English Only » Canadian English - Deutsch and special Slang

Hi,
Sometimes it seems that Canadian say something that sounds extremely polite but is not meant this way. That's part of the culture clash,especially for the straight and always honest Germans.

This thread is not meant too serious or to be insulting, more as a general guideline to consider. I included one example as well which shows rude language in Canada.

Do you have any examples like the following? Please add to this thread or discuss examples given.

Canadian: "That sounds like a good idea" Deutsch: "Mach das erstmal ohne mich"

Canadian: "Absolutely" Deutsch: "Das kann ich mir gut vorstellen"

Canadian: "Sorry" Deutsch: "Pass doch auf", manchmal auch wirklich nur "Entschuldigung"

Canadian: "Your welcome" Deutsch: "Gern geschehen", aber es hat nichts mit dem deutschen willkommen gemein und ist auch nicht uebertrieben hoeflich.

Canadian: "No problem" Deutsch: "Es koennte klappen", bloss nicht drauf verlassen.

Canadian: "How are you today?" Deutsch "Hallo", man antwortet mit "I am good" oder hoeflicher "I am fine", keinesfalls erzaehlt man seinen Tagesablauf oder dass es einem dreckig geht.

Canadian: "Your are overqualified" Deutsch: "Wir stellen prinzipiell keine Immigranten ein."

Canadian: "You lack Canadian work experience" Deutsch: "Wir stellen prinzipiell keine Immigranten ein."

Canadian: "I was less than impressed by.." Deutsch: ".. ist vollkommen unfaehig"

Canadian: "I fucked the dog", "I was making puppies" Deutsch: "Mir war langweilig" - uebrigens nicht umgangssprachlich, eher Jugendsprache.

F*%k is extremely rude and should be avoided in every day talk. Quebecoise do not really care about the F-word, they have their "tabernacle". Just try to say "shoot" if you feel a need for using coarse language.


SLANG

Adam Parker
Details: A person who interupts your conversation and says "Huh?." He makes you start your story over again because he wasn't listening
""Huh" Your being an Adam Parker, eh?"

anglophone
Details: A English speaking Canadian. Or a Canadian who doesn't speak French - only English.
it's commonly used in quebec to differentiate between english speakers and french speakers who are known as francophones.

Beaver
Woman's intimate "southern" area. Can also refer more specifically to the mons pubis.

Brutal
You are bad at something
"Adam, you are brutal at hockey."
In the US this means extremely good, as in "The guitarist laid out some BRUTAL riffs"

buck
A Canadian slang term meaning "dollar". Probably as common as saying "dollars", or perhaps more common in some places, and it's usage has spread outside of Canada as well. "I have 20 bucks in my wallet"

Canuck
Details: A Canadian. Once often used disparagingly; now a proud label. E.g. "Vancouver Canucks"


canucklehead
Details: A noun used, somewhat derogatorily as a term for a fan of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey club. Mostly used by fans of other

Canadian clubs
Details: Couch, sofa

chinook
Details: Comes from some native language, and refers to a warm westerly wind that blows east from British Columbia over the Rocky Mountains and blankets the foothills with warmth, changing the temperature rapidly. Sometimes the change can be extreme, maybe even rising 15 degrees in a quarter of an hour. The saying in Calgary is "If you don't like the weather in Calgary, wait a few minutes".

Cooked It
Details: Something done wrong. Something wrecked or having been mangled in some manner. It is a variation of describing something as being wrecked (cooked). Circa early 1970's, perhaps 1960's.
"He/She cooked it."

Cougar
Details: An older woman trying to attract a younger man. (That cougar was flirting with me) Also a Mountain Lion

Cowtown
Details: Mostly used by outsiders to refer to the city of Calgary, but it is occasionally used by the locals as well. Calgary is surrounded by many ranches and has a large cattle industry and a long rodeo history, which is celebrated yearly at the Calgary Stampede, and that is probably how the town got the nick name

Deadly
Details: A reaction to something done "over the top"; overdone; excessive. Can also be used as a response to something done very well. Circa 1974ish.
"1. The concert was deadly. 2. A deadly hair cut."

