# American to Canadian translations **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2006, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237 "2006-10-04T14:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/181 "2006-10-12T18:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Aussies have it much easier. There the largest city is always the capital (except at a federal level). [/QUOTE] The only ones in the U.S. are – let’s see if I can do this off the top of my head – Honolulu, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Providence, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Boston. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/182 "2006-10-12T18:21:59Z")
> [@](#): > > The only ones in the U.S. are – let’s see if I can do this off the top of my head – Honolulu, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Providence, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and Boston. And Salt Lake City, at least. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/183 "2006-10-12T19:24:49Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] I don’t think that grinders or hoagies were ever common around in Michigan. [/QUOTE] Time are a-changing. For at least 10 years, there have been two pizza and sandwich places in the Detroit Area specifically named for their Grinders: Bellacino’s Pizza and Grinders, and Mancino’s Pizza and Grinders. There’s a subtle difference between the grinders and subs, too…but I won’t get into that unless you ask. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/184 "2006-10-20T13:20:33Z")
I had to retrieve this thread to add one more item. In Canada, blue represents conservatives and red is the colour of the left. This doesn’t help when I hear about the blue and the red states in America . ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/185 "2006-10-20T13:45:40Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] I had to retrieve this thread to add one more item. In Canada, blue represents conservatives and red is the colour of the left. This doesn’t help when I hear about the blue and the red states in America . [/QUOTE] Yes, many political parties have traditional colours… Conservatives are dark blue, Liberals are red, Greens are, uh, green (a bright apple-green), the NDP is orange (but has been using a lot of apple-green in its materials), Bloc Quebecois is light blue (I think). There have been others. The small Chrisian Heritage Party is dark purplish-red, like the colour of the flag of Latvia. The old Reform party was dark green. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/186 "2006-10-20T13:56:11Z")
What about “deke” - it’s primarily a hockey term, isn’t it? has it found it’s way down south? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/187 "2006-10-20T13:56:36Z")
And red has been the colour of the revolutionary for a long time. I wonder whether the choice of the original US commentator who made that first map during the 2000 election was thinking in terms of a right-wing revolution…? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/188 "2006-10-20T14:46:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] And red has been the colour of the revolutionary for a long time. I wonder whether the choice of the original US commentator who made that first map during the 2000 election was thinking in terms of a right-wing revolution…? [/QUOTE] Traditionally, as far as I can tell on those maps, the incumbent party was blue, and the challenging party was red. So, since the Democrats had the presidency at the time of the 2000 election, they were blue on the map, and the Republicans were red. Then, after the election, the whole “Blue state-red state” thing as a cultural indicator got popular, so the Republicans are probably going to be red for a while now. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/189 "2006-10-20T14:53:21Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Traditionally, as far as I can tell on those maps, the incumbent party was blue, and the challenging party was red. So, since the Democrats had the presidency at the time of the 2000 election, they were blue on the map, and the Republicans were red. [/QUOTE] That makes sense… the challenging party winning would be a revolution of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/190 "2006-10-20T14:57:26Z")
If “deke” means “fake” as in “he deked the goalie” being equivalent to “he faked out the goalie” then yes. Did anyone answer the query about whether Canadians use “buck” to refer to a Canadian dollar? I’d like to know the answer to that one, please. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/191 "2006-10-20T16:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Spiff] Did anyone answer the query about whether Canadians use “buck” to refer to a Canadian dollar? I’d like to know the answer to that one, please. [/QUOTE] Yes, “buck” for “dollar” is used, though it seems to me to be less prevalent than it was before we had a dollar coin. Still, while you might five loonies (coins) in your pocket, you’d could also have five bucks (a bill) in your wallet. Somebody upthread was asking what a “fifth” was, when it came to liquor bottles. We don’t use that term in Canada, but it’s my understanding that such a bottle is one-fifth of a gallon–a US gallon, of course, since that is where the term is popular. So, a “fifth” would be 25.6 ounces; or more likely 26 ounces. In other words, what we in Canada would call a “twenty-sixer.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/192 "2006-10-20T16:44:26Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Traditionally, as far as I can tell on those maps, the incumbent party was blue, and the challenging party was red. So, since the Democrats had the presidency at the time of the 2000 election, they were blue on the map, and the Republicans were red. Then, after the election, the whole “Blue state-red state” thing as a cultural indicator got popular, so the Republicans are probably going to be red for a while now. [/QUOTE] No, traditionally – if you can call the short time since colour graphics have been common on television a “tradition” – they were random. And, pretty consistently, among the four major news outlets – ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS – in any one election year, generally two of them would use blue for Democrats and red for Republicans, and the other two would do the opposite. In the next election cycle, they would more or less trade off. But, so far as I can tell, there was no consistent reasoning for the colour assignments. [QUOTE=Northern Piper] What about “deke” - it’s primarily a hockey term, isn’t it? has it found it’s way down south? [/QUOTE] In the United States, the only common understanding of “deke” (if it is, indeed, common) is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/193 "2006-10-20T19:09:32Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] What about “deke” - it’s primarily a hockey term, isn’t it? has it found it’s way down south? [/QUOTE] It’s followed me to my house. So has ‘huck’. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/194 "2006-10-20T19:12:10Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] It’s followed me to my house. So has ‘huck’. [/QUOTE] “Huck” as in “throw”? Because I say that a lot. And “deke” is more common thanks to the Mighty Ducks movies. At least among people of my generation. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/195 "2006-10-23T14:37:55Z")
[QUOTE=The Flying Dutchman] In Canada, blue represents conservatives and red is the colour of the left. This doesn’t help when I hear about the blue and the red states in America . [/QUOTE] That reminds me: never order Labatt Blue. It’s just “Blue.” ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/196 "2006-10-24T06:58:35Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > In the United States, the only common understanding of “deke” (if it is, indeed, common) is a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. I’ve never heard that, but I live almost as far away from Canada as you can while still doing your History homework in English, and I have never heard that meaning of “deke”. Furthermore, the only definition of “deke” that would have come to my mind before I read that is the hockey definition, and maybe a general sports evasion move by extension. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/197 "2006-10-24T07:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] Yes, “buck” for “dollar” is used, though it seems to me to be less prevalent than it was before we had a dollar coin. Still, while you might five loonies (coins) in your pocket, you’d could also have five bucks (a bill) in your wallet. [/QUOTE] Huh. I’ve always heard “buck” as simply meaning the currency: so I could have five bucks regardless of whether it was a $5 bill, 5 loonies, two twonies and a loonie, etc. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/198 "2006-10-24T07:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] the NDP is orange (but has been using a lot of apple-green in its materials)… [/QUOTE] [And not just any orange and green, either](http://www.ndp.ca/logos) ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/199 "2006-10-24T13:45:24Z")
[QUOTE=Balthisar] That reminds me: never order Labatt Blue. It’s just “Blue.” [/QUOTE] You could end up with a PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon) by ordering just “Blue” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237/200 "2006-10-24T15:42:03Z")
Probably not in Canada, you wouldn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-to-canadian-translations/375237.md?page=11)