Move to Toronto?

[vhoffman]

I have a lot of friends who are Canadian, particularly a bunch from the TO/Don Mills/Barrie/New Market areas. I would say there have been three times ever when one of us has used a word that the other had no idea what they were talking about--and it was almost always slang. Yes, we have different words for some things, but in the context of a sentence it's not rocket science to figure the meaning out. If a store clerk says "I can take your purcahse at that till over there, and we validate parkade tickets if you have one" I know what she's saying.

The hardest things for me when I'm in Canada are the metric conversions and remembering the "correct" pronounciation of the last letter of the alphabet.

Anne

Hey, Anne So you're up here in the Canadian board, too! Just how do you pronounce the 'Z'?

Isn't life crazy? We're talking about a possible move to Canada, and you were giving me house-building tips for Florida!

 

[Debbie]

! Just how do you pronounce the 'Z'?

z rhymes with red, so it is zed....unless I am teaching one of the American poems at school and then I will refer to zee-because the word needs to rhyme.

 

[Judique]

and I would dispute the language difference - Canadian English is very different from American English, in grammar, spelling and pronounciation. Yes, there is an understanding of each other, but language is not the same, just as Bavarian German is not the same as German.

I wouldn't say it is VERY different. There are a few spelling differences and a few pronounciation differences, but other then accents, as a Canadian who now lives in the US, language was never an issue....just a good conversation starter.

 

[jersey shark]

parkade....now THAT's a Canadian word....we just stick to "parking lot" or just "parking" without a special word for a parking structure.

"till" - I prresume that's a "register" but I don't think that I've heard that before

I also like Cdn references to a "buggy" instead of "cart" which I only hear in Canada.

Also, what's with "chesterfield" instead of sofa...this one really threw me for a loop.

 

[Judique]

parkade....now THAT's a Canadian word....we just stick to "parking lot" or just "parking" without a special word for a parking structure.

"till" - I prresume that's a "register" but I don't think that I've heard that before

I also like Cdn references to a "buggy" instead of "cart" which I only hear in Canada.

Also, what's with "chesterfield" instead of sofa...this one really threw me for a loop.

Till is quite common here in Maryland. Haven't you heard of the cashier having her 'fingers in the till?' lol.

After checking out the website with the Canadianisms on it, I finally understood that I was not wrong all those times that I told people (in the US while taking classes) I was going to 'write a test'! I can't tell you how many times I've had people correct me on that here. I was just in a different country! Somehow, it never occurred to me that it was phrased differently in Canada.

 

[Stittsville]

Also, what's with "chesterfield" instead of sofa...this one really threw me for a loop.

I believe, though may be wrong, that Chesterfield was a sofa maker, and the name stuck, much like using Kleenex for tissue. This word is losing favour (note Canadian spelling ) and most people (around here anyway) use couch or sofa.

 

[vhoffman]

Thanks to everyone who replied with information about Canada. all replies have been most helpful

However, I've decided to sign off the Disboards. I've received many flames and hateful pm's from other posters on other topics and decided I don't need the stress, its time to move on.

I'm deleting my posts here, not due to any problems with this particular thread, but because there are some posters who go mining for posts on other threads to use to attack me on totally different matters. Who needs it!

Thanks again for everyone's helpful advice, especially Barvaria and Northstar. Bye, everyone