Halifax has a population of 359,000 as of 2001.

From Quiz Canadian Slang

Answer: Prince Edward Island (PEI)

"Mayzel" is typically heard in PEI as a squished response to a question. If the response is "May as well" in other parts of the world, it comes out as "Mayzel" in PEI. Maybe the folks there figure that it is best not to waste time on saying all of the syllables and spaces. ;-)

From Quiz Could You Pass As a Canadian?

Answer: Assiniboine River, Winnipeg, Manitoba

In the battle of the skating rinks, Winnipeg's Assiniboine River Skating Trail wins hands down over Ottawa's Rideau Canal skateway at 9.34 km over 7.8 km. to win the title of the longest skating rink in the world. Neither the Bow nor the Yukon, both fast-flowing rivers, freeze solidly enough to create ice skating venues.

From Quiz Canadian from Eh to Zed

Answer: The Eh Team

I hope you remembered this was the "Letter E" question.

From Quiz Canadian English

Answer: poutine

Several Quebecois diners claim to have invented this treat, and it has gained popularity in English Canada over the last twenty years. It's a pretty heavy snack if you ask me.

From Quiz Canadianisms

Answer: A legendary monster that supposedly inhabits Okanagan Lake in British Columbia

There are a number of similarities between Lake Okanagan in British Columbia and Scotland's Loch Ness. They are both long and narrow and lie at about the same latitude. Do they exist? You decide!

From Quiz Canadian Slang

Answer: A corner store

Quebec is Canada's French-speaking province. The word "dep" comes from the French word "depanneur". A "depanneur" is a corner variety store. Over the years it has been shortened to "dep" so both French and English speaking residents of the province are often heard to be going on a trip to the "dep" for cigarettes, snacks, or beer.

From Quiz Could You Pass As a Canadian?

Answer: Under the hood of a car

Block heaters are necessary equipment in Canadian cars - they prevent the engine from freezing when the mercury dips below minus 25 degrees Celsius. Indeed, it is illegal in my province to sell a car that does not have a block heater installed. We plug in our cars during the winter months and public and private parking lots have outlets for that purpose (tourists from warmer climes can never figure out why there are electrical outlets in parking lots. One visitor from Texas thought they were there for tourists to plug in their electric shavers!) When Canadians drive their cars south to the US they usually tuck the block heater cord inside the hood to prevent having to answer questions about why it's there in the first place. Ice fishing shacks always have a heater of some kind, but not block heaters. Ice fishing is popular in the Great White North. We wear two or three pairs of warm socks in our winter boots, not block heaters, and it's the furnace, not a block heater, that one finds in the basement of every Canadian home.

From Quiz Canadian Terms

Answer: tim bits

Tim Horton's is named after the Canadian hockey player, Tim Horton. Kind of obvious, huh?

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