# The CanaDoper Café, 2013 edition. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736 "2013-01-01T03:29:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 150
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2981 "2013-12-17T18:08:22Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Hoping for one? 😛 > > I was just thinking about facewashes the other day - is that regional, or do all Canadians call getting your face rubbed with snow (against your will) a facewash? That’s what we called it as kids. I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard an adult use the term. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2982 "2013-12-17T18:10:47Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I knew most of those, but I take issue with the author’s assertion that a 12-pack of beer is called a “case.” Certainly, it isn’t nationally. > > I know that some here in western Canada consider a 12-pack to be a case, but it is not so in eastern Canada. There, a “case” is 24 bottles or cans, sold in a single package. Other names for such a package are “two-four” or sometimes, “deuce.” A 12-pack is just known as a “twelve,” or less-often (but logically), a dozen. > > I heard them all when I worked for the Beer Store in Ontario, but no Ontarian ever asked for a case and expected to get a 12-pack. > [@Leaffan](#): > > Yep. A case is always a two-four here. Here in the valley and in the Outaouais a case is 24, a box is 12. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2983 "2013-12-17T18:10:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > That’s what we called it as kids. I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard an adult use the term. We don’t tend to give them to each other as adults, either. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2984 "2013-12-17T23:15:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Hoping for one? 😛 > > I was just thinking about facewashes the other day - is that regional, or do all Canadians call getting your face rubbed with snow (against your will) a facewash? I’ve never heard it here in Montreal/Quebec. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2985 "2013-12-18T01:18:56Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > Here’s a term that I don’t think was on that list: “food fair” (what a food court is called in Vancouver. And maybe other places out west?) Though I’m not sure if that’s an exclusively Canadian term or if it’s used in the US too. I had this discussion a few weeks ago with an American co-worker. He laughed when I said we should eat at the food fair stating that was a funny thing to call it. I pointed out that I don’t see many Kings and Queens hanging out at the fast food places to call it a ‘court’. Not many guys with wigs and robes, either. Whereas any fair I’ve been to sells many variety of foods in dedicated stalls or shops. But I suggested that the next time he was up in front of a judge to try and order a hot dog with all the trimmings from him. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2986 "2013-12-18T03:15:26Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Is a shag like what we Manitobans would call a ‘social’ - an evening of booze and dancing to raise money for an about-to-be married couple? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2987 "2013-12-18T03:36:52Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Probably best not to invite a Brit to that event, lest they get the wrong idea! 😃 Agreed. Shag is a type of rug, or an ‘adult’ activity between two or more people on the rug… (…or bed, or in a car, or an airplane lavatory, kitchen counter, the last row of a theater, an elevator, on a church altar, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2988 "2013-12-18T04:26:02Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Here in the valley and in the Outaouais a case is 24, a box is 12. Same here in Manitoba. Also, never heard Bunnyhug except from some Saskatchewanians. We call them hoodies in Winnipeg. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2989 "2013-12-18T04:38:29Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I admit to not having heard “parkade” before I visited Western Canada or “donair” before visiting Eastern Canada. I believe “parkade” was copyrighted by the Hudson’s Bay Co., so any publication that used the term in the generic “parking garage” sense and/or without a capital P was informed by the HB company of the transgression. I don’t know when HBC lost the war. Maybe its U.S. owners didn’t care. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2990 "2013-12-18T04:52:52Z")
and in Saskatchewan, the power company generates electricity. It’s not hydro made by the hydro company. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2991 "2013-12-18T05:03:31Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > and in Saskatchewan, the power company generates electricity. It’s not hydro made by the hydro company. Well, is any of it generated at hydroelectric stations? In Ontario, the first really-big generating stations were hydro-electric, and influenced the name. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2992 "2013-12-18T05:07:30Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > and in Saskatchewan, the power company generates electricity. It’s not hydro made by the hydro company. “Hydro,” and phrases like “paying the hydro bill” were things I had to explain to friends and acquaintances when I moved from Ontario to Alberta. Of course, I got used to the local lingo, and learned to call it “power” or “the electric bill,” or similar. Which only means that now, when I converse with friends back in Ontario, they wonder why I’m not calling it “hydro.” ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2993 "2013-12-18T05:15:52Z")