Dekey
Details: Something that is fashionable, cool. Something done in an unusual or impressive manner. A variation on Deke (faint: a hockey move) Circa early 1970's
"He was trying to be real dekey."

Double-double
Details: Said when ordering a coffee; indicating two creams and two sugars... Most likely heard at a Timmie's.

eh
Details: The other definition listed is only partial. It can mean "huh?", but it is not terrible common. We usually just say "huh?" in Canada. "Eh?" is a word you add to the end of a sentence, to ask for a response of agreement or disagreement, similar in meaning to "don't you think?" ex. "Looks like a storm comin' in, eh?" It is also sometimes used with "I know", and in that case it doesn't really mean anything. -"Wow, the Flames really kicked ass tonite!" -"I know, eh?" Good luck trying to use it properly if you're not Canadian. Trust me Americans, we can tell the difference! You're not foolin' anybody

Eh?
Details: A nicer way of saying 'Huh?'
very nice eh!

Francophone
Details: A Canadian with French as their first language

Gorby
Details: Tourist (derogatory) Origin: Banff, Alberta, Canada pre-world war 2.

Homo Milk
Details: Homogenized milk, whole milk

Hoser
Details: What you call your little brother when your Mom isn't around. Also, a stereotypical Canadian male, typically lower to middle class, white and English Canadian. He is especially concerned with drinking beer and watching hockey. The hoser is understood as a product more of rural, suburban or smaller city Canada than of the cosmopolitan larger cities. He's often imagined wearing heavy winter clothing, usually a flannel lumberjack shirt, Kodiak boots and a toque

jacked
Details: To jacked basically means to have something stolen. Like when a car is carjacked, but it can be used in many cases. It can also mean ripped off. "I got jacked. That thing cost me 20 bucks and it broke already." or "Someone jacked my new truck."

Keener
Details: "Brown Noser"

Lard Ace
Details: A fat person
that should read "lard ars" as in "ass"

loonie
Details: Canada's one-dollar coin has an image of a common loon, Canada's national bird, on the back.

lumpiness
Details: represents a stairstep function where a minimum size has to be met to move to the next step. Can also mean chunky. Usage: Aye those taters are lumpy aye.

newfie
Details: a derogatory term used in Canada for a person from Newfoundland and Labrador. The term is primarily used in "Newfie jokes," the typical Canadian ethnic joke (akin to Polish jokes in the U.S. or Belgian jokes in France). While the term may be commonly used in a derogatory sense by those not from Newfoundland, many Newfoundlanders use the term with pride amongst themselves, not taking offense to it when used without intention to insult.

pepsi
Details: derogatory term for French-Canadians due to their perceived non-nutritious food intake.

prairie nigger
Details:
An offensive and derogatory term used to refer to aboriginal people living in the prairies (mainly Saskatchewan)

Prairie Oysters
Details: A bovine bull's casterated testicles.

Rocks
Details: Money. Can use a variation to describe someone possessing any amount of money on them as being "rocked up". Circa early 1970's
"Do you have any rocks on you?"

Take Off
Details: Express disbelief in what was said, "get out of here"
"Take off you hoser!"

Timbit
Details:The centre of a doughnut... See also Timmie's
It actually refers to a small round pastry with the same texture as a dough nut and often smothered with sugar or choclate icing.

Timmie or Timmie's
Details: Said of a cuppa coffee; or the place where it is a bought... Timmie's is named after "Tim Horton's", a chain of coffeeshops, found all over CANADA. See also "Double-double".
wicked

Tuque
Details:A winter hat!

Two-four
Details: The Canuck way to buy beer... A case of twentyfour [cans or bottles] ... E.g. I'll take two two-fours. No, that's not a double-double-square!

