Canadian English

As you may have noticed, I'm a hardcore lobbyist for Canadiana. So of course, I'm well aware of some of the differences in Canadian English versus British or American English - note to Americans; your language is not called American. So when I read this article from the Torch, the University of Victoria's Alumni magazine, about "the four-person lexicography department of Oxford University Press in Toronto" it wasn't a surprise that we need a more specific dictionary for our linguistic needs. Although, the inclusion of things like "May Two-Four" and "double-double" only reinforce the thought that the Toronto based organization is, well, Torontonian - they believe they exist in the centre of the universe and that all things Ontarian are therefore Canadian. Try using the term "May Two-Four" out here in BC. You get blank looks. Tell them it's like a two-four of beer for that long weekend. More blank looks. Oh. Right. This is Western Canada....or maybe that's just a Lower Mainland affliction.

On the other hand, what did surprise me in the article was also an acknowledgement of a regional discrepancy: “A hoody is a commonly known item of clothing in most of Canada but it’s called a bunny hug in Saskatchewan". A bunny hug!?! Dude. That's brutal.

"The team also uncovered the unique terms locals use to indicate where they’re from. While Vancouverite and Torontonian are well-known, they had to dig deeper—usually by phoning local journalists—to find correct nouns for smaller locales. In BC these include the somewhat tongue-twisting Fernieite, Abbotsfordian, Kitimatian and Nanaimoite, as well as the surprisingly hip-sounding Smithereen and White Rocker."

And for you trivia-minded types, Newfoundland has the most region-specific entries in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, such as "bangbelly (a cake made from cooked rice)" - !



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