Only in Canada You Say: A Treasury of Canadian Language [Hardcover]

 

 

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I bought this book in the spur of the moment, thinking about how interesting it might be. In all honestly, it is kind of cool but the novelty wears off. Guaranteed you will buy this book, flip through some of the words and definitions (most of which you've probably never even heard before), and then put it away on your book shelf where it will sit to collect dust for years to come until one day you take a glance at it and realize what a silly waste of money it was. Why do you need a collection of Canadian words when A)You're probably Canadian and already use them on a regular basis, or B)Are not Canadian and wish to learn more about the Canadian language, in which case a simple dictionary will probably suffice.

I gave it 3 stars simply because it is exactly what it states it is. There's not gimmick or anything misleading about it. It is, in fact, a collection of colloquial Canadian sayings, with definitions and information about the words. However, I regret this purchase, it could have been money spent more wisely (like on a Timmy's double double...which I'm sure you don't need this book to help you understand what that means).

If you really REALLY want it, buy it and I'm sure you'll be pleased. If it's a spur of the moment, "oh cool!", let the phase pass and save yourself some money.

Some time back I met Canada's Word Lady, Katherine Barber when she came to give a speech to our Rotary Club. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. If that sounds really, really boring believe me it's not. She is a very interesting authority on Canadian language and word usage. She's also funny, quite witty and an engaging speaker. When she speaks, she talks about the strange places that words originated from and how they became common usage, it makes them enchanting and much more interesting than they were when we were learning to read and spell back in school.

This engaging book is a treasury of Canadian Language a guide to 'away from homes' who don't quite know a squashberry from a screech-in. It's pretty helpful too, if you're going traveling across the country and want to know what those strange sounding local foods on the menu are made of. Would you pass up feves au lard when you like pork and beans? You don't know whether to try lassy bread in Newfoundland? Well, if you ordered it you'd get sweet yeast bread with molasses, raisins and spices. Mmm, Mmm, good!

There's even an appendix to the book which tells you what to call people from different cities. Did you know there were Yarmouthians, Spallumcheenites and Airdrites right here in our own country? There are Guelphites too but oddly enough there are no names for people who live in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Fergus or Elmira. I think that's a cause celebre which should be taken up by my friends in those places and pursued until we find satisfactory monikers for those poor folks without a name. Fergusites and Elmirans are fairly simple (not the people who live their - the name) but is it a Waterloonie or Kitchenarian?

If you've never been to Calgary you probably don't know what a 'plus minus 15' is. It's an enclosed overhead walkway between buildings - the only way to survive some of those prairie snowstorms. Speaking of weather, have you ever seen a great white combine (hail storm) come roaring over the prairies or been storm-stayed just a few miles from your destination? Or seen a Glitter which is the ice deposited by a freezing rain storm?

We've all heard Red Green talk about the glories of duct tape and wondered how the world survived before its invention. The answer to that, even before bailer twine, was shaganappi a thread, cord or thong made from rawhide. In Swampy Cree pishagan means 'leather' and a-piy means 'string'. Either way it was a down and dirty way to keep things together or patch up what needed to be patched.

Speaking about leather strings reminds me of another great Canadian invention 'idiot strings'. I remember my Grandma making them for my brother and me. They were a knitted cord attached to gloves or mittens. You fed the cord up one coat sleeve across the back and down the other sleeve so that if you were idiot enough to take your mitts off in the winter you couldn't lose them and get frostbite or chilblains on your hands. When I see boxes at schools and churches for lost and found items, I often wonder why idiot strings aren't in use any more. It sure would save some money.

There's another true Canadian invention called the Bennett Buggy. Any idea what that was? It's an automobile hitched to horses or oxen which was used in the 1930's in Canada when people really couldn't afford gasoline. We think we're in a recession but we really aren't having horrible times like those!

Yet another Canadian invention which you might not remember is what Bombardier was famous for before they started making ski-dos. They originally made a large vehicle which ran on caterpillar treads with toboggan runners on the front so that you could steer them. They were big enough to carry 10 - 15 people across ice and snow safely.

So, take a few minutes and have a mug-up (tea break) while you brush-up on Canadianisms before taking off on vacation. If you head to La Belle Province to see if you can find any pure laine descendants of the original French settlers you'll know enough to be on the lookout for that strange bird the Tongue Trooper (a provincial government agent in charge of enforcing the language laws in Quebec regarding commercial signs).

There's even a fun test of your knowledge of Canadian English in the book. Here are some of the questions for you to try. See how many you can get right.

1) What is an immigrant to Quebec who speaks neither English nor French called?
A) allophone
B) optophone
C) autrophone
D) aboiteau

2) In which city would you order a jambuster?
A) Winnipeg
B) Edmonton
C) Guelph
D) Halifax

3) The word carspiel is a Canadianism meaning:
A) the patter of a used car salesman
B) the incessant chatter kept up by children in the back seat of a car on long trips
C) a Canadian winter activity based on curling, played on large expanses of cleared lake ice, with the object being for one driver in a care to knock other cars out of a painted circle
D) a curling competition at which the prize is a car

4) Which Canadian Prime Minister first used the word 'main-streeting' to mean political campaigning?
A) Pierre Elliott Trudeau
B) John A Macdonald
C) Arthur Meighen
D) John Deifenbacher

5) Which of the following words for school supplies is unique to Canada?
A) pencil crayon
B) Duo-tang
C) scribbler
D) all of the above

6) A slang name for a beer belly is
A) Labatt muscle
B) Sleeman's muscle
C) Kokanee muscle
D) Molson muscle

7) The revenge of the cradle is
A) the tendency of babies to wake up at 4 in the morning
B) an extremely high birthrate amongst French Canadians in the nineteenth century
C) retaliation by a much younger lover being dumped by an older person
D) the cost of raising a family

8) The kinder, gentler f-word:
A) fumble-on
B) fuddle-duddle
C) fussy-fit
D) funnel-cloud

9) The Canadian term 'Texas gate' refers to something designed to bar the passage of
A) coyotes
B) rats
C) cattle
D) illegal immigrants

10) A sign you'll only see in Canada:
A) Garden Centre
B) Auto Centre
C) Tire Centre
D) Medical Centre

1) A 2) A 3) D 4) D 5) D 6) D 7) B 8) C 9) C 10) C

Never got it. So am not able to review it favorably. Hopefully it will be sent to me. Not enough words so I am writing a few more here.

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