Twonie
Details: The two-dollar coin... See also Loonie.
"Actually spelled Toonie"

Whadda'yat?
Details: How are you doing? Newfoundland term

great posting, Wayfarer

Canadian: "You`re the biggest f**k I`ve ever seen" German: "Du bist das größte Arschloch, dass mir jemals begegnet ist"

Canadian: "He speaks with a foreign accent" German: "Der ist vom anderen Ufer"

By the way - these examples were taken from the nice book Canadian Slang

cheers,
Michael

Canadian answering machine: "You have reached the voicemail of..." - Deutsch: "Verdammt, du kennst meine Apparatnummer?"

Canadian answering machine II: "Please leave a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can." - Deutsch: "Vergiss es."

Canadian operator: "I am terribly sorry but ... is in a meeting. Would you like to leave a message at his voice mail?" - Deutsch: "Er hat keinen Bock mit dir zu sprechen und ....(siehe Punkt 2)."

Canadian: "Your profile and experience sounds very good, I think you`ll fit to our company. Unfortunately there's no open position at the moment." - Deutsch: "Melde dich wieder wenn du in Kanada bist und eine Arbeitgenehmigung hast, ich habe keine Lust auf Trouble mit dem CIC."

Canadian: "You'll get an answer within the next two weeks." - Deutsch: "Vielleicht melden wir uns noch mal in zwei bis drei Monaten."

Canadian: "I forwarded your request to a colleague." - Deutsch: "Ich habe keine Lust und keine keine Ahnung und habe deine Anfrage an einen geleitet, der auch keine Lust und Ahnung hat".

Canadian:"... and always have a great day." - Deutsch: "Ich kann nix für dich machen."

[smilie=wave1.gif]

Canadian"...that must be tough", heißt."...Deine Geschcihte/Erlebnisse hören sich schlecht an. Sind mir aber auch egal."

Hello Wayfarer

Your posting is stupid

Sorry

That’s a stupid German interpretation by a German just first time in Canada

No idea about real life and interprets words like he thinks is right.

But you are not right – a Canadian can tell you.

Just one word
„Sorry“– the meaning can be very different

- If a friend tells to you in the night: My brother died tonight – cancer and he was just 24 years.

and you say: I’m sorry – and you mean it – that’s just right

Etc.....

You and the other postings look like stupid Germans who (*) will never understand a Canadian.


PS * korrigiert, da wayfarer mit der grammar recht hat - danke

Keine Beleidigungen bitte.

Zitat

---

That’s a stupid German interpretation by a German just first time in Canada

---

Actually, I am here for my third time, sorry. Some citations are from a friend who's been living here for ten years now and runs his own business in viral marketing, so he deals a lot with Canadians.

Canadian: "Your input is highly appreciated!" - Deutsch: "Wenn man keine Ahnung hat, einfach mal die Fresse halten!."

BTW: There was an introduction/disclaimer that this thread should not be taken too serious. Please read a post completely before answering.

Hey Maxim, kein Sinn für Humor? Solche Übersetzungen gibt es in allen sprachen, z.B. Bayrisch - Deutsch. Manche sind einfach witzig, manche sind einfach wahr. Lass mal die Kirche im Dorf, es gibt kein Grund ausfallend zu werden.
Wayfarer, klasse Posting

Zitat von maxim

---

Your posting is stupid

Sorry
That’s a stupid German interpretation by a German just first time in Canada
No idea about real life and interprets words like he thinks is right.

But you are not right – a Canadian can tell you.
You and the other postings look like stupid Germans which will never understand a Canadian.

---

Maxim, I’ve been called worse things by better man. I know that you are a very modest man. And indeed, there’s a lot you have to be modest about, e.g. humour etc.

The fact that you are summarizing stories and information and sell them in form of books does not entitle you to call yourself an expert and last instance concerning everything.

There may be thousands