FTR, Robertson screwdrivers (more probably known as “square-heads” here) are readily available here in the Southern Midwest, though not at the frequency of Phillips and flathead models. If only Henry Ford wasn’t greedy…but perhaps we’ll get over this.
I’d say that less than 5 of the words in the OP’s list are regularly used in this area of the country.
A mickey holds 375ml of booze, which is half of a “26”, or what I believe is called a “fifth” below the border. If you call it “about 12 ounces”, you won’t be too far wrong. There are odd shapes, but generally it is nicely curved to fit into a pocket. Next size up is a “40”, 1.14 litres, followed by a “66”, 1.75 litres. A “Texas Mickey” is, and here I’m going on memory, about 3.5 litres.
Accuracy of terms is not guaranteed outside of Saskatchewan.
What about the word ‘huck’, for throw or toss? Anyone else use that?
Being your near neighbors and all, some of these terms cross the boarders. Probably moreso than other parts of the country, I bet.
The ones on the list that are frequently used here are: snuck (how could that be a Canadianism? It’s on US TV in shows from all over the country all the time); impaired (as in “driving or making a pathetic phone call to an ex while”); SOL; Duplex (first place I remember living in was one). Ginger’s “huck” shows up on a semi-regular basis ( “he wouldn’t stop mouthing off, so the teacher hucked an eraser at him.”)
People here use “eh?” as frequently as, and interchangably with “huh?” though I suspect it has other uses in Canada. Skidoo is used, but only as a brandname- same thing with chinook, only a certain type of wind (warm, isn’t it?) that you’d most probably hear in the weather forcast. On the otherhand “chocolate bar” is just a generic term you hear only when someone is being vague. And we would call a canadian mountie a mountie, but there aren’t other cases of that useage.
Now, based on context clues, chippy must mean something completely different to you as it does me. I know of exactly two meanings to it, one in the US, and one taught to me by UK teens: 1. whore (US) 2. A fish and chips place (UK). Neither of them fits, so what does it mean?
Hehe, so you could theoretically slip a mickey into a mickey of Mickey’s?
How about Chesterfield for couch or sofa? That one was even immortalized on “Northern Exposure”.
Here’s some more’
Skookum, meaning big, husky - “He’s a pretty skookum boy!” I think it’s a West Coast Native word, but people of my Dad’s generation used it pretty regularly.
Chuck or Saltchuck the Ocean - another West Coast word. I’ve heard "Skookumchuck means "big water’ and is sometimes used for the ocean as well.
Pop for any carbonated soda.
I regularly use huck, micky, beer parlour, SOL, impaired, and ghost car. It doesn’t get cold enough here for Stanfields so we wear **gaunch[B/] or ginch(ies).
**
**
Okay, call me thick, but what’s a gitch??
And chinook is used in the US; I first learned the term as a child in eastern Washington State, where I remember a chinook blowing in once and raising the temperature 50 degrees in an hour. Quite impressive, to put it mildly.
I have a Canadian friend (from Ottawa) who I think is INCAPABLE of NOT ending a sentence with “Eh?” So that one’s very well-known, at least in our circles.
And there’s a particular Canadian pronunciation of the “ou” sound as in “out,” which can cause it to come out as close to “oot,” that also is distinctly Canadian.
Everybody calm down. Take a few deep breaths.
These terms are just colloquilalisms, and not limited to Canada.
I know the meanings of “deke,” “CC,” “chinook,” “skidoo,” “Mountie,” “SOL,” and “toque,” because I’ve lived close to the border all my life, and I speak more like an Ontarian than a Georgian. This is just the way we speak in this portion of the continent.
A persom from Wyoming will have an accent and use a vocabulary much closer to that of an Albertan than somebody from Louisiana.
This kind of thread never exposes differences. They just confirm similarities.
There’s nothing weird or mysterious about Canada. They’re right next door, they’re just like us, and they absolutely, positively, do not have some “code” language that we can’t understand. They just want us to realize that they do actually live in a different country.
I recocnize that, but I also know that the people living in North Nowhere, New Brunswick and the people living in South Nowhere, Maine don’t give half a crap about the proper spelling of the word “donut.” Because we both agree that “doughnut” is wrong.
So, let’s give these “Canada really is different from the States” theads a rest, shall we?
Crap, I got longwinded again.
All I meant to say was that some of those supposed “Canadianisms” aren’t.
And that I have a lot more in common with someone from Hamilton, Ontario than someone from Pheonix, Arizona.
Growing up near the Canadian border, the Canadianism that really struck me was “hydro” used in place of the word “electricity.” For instance …
Buffalo: “Rocco, how high was your electric bill last month?”
Southern Ontario: “Gordy, how high was your hydro bill last month?”
Buffalo: “I just had dat der cabin der wired for electricity der.”
Southern Ontario: “I just had the cottage wired for hydro, eh?”
Buffalo: “There’s four electrical outlets in dat bedroom der.”
Southern Ontario: “There’s four hydro outlets in that bedroom, eh?”
Growing up near the Canadian border, the Canadianism that really struck me was “hydro” used in place of the word “electricity.” For instance …
Buffalo: “Rocco, how high was your electric bill last month?”
Southern Ontario: “Gordy, how high was your hydro bill last month?”
Buffalo: “I just had dat der cabin der wired for electricity der.”
Southern Ontario: “I just had the cottage wired for hydro, eh?”
Buffalo: “There’s four electrical outlets in dat bedroom der.”
Southern Ontario: “There’s four hydro outlets in that bedroom, eh?”
In Canada, hockey and culture are intertwined to say the least.
This is such an example. Chippy in this instance refers to a bellicose, aggressive attitude.
