Canadian English Slangs & Phrases

Canadian English is in some ways midway between British and American varieties. The written standard is very close to that of British English, but American spellings are quite common. Informal speech has a distinctly American flavour and pronunciation is fairly close to that of the northern United states. Canadian vocabulary naturally includes words reflecting the local environment and culture, many of them taken from the native American languages spoken in Canada: for instance husky, moose, toboggan, anorak, kayak. French, the mother tongue of around one third of Canadians, has also given words to Canadian English vocabulary, e.g. cache(a hiding place). — Michael Swan, Practical English Usage, Fourth Edition

© Moving To Canada? Here Are 75 Canadian English Slangs & Phrases You Must Know

Are You Hungry?

Double Double

an oversized cup of coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars

homo milk

homogenised/whole milk

Tim Hortons’ Timbits

bite-sized fried-dough confectionery similar to American doughnuts but uniquely Canadian (they’ve been around since the 70s!)

serviettes

paper napkins

A napkin, serviette or face towelette is a rectangle of cloth used at the table for wiping the mouth and fingers while eating. It is usually small and folded, sometimes in intricate designs and shapes.

icing sugar

Powdered sugar, also called confectioners’ sugar, 10X sugar or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state.

two four

Canadian informal a box containing 24 bottles of beer

a case of 24 beers – cans or bottles

Mickey

A half-sized non-EU Standard Liquor Bottle, considered a US metric “pint”. Called a mickey in Canada. -> Alcohol measurements

A 13-ounce bottle of hard alcohol (give or take)

chocolate bars

A chocolate bar (Commonwealth English) or candy bar (some dialects of American English) is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A wide variety of chocolate bar brands are sold. A popular example is a Snickers bar, which consists of nougat mixed with caramel and peanuts, covered in milk chocolate.

Chocolate candy

Molson muscle

beer belly

Kraft Dinner (or KD!)

The product known as Kraft Dinner (KD) in Canada, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner or Kraft Mac & Cheese in the United States and Australia, and Macaroni Cheese or Cheesey Pasta in the United Kingdom is a nonperishable, packaged dry macaroni and cheese product by Kraft Foods, traditionally cardboard-boxed with dried macaroni pasta and a packet of processed cheese powder. It was first introduced under the Kraft Dinner name simultaneously in both Canada and the U.S. in 1937.

macaroni-and-cheese

freezie

A freezie (Canada), freeze pop (United States), zooper-dooper, juice pop, freezer pop, otter pop, ice-pole, pop stick, icy-pole (Australia), ice pop, popsicle, tip top, lolly (UK), marciano or chupps (Peru), chihiro (Cayman Islands), ice candy (Philippines, Japan), chup-chup, sacolé, geladinho, gelinho, dindim (Brazil), or ais batu Malaysia(Malaysia) is a water-based frozen confection. It is made by freezing flavored liquid such as sugar water, fruit juice or purée inside a plastic casing or tube, either round or flat.

freeze (ice) pop

dépanneur

A convenience store, convenience shop, or corner store is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, tobacco products, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers, and magazines.

A convenience store may also be called a c-store[citation needed], cold store, party store (Michigan), bodega, tienda de barrio (Latin America), carry out, mini-market, mini-mart, konbini (Japan), corner shop, deli or milk bar (Australia), dairy (New Zealand), superette (New Zealand and parts of USA), corner store (many part of English-speaking Canada and New England) depanneur or dep (the last two are loanwords from the French term used in parts of Canada).

convenience store

Rotten Ronnie’s

McDonald’s

booze can

illegal after-hours bar

Caesar

cocktail (not a salad!) similar to a Bloody Mary but made with clamato juice

Clamato juice

clam and tomato juice

poutine

French fries (thin potato chips) covered with cheese curds and gravy

Tortière/tourtière

Meat pie

beavertail/whale’s tail

fried pastry dough smothered in toppings like Nutella chocolate spread

Nanaimo bar

multilayered brownie with icing

Butter tart

Sweet pastry shell tart with a filling of butter, sugar, syrup and egg, baked to get a semi-solid filling and crunchy top

Peameal bacon

Wet-cured, un-smoked back bacon made from trimmed lean boneless pork loin and rolled in cornmeal

Bumbleberry pie

Mixed berry pie (there is no such berry as a bumbleberry!)

Mind Your Habits & Manners!

Canadian tuxedo

informal outfit consisting of a blue denim jacket and blue jeans

Pop

carbonated soft drink/soda

Washroom

Bathroom, restroom, toilet

Queue

Lineup

Tap

faucet

Canuck

Canadian person

kerfuffle

commotion, fuss or disagreement

keener

brown-noser, sycophant

beauty

exceptionally great person

Life’s Good In Canada

Loonie

1-dollar coin

Toonie

2-dollar coin

parkade

parking garage

gas bar

petrol station

chinook

the warm wind that comes over the mountain during winter to melt the snow and raise the temperature

hydro bill

electricity bill

Toque (or tuque)

knitted hat

snowbirds

Canadians who head south to sandy beaches and tropical waters to escape winter

Toboggan

Snow sledge

writing a test

Taking a test, giving an exam

In Canada, the testee writes a test, not the tester!

Just Hanging Out

knapsack

backpack

klicks

kilometres

6ix

Toronto

track pants

Comfortable sweat pants

runners

Comfortable running shoes/sneakers

thongs

Slippers, often worn to the beach

housecoat

Bathrobe or dressing gown

Stag

Bachelor party (US), Stag do (UK)

Stagette

Bachelorette party (US), Hen do (UK)

Darts

Cigarettes (not the bar game!)

Bill

Check (US)

Chesterfield

Sofa, couch

pencil crayons

Coloured pencils

What you sayin’ tonight

What are your plans for tonight? (informal)

True

Okay, fine

Home & Away!

Hang a Larry

Turn left while driving

Hang a Roger

Turn right while driving

dinged

Fined money (not damage to a car in an accident!)

Mountie

member of the highly-respected Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

eavestroughs

rain gutters on the roof of a house

garburator

Garbage disposal, usually installed under a kitchen sink

fire hall

Fire station

deke

physical outmanoeuvring of an opponent in ice hockey

stickhandle

skilful controlling of the puck in ice hockey

pogie

On Government welfare assistance

give’r

Go for it, give it your best shot

Elementary school

Grades KG-5

Middle school

Grades 6-8

High school

Grades 9-12

University

After-school college (different from ‘community college’)
Time measured in Years – First Year, Third Year, etc

Grade

School class