Dear Readers, there are one or two things that caused me some confusion when I first came to Canada – ‘toque’ for hat, the delights of poutine (chips, cheese and gravy) and ‘catter-corner’ (or indeed kittie- corner’ meaning the corner diagonally opposite at a crossroads.
But above, along with the ‘buy Canadian’ message, you see another source of confusion – in Canada, every sofa, antique or modern, tatty or leather with studs, is a Chesterfield, hence The Chesterfield Company. Or was, because my younger friends tell me that the usage is changing, and soon every sofa will simply be a sofa. Which strikes me as something of a shame. I love the idiosyncracies of local language.
And then there’s ‘elbows up’ which comes from that most gentlemanly of games (ahem), ice hockey, in particular player Gordie Howe, who was famous/notorious for his use of his elbows in defensive situations. Apparently use of the elbows incurs a 2 minute penalty so it also implies a willingness to fight dirty if necessary. Don’t mess with the Canadians is all I can say.
A couple of decades ago we were in the UK with a group of theatre professionals from around the English speaking world. We had been invited to come to the UK to work with refugees and UK based theatre folks for a few days. Near the end of our work we collectively presented a night of improv for the refugees. In spite of having worked together for a few days, and for many of us, previously as well, we soon realized we were all speaking different languages, stopped the show for a brief reset, agreed on a basic English we could all use, and started over. It was hysterical.
That’s so funny, Michael. The words are often the same from one place to another, but the meanings attached to them….not so much.