Canadian Slang and Dialect
EH!
- word you add to the end of a sentence, to ask for a response of agreement or disagreement, similar in meaning to “don’t you think?”, or “right?” (ie. “The Leafs are gonna lose this year, eh?”)
- expressive agreement (ie. “That was a great concert!” “Yeah I know, eh?”)
- ascertaining the comprehension, continued interest, agreement, etc., of the person or persons addressed (ie “So. I was right there in the office, eh, and he said to pack my things”)
This is a word that Canadians are constantly made fun for, but people who mimic it usually do so in the wrong tone and context. For true Canadians this word will just roll off the tongue!
| Term / Phrase | What it means |
|---|---|
| Tim’s, Timmy’s, Timmy Ho’s | Tim Horton’s: a cult coffee shop chain that Canadians swear by. |
| double-double | If you’re at Tim Horton’s and you order this, you’ll receive a medium coffee with two creams and two sugars |
| deuce | Similar to ‘dibs’ – you say this when you want to claim seconds on something. This can also be used in bathroom context (ie. “I need to drop a deuce”) |
| kills | Similar to ‘deuce’ except you are claiming the last little bit of something |
| two-four | a case containing 24 bottles of beer |
| LC, L-bo | Nicknames for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. In Ontario you can’t buy hard liquor or beer from grocery stores. |
| brewski | a beer |
| blue | Labatt Blue, a type of beer brewed in my hometown of London, Ontario! |
| kegger | a crazy college party in which one or several kegs of beer are consumed |
| mickey | 1 pint of hard liquor |
| 26er | a 26 fl oz bottle of hard liquor |
| 40 | a 40 fl oz bottle of hard liquor |
| Texas mickey | a 3L bottle of hard liquor (are you beginning to see a trend?) |
| doob, doobie | rolled marijuana joint |
| roach | what’s left of a doobie after it has been smoked |
| smoke | n.- a cigarette v.- the act of going outside to smoke (smoking is banned inside buildings) |
| big smoke, t-dot, T-O | Toronto, Ontario |
| poutine | a delicious portion of fries topped with cheese curds and gravy |
| Loonie | a Canadian $1 coin |
| Toonie | a Canadian $2 coin |
| deke | 1.— to leave suddenly (ie. “Ashley deked out early on her party”) 2.— in hockey, to fake one way and then go the other to trick an opponent |
| hork | to spit phlegm, usually on purpose (ie. “I horked on that teacher’s car”) |
| brutal | really bad! |
| over the river | border cities like Niagara Falls say this when referring to the USA |
| the states | how we refer to the USA |
| Newfie | derogatory term for people from Newfoundland & Labrador (sorry, Karen!) |
| bum | derogatory term for a homeless person |
| hoser | derogatory term to describe a man who sits at home and drinks beer all day. Made popular by Bob & Doug MacKenzie |
| “Take off” | “Go away” |
| bathroom / washroom | as opposed to toilet |
| cottage | a small summer home on the Great Lakes that you flock to as soon as the nice weather arrives |
| serviette | a nice looking napkin |
| cutlery / utensils | knife, fork and spoon |
| faucet | the bit of the sink that water comes out of |
| Kleenex | tissue |
| homo milk | full fat milk |
| hydro | electricity |
| runners | running shoes |
| touque | winter hat |
He’ll yeah!
London, eh?
I’m from Sarnia
I think the fact that most of our slang has to do with drinking says a lot about us.
@Aisling – Yeah, it’s a little frightening, eh?
Not all those words are exclusively Canadian. I’m from Vermont and people definitely use cottage, cutlery, faucet, etc.
I’ll probably have to steal this. I’m always trying to explain what “eh” means, and it’s true, people that try to mimic usually use it in the wrong context. It’s a hard word to explain to a non-Canadian!
Oh, another one is Band-Aids. People never refer to them as that here, so they get confused if I ask for one.
The other night I was trying to explain to my English friend in what context you would use “ghetto,” like ghetto 40, or ” That’s so ghetto!” When he repeated a sentence I said, my mind instantly flashed to Mickey Blue Eyes, that scene in the car when the dude is trying to teach Hugh Grant how to use slang.