It is a contraction of the phrase ‘chip on his shoulder’
As in, ‘that new Forward playing for Red Deer is sure chippy tonight’. Such behaviour in a game is often intended to provoke the other team to retaliate and take needless penalties.
Such a world could enliven the posts and the very culture of the SDMB.
Consider posts such as, ’ Gosh, Trollie McTroll was sure chippy on that last post!’.
Go ahead, now you try.
Gorillacus, a Canadian sharing his wealth with the world.
Uummm…I have to point out that only people with hydro electricity would refer to it simply as “hydro”. As for most of these, WTF?? I knew, like, three of them.
mickey
ski doo
duplex
chinook
Mountie
snuck
ghostcar
toque
Well, maybe more than three, but hey. And as for snuck, I think thats the proper english. sneaked just sounds retarded. Ski doo is a brand name isn’t it? And I’m surprised to learn not every one knows what a ghost car is. I’m not even going to get into the micky debate, but only that I know it as the little curvy bottle. Chinook is a localised phenomenon so I don’t think it could really be an “ism” of any kind, can it? And also, I think that paragraph was an awful mesh of west and east. We speak very differently here in Vancouver than in, say, Ontario. (God forbid Newfies! jk, my uncle is a Newfy. They’re good people.)
Forthe record, a mickey is the 375mL bottle of alcohol that you buy, regardless of shape. 375mL = mickey.
Also, I do say “Hydro bill” now, though I had to learn that change. I used to say PUC bill. (Public Utilities Commission). I have never, ever in my life though said “Hydro outlets”. Instead of “4 Hydro outlets” I say “2 sets of plugs”.
YMMV
I’ve never said “hydro outlets” either, although in most other usages, “hydro” is what I would normally use. On the other hand, “electricity,” or “power,” or “electric” as an adjective just don’t sound right to me. Some examples:
I called the hydro.
I called the electric company.
We had hydro last year at the cottage, but we shut it off for the winter.
We had electrical power last year…
Sure, I pay two hydro bills, but it’s only for the summer.
Sure, I pay two electric bills…
And just to add more to the discussion on “duplex,”, I take it to mean one dwelling unit situated above the other in a two-storey house. If the units are side-by-side and share a common wall, I understand it as “semi-detached.”
Another one just occurred to me. I’ve only ever heard it in southern Ontario, so I’m curious if it exists in other parts of Canada or the United States: did anyone ever use the word “deck” when speaking of a package of cigarettes? As in, “While you’re at the store, can you get me another deck of smokes?”
I can. One of my favourite expressions. Add hereto “light standard” meaning a lamp post.
And since the person asked but didn’t get an answer, “gitch” (or gotch, or ginch) is underwear. I heard that all the time in Winnipeg, but never in Montreal, just like “bumper shining” (holding onto the rear bumper of a car and sliding along on the ice), “snard lumps” (stalactites of brown snow on the car bumper), and “parkade” (parking garage).
On the other hand, in Montreal we have our depanneurs, autoroutes, cegeps, regies, guichets, and soft drinks (convenience stores, highways, junior colleges, government departments, ATMs, and pop/soda). It’s weird - the term “soft drink” is understood elsewhere, I think, but everywhere else in Canada they always say “pop” and Montrealers almost never do. I can’t bring myself to call it pop.
I say “hydro” in anything relating to the electric company, such as “hydro wire”, “hydro bill”, etc. But when referring to the actual phenomenon, it’s “electric outlet,” “electric stove,” etc.
Good points, Matt, and I should have mentioned them myself in my earlier post. I do (and I have heard) the same with outlets and stoves and other electrical appliances. Saying “hydro stove” instead of saying “electrical stove” would make me wonder if it ran on water. 
By the way, you mentioned “bumper shining.” We did the same thing in Toronto, only we called it “bumper hitching.” Never heard of “snard lumps” though, but “parkades” are common enough.
“Gitch” and the others you mentioned for underwear were unknown to me before I read the above, but they were easy enough to figure out, since the term we used was (not sure of the spelling, so bear with me) “gotchees.” Still, although I never used it myself, the term “Stanfields” as used in the OP was understandable.
Interesting, these differences.
Things to which my D.C. born-and-bred wife have said “huh?”:
pogey - She had no clue.
mickey - Something like everybody else’s description, it’s a small bottle, often but not always, curved like a flask. She had no clue.
C.C. - For her, the whiskey du choix is J.D. There are no ryes, bourbon, scotch, etc. It’s all whiskey.
beer parlour - Don’t think I’ve ever used it in her presence, although I know the term.
skidoo - “Is that one of those snowmobiles?”
muskeg - I’ve never used it. I left the Prairies at 6.
chinook - “What?”
ghost car - She was stumped
toque - This has been the best one ever. Trying to describe a toque without saying “toque,” is harder than it sounds. You begin to look like an idiot after a while.
The others, when used, were accepted without raised eyebrows.
Other comments:
gitch, gonch - I still get weird looks
hydro - For the longest time when I used that, she thought I was talking about the water bill. Go fig.
Chesterfield - My wife, trying to impress my mother the first time they met, offered to go get the hat Mom had left in the apartment. “I think I left it on the chesterfield,” sez Mom. “O…kay,” says the Good Lady Wife and runs off. Turns out she had absolutely no clue what the hell Mom was blathering on about, but figured it was a small apartment and she’d run into it somewhere.
Actually, I started the thread because I was truly curious about how really Canadian these supposed Canadianisms were. And I’ll have you know there is lots of weird and mysterious stuff about Canada. (And “donut” is spelled “Tim Horton’s” :D)