Sometimes Americans don't understand what Canadians say.
Keener: A person who is extremely eager or keen. Used interchangeably with terms like “brownnoser” and “overachiever” among Canadian schoolchildren.
Mickey: A 375 ml bottle of alcohol. Usually shaped like a flask but slightly larger, they fit perfectly in a lady’s purse.
Runners: Running shoes. Or, really, any kind of athletic shoe, like a tennis shoe.
Stag and stagette parties: bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Hang a larry: Turn left.
Hang a roger: Turn right.
Two-four: a case of 24 beers.
Freezies: A favorite summertime treat that consists mostly of sugar and water frozen in a clear plastic tube.
Toque: Pronounced “toohk,” a toque is a winter hat or knit cap. Like a beanie. It often refers to the type of beanie that rolls up at the bottom.
Give’r: To exert as much effort as possible. Often used in the context of extreme sports.
Homo milk: Homogenized milk, also known as whole milk. In Canada, it is very normal for a parent or spouse to ask you to pick up some homo milk on your way home.
“Out for a rip”: Going out for a drive. Or a snowmobile ride. Or any other kind of excursion, really.
Double-double: a type of coffee from Tim Hortons, Canada’s most popular coffee and donut shop. Double-doubles are made with two creams and two sugars.
Timbit: a donut hole from Tim Hortons or from any other restaurant in Canada.
Parkade: A multistory parking lot, aka a parking garage.
Toonie (or twoonie): You already know what the loonie is, so we’ll skip right over that one. A toonie is a $2 coin. It’s two-colored and made out of aluminum bronze and nickel.
Tourtière: A French-Canadian meat pie, often served around Christmas or New Year’s Eve.
Serviette: a napkin.
Holiday: Canadians use the term “holiday” interchangeably with “vacation.” E.g., “When are you taking your holiday this year?” “I think I might go on holiday in July.”
Washroom: a polite word for bathroom. The Canadian version of “restroom.”
Chesterfield: a couch or sofa.
Garburator: an electric device underneath of a kitchen sink that breaks up food so it can be washed away. You call it a trash disposal.
Housecoat: a bathrobe.
Texas mickey: a 3-liter (101 oz) bottle of alcohol.
Gotch/gitch/gonch: tight men’s underpants (known elsewhere as “tighty–whities.”)
Pencil crayons: colored pencils.
College: This refers specifically to community colleges in Canada. Any institution that awards degrees is referred to as a “university.”
Pop: soda.
A Haligonian: anyone from the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Cheque: This is how Canadians spell “check” — as in the thing you write to transfer money to another person.
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