# What is a canuck **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015 "2001-08-30T21:42:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/1 "2001-08-30T21:42:04Z")
I know it’s a team but what is the word mean. I searched and came up empty ---
**Author:** ![Aodoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecb155/32.png) [@Aodoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aodoi)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/2 "2001-08-30T21:44:15Z")
Term generally used to refer to Canadians. Sometimes considered mildly derogatory… but not really. I’ve usually heard it as a joking reference. I’m not sure enough of the origin to post where it comes from. At least, that’s what I think… I’ve been known to be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/3 "2001-08-30T21:47:21Z")
Not to be snarky, but did you check [http://www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com)? Main Entry: Ca·nuck Pronunciation: k&-'n&k sometimes -'nuk Function: noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1835 : a Canadian and especially a French Canadian ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/4 "2001-08-30T21:49:32Z")
Thanks but all it says is it a Canadian, esp a French Canadian. How did it come to mean that? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/5 "2001-08-30T21:55:53Z")
Well, ok. Back to google with the terms ‘etymology canuck’. The first [link](http://northonline.sccd.ctc.edu/chaseplace/claslink/Canuck..htm) offers some insight onto how the word evolved. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/6 "2001-08-30T22:26:41Z")
Or we have this from **Brewer** : **Canucks** : The name given to Canadians generally, but in Canada to Canadians of French descent. Possibly a corruption of Connaught, a name originally applied by French Canadians to Irish immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![TheThill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheThill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheThill)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/7 "2001-08-30T22:35:20Z")
Yes, but if Canuck primarily refers to _French_ Canadians, why is it the name of the Vancouver hockey team? ---
**Author:** ![Slip\_Mahoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Slip\_Mahoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slip_Mahoney)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/8 "2001-08-30T22:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheThill \* > \*\*Yes, but if Canuck primarily refers to _French_ Canadians, why is it the name of the Vancouver hockey team? \*\* The word no longer primarily refers to French Canadians. It is applied to Canadians as a whole, and no, we don’t have a problem with it. Slip the Canuck ---
**Author:** ![Darqangelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@Darqangelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darqangelle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/9 "2001-08-30T23:23:22Z")
…as long as you don’t pronounce it “Can-nook” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/10 "2001-08-31T03:27:35Z")
Good old _Mitford Mathews, Dictionary of Americanisms_ is responsible for finding the oldest cite. It was from 1835 and said "Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term _Kanuk._ He(Mathews) offers that Bartlett was responsible for the _Connaught_ theory. My _Lighter_ which is from the last decade and is the most thorough slang source available, suggests that it is more likely to have come from a Hawaiian word, _kanaka_ which means “South Sea Islander.” And to quote Lighter, "…since both French-Canadians and such islanders were employed in the Pacific Northwest fur trade; later reanalyzed as _Can_adian + arbitrary suffix. Ignore Mr. Lighter at your peril. Of course, he qualified it with “perhaps a variety of…” but he is the pro here. He is seldom wrong. ---
**Author:** ![discombobulator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6f9a4e/32.png) [@discombobulator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/discombobulator)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/11 "2001-08-31T03:33:24Z")
I’ve always thought of it as the equivelant of the term redneck. I have only heard it from Americans used to mockingly refer to Canadians, and I have only heard “Redneck” from Canadians while mocking Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/12 "2001-08-31T04:00:50Z")
It is the Canadian equivalent of “yankee”. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/13 "2001-08-31T04:06:15Z")
During World War 2 the flow of Captain Marvel comics etc. into Canada dried up due to paper rationing in the USA. A comic book superhero, Johnny Canuck, was created and distributed in Canada on cheap newsprint. ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/14 "2001-08-31T04:15:22Z")
I have no problem with anyone referring to me as a Canuck as I have never considered the term derogatory. There was a thread devoted to this in IMHO some time ago, it may be worthwhile to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![SFCanadian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@SFCanadian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SFCanadian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/15 "2001-08-31T06:59:19Z")
Did someone call for me? SFCanadian ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/16 "2001-08-31T10:36:57Z")
Canuck is _not_ the equivalent of redneck. We have enough rednecks of our own, mostly in Alberta 😉 It’s not a derogatory term either. It refers to anyone cooler than thou :ducks and runs: ---
**Author:** ![Chupacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chupacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chupacabra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/17 "2001-08-31T11:11:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Good old _Mitford Mathews, Dictionary of Americanisms_ is responsible for finding the oldest cite. It was from 1835 and said "Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or French Canadian, by the term _Kanuk._ He(Mathews) offers that Bartlett was responsible for the _Connaught_ theory. \*\* Although I know very little about etymology and/or Native American languages, at first glance “kanuk” sure looks like a word that has its origins in native North American language. Could it be that kanuk evolved out of a word that the orginal residents of the northern half of the continent were using to describe colonizing Europeans? Something like haole in Hawaiian, but without the derogatory connotation. Just speculating… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-canuck/79015/18 "2001-08-31T13:33:51Z")
In Hawaiian, _kanaka_ just means ‘a person, a man, a guy, a dude, a bloke’, etc. It doesn’t specifically mean ‘South Sea Islander’. Hmm, most Pacific islands are south from Hawaii’s point of view. Hawaii is the northernmost extent of Polynesia. Perhaps _canuck_ used to be mildly derogatory, but ever since Humphrey Bogart referred to himself as a “Canuck” in _To Have and Have Not_, it’s been Cool.🆒