Have you ever left your Vancouver Special in a Canadian tuxedo to go play some ball hockey or swim in a back eddy on BC Day?
Or helped a friend move for a two-four, but then hurt yourself moving a chesterfield, so you grabbed your CareCard on the way to the hospital?
If that all made sense (though it may be a bit dated), you might enjoy the Dictionary of Canadianisms from UBC. The Vancouver university has released a third edition of the project (which was originally released in 1967).
And now it works on your phone.
"The technical rebuild was part of the dictionary’s first update since 2017, and only the second since its launch in 1967," according to a UBC press release.
Editors added 137 new Canadianisms, including "to beak," "to chirp," and "ketchup chips." Dr. Stefan Dollinger, a professor in the department of English language and literature, is the chief editor.
Many are fun terms, but the dictionary includes a variety of words and phrases tied to serious and/or current events, including "MMIWG," "heat dome," and "maplewashing."
"While some Canadianisms originated or are used solely in Canada, others are older terms that faded abroad but still thrive in Canada. Others have a unique meaning in Canada that doesn’t apply in other cultures. And some are simply used much more widely in Canada than anywhere else," adds UBC.
In all, the dictionary has more than 12,000 words with 14,500 meanings; many of them are older and not in use now, while others are regional, particularly eastern Canada.
However, there are some terms from the West Coast, including the hyperlocal "bzzr" (a term used by UBC students for beer), "Creamo" (it's Canadian, but particularly popular in B.C.), and "Arbutus" trees (the trees are more commonly called Madrone in the U.S. and elsewhere.
You can browse entries in the dictionary or search for certain terms.
UBC also created a quick quiz on the terms, too.