Missed the edit window: ETA, to explain **Sunspace** ’s comment further: In Ontario, it doesn’t matter if it’s generated by water falling (i.e. hydroelectric power), nuclear-generated, or coal-fired; the majority of Ontarians consider “hydro” to be a synonym for “electric power.” From what I’ve seen on visits back there, the outfit calling itself “Ontario Power Generation” has a long way to go to convince many Ontarians that it is no longer “Ontario Hydro.” Heck, a friend who works for the Toronto utility that buys from OPG and distributes in Toronto just calls it “Toronto Hydro” (the utility’s colloquial name for years), or simply, “the Hydro.” ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2994 "2013-12-18T05:16:37Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Well, is any of it generated at hydroelectric stations? In Ontario, the first really-big generating stations were hydro-electric, and influenced the name. some of it is, but a large percentage of our power comes from coal-fired plants in the Estevan area. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2995 "2013-12-18T05:18:54Z")
Not much. It’s about [a quarter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Saskatchewan) of the power generated there. AB and SK are mostly coal-power production provinces. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2996 "2013-12-18T05:33:27Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > ETA, to explain **Sunspace** ’s comment further: In Ontario, it doesn’t matter if it’s generated by water falling (i.e. hydroelectric power), nuclear-generated, or coal-fired; the majority of Ontarians consider “hydro” to be a synonym for “electric power.” From what I’ve seen on visits back there, the outfit calling itself “Ontario Power Generation” has a long way to go to convince many Ontarians that it is no longer “Ontario Hydro.” Heck, a friend who works for the Toronto utility that buys from OPG and distributes in Toronto just calls it “Toronto Hydro” (the utility’s colloquial name for years), or simply, “the Hydro.” “Hydro”, specifically, is electricity considered as a utility service. No-one says, “Plug that in to the hydro outlet,” but we do say, “Has the hydro bill come?” or “Bob’s kite got caught in the hydro lines, eh?”. The name of the utility serving the municipality of Toronto _is_ “[Toronto Hydro](http://www.torontohydro.com/)”, and there are similar names in other municipalities (Whitby Hydro, Pickering Hydro, etc). In areas without municipal utilities, the retail arm of the former Ontario Hydro sells electricity under the name of [Hydro One](http://www.hydroone.com/). . ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2997 "2013-12-18T05:38:55Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Any of you folks ever go to a T&T Asian Supermarket? I know they have them in Calgary, Edmonton, and a few in the Vancouver area. Ours has been open for a couple of years maybe, but it’s way on the other side of the city. I’m thinking of going there before Christmas and buying some wild and whacky Asian grocery items to impress myself and any guests. > > Anyone? My wife is Chinese, so she goes there quite frequently for fruit, Chinese vegetables (e.g. 47 different variations on bok choy), frozen dumplings, Chinese snacks (roasted beans, wasabi peas, etc.) and the butcher counter (which sometimes has some decent deals). The bakery sometimes has some nice stuff, and sometimes we spring for live Dungeness crabs if they’re on sale. The last thing we bought there was some Mae Ploy green curry paste and coconut milk. > [@antonio107](#): > > I’m a bit disappointed that the PA doesn’t play Chinese sounding music. I think they play seasonal songs around Chinese New Year. Or at least they did at the Steeles/Warden location the last time I was there around CNY. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2998 "2013-12-18T05:52:55Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > “Hydro”, specifically, is electricity considered as a utility service. No-one says, “Plug that in to the hydro outlet,” but we do say, “Has the hydro bill come?” or “Bob’s kite got caught in the hydro lines, eh?”. The name of the utility serving the municipality of Toronto _is_ “[Toronto Hydro](http://www.torontohydro.com/)”… Good comments, and you are correct. I’m old, I guess; I still remember when Toronto Hydro was the “Toronto Hydro Electric Commission,” and various manholes around town carried the initials, “THEC.” Nice to know that they (like the Beer Store) finally changed their name to what everybody’s been calling them for years anyway. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2999 "2013-12-18T12:30:28Z")
About the term “gas bar”: I always associated that with a gas station that was attached to a store as kind of a side line, especially Canadian Tire gas bars (but also Costco, 7/11, etc.). That’s probably just me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/3000 "2013-12-18T14:30:38Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > “Hydro”, specifically, is electricity considered as a utility service. No-one says, “Plug that in to the hydro outlet,” but we do say, “Has the hydro bill come?” or “Bob’s kite got caught in the hydro lines, eh?”. The name of the utility serving the municipality of Toronto _is_ “[Toronto Hydro](http://www.torontohydro.com/)”, and there are similar names in other municipalities (Whitby Hydro, Pickering Hydro, etc). In areas without municipal utilities, the retail arm of the former Ontario Hydro sells electricity under the name of [Hydro One](http://www.hydroone.com/). . Yep, It’s Hydro Ottawa here and Hydro-Quebec across the river which is kinda obvious since they run James Bay hydroelectric plant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=149) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=151)