Friday April 27, 2007
Since the subject of this morning’s article was my home and native land, I thought I’d post a quote on that theme. In How To Be A Canadian by Will and Ian Ferguson, the brothers suggest the ultimate test of a person’s status as a Canadian, as only a Canadian would be able to decipher this paragraph:
Last night, I cashed my pogey and went to buy a mickey of C.C. at the beer parlour, but my skidoo got stuck in the muskeg on my way back to the duplex. I was trying to deke out a deer, you see. Stupid chinook, melted everything. And then a Mountie snuck up behind me in a ghost car and gave me an impaired. I was sitting there dressed only in my Stanfields and a toque at the time. And the Mountie, he’s all chippy and everything.
Did you get all that?
Comments (12) »
1. Josh
April 27, 2007
4:50 PM
Not a word but it was sure funny reading it.
Josh
“…the word of God is not bound.”
—2 Timothy 2:9
2. Dawn
April 27, 2007
5:22 PM
Every word! Thanks for the chuckle.
3. afrikaner
April 27, 2007
5:47 PM
I think you have a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock.
4. BrianinBC
April 27, 2007
7:01 PM
I just about fell of the chesterfield and I dropped my serviette while dabbing my eyes. I did however find a few loonies and a twoonie between the cushions. I think life would be so different if we didn’t turn the Arrow into scrap and PET didn’t introduce the Charter…sigh…we didn’t even really get Charlottetown right.
5. urbanmike
April 27, 2007
11:25 PM
Moved to Canada 10 weeks ago from Australia, you guys have some funny things to say eh?
6. John Doe
April 28, 2007
5:23 AM
hello.
i googled “chicken burgers toronto” while i was eating a chicken burger on a break and came across your site. started reading a bit, but now i gotta go back to doing what i do.
this doesn’t really have nothing to do with the article … thought i might just say hello and God bless.
later man.
take care.
7. Annette
April 28, 2007
7:32 AM
certainly made me chuckle. :) good thing i’m canadian and can “get it”. :)
8. ellen b
April 28, 2007
9:53 AM
I guess I don’t have the gift of interpretation!
9. Melanie
April 28, 2007
1:33 PM
I AM Canadian! Understood every word. Read it to my sister and her husband; they had a good chuckle too!
10. Blake
April 28, 2007
2:16 PM
honestly, if I had seen this without the introduction and someone asked me what national slang it represented, I wouldn’t know if it was South African or from New Zealand. Oh wait, when I look at the last part about the Mountie I would realize it was Canadian. Never mind.
Maybe you’d all get a laugh out of an American’s best guess at some of these words? (this is without the help of google or wiki, just what first comes into my head—and I have visited England, South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand so I have had exposure to some of the quirks of the English speaking world)
1. pogey - paycheck?
2. mickey - is this derived from mickey finn (a knockout drug added to drinks? that would not make much sense though)? a pint? a bottle?
3. C.C. - a brand of beer?
4. beer parlour - a pub?
5. skidoo - no idea. a snowmobile? I can’t decide if this paragraph is that over the top that it would depict a Canadian going to the pub on a snowmobile or not.
6. muskeg - is this a layer of permafrost? I think I learned about that in school.
7. duplex - a row of houses with a shared wall?
8. deke - outrun? hunt?
9. chinook - a Chinese-Canadian?
10. Mountie - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
11. ghost car - unmarked police vehicle?
12. an impaired - D.U.I, driving under the influence infraction?
13. Stanfields - long johns? boots?
14. a toque - a hat! of some kind…
15. chippy - either meaning “with a chip on his shoulder”, which would imply aggressiveness, or “chipper”.
Did I do OK? Maybe… 10 out of 15?
11. Jim Vellenga
April 28, 2007
8:27 PM
Not bad Blake … . for basically guessing. I’m Canadian and understood it perfectly. Some is pretty straight forward. CC is not a type of beer … those I know who do drink would be scandalized that anyone would think that. A Chinook is neither a salmon or a Chinese Canadian.
12. Shane
April 29, 2007
2:25 AM
Wow. I am so glad I was born and raised in Northern California. I had to learn Spanish and some ebonics, which seem easier than Canadian. I thought you guys just said “eh” as much as we say “dude”. :-)