Hi readers! A quick note that this piece was originally published in 2013, when Canada was turning 146. In 2019, we know it’s the country’s 152nd birthday — and are still celebrating it with a two-four and a double double.
So you speak Canadian, eh?
For any Canadian who travels abroad, you may hear the stereotypical “eh,” “aboot” (about), or worse — how do you survive living in an igloo all year?
But here, just like the diversity of our population, culture and local food we also have a long list of spoken languages, including our very own “Canadian” one.
Now even though our two official languages are English and French, the country is home to more than 200 other mother tongues including the most popular ones, Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Spanish, according to a 2011 Statistics Canada report.
More from HuffPost Canada:
But between our different dialects, provinces and home-grown businesses, Canadians have also come up with their own take on everyday words. Some of them are ingrained — we buy double doubles with loonies and toonies, we drink pop, go to the washroom and celebrate the end of the alphabet with a “zed”.
So in honour of our wonderful land turning 152 on July, 1, we’ve pulled together a fun list of good ’ol Canadian slang, words and phrases — including a few that might surprise you.
And yes we know, this list is just scratching the surface, so tell us what your favourite “Canadian” words are in the comments below and we’ll add them to our gallery.
