// moranabroad: A few more Canadianisms//
More things I’ve learnt, as a British girl, from my eight months in Canada.
- A huge holiday home in the country is called a cottage, even though it doesn’t have a thatched roof, and an actual cottage is called a “pioneer house”
- Whether talking Bond or talking phone numbers, you wouldn’t say ‘double oh seven’… Canadians don’t say ‘double’ in phone numbers and it’s not ‘oh’, it zero
- A jumper is a sweater, a worktop is a counter, a lift is an elevator, the boot is the trunk, a tram is a street car
- A lorry is a truck, but if you can get a Canadian to say lorry do, because it’s humorous
- People don’t say aboot but they do say about differently than we say about
- Maple syrup is not like golden syrup, but impress Canadians by buying 100% maple syrup, not Aunt Jermima’s
- Everything is drive-thru, you can get coffee, ice cream, burgers, fries and donuts without ever having to leave the car
- Tim Horton’s is like Starbucks but Canadian. You can buy a box of TimBits, which look like the bits taken out of the middle of doughnuts
- Nobody’s excited by snow, snow is an unavoidable and unremarkable feature of everyday life
Ontario specific;
- When people say they’re moving to London, don’t excite yourself and start babbling on about rain and the Tube, there’s a London in Ontario. Also, for you suburbanites, there’s a Kingston and an Uxbridge
- There’s a place called Ajax, but it’s actually pronounced Ajax, not Eye-Axe
- The Canadian side of Niagara Falls, I’ve been assured, is much more impressive than the American side
- You cannot buy alcohol in grocery stores (supermarkets), you must go to the LCBO, which is a whole store (shop) full of alcohol, like a sweetshop (candy store) for adults – it’s magnificent
- You cannot have a bottle of open alcohol in the front of the car, it’s illegal
- When there are too many street cars going one way, the TTC short turn them, meaning everybody has to get off and wait for the one behind
- Tell someone from Toronto you’re going to anywhere further north than Finch and they’ll look at you as if you’re venturing to the moon on public transport
(Source: moranabroad, via upsouthdownnorth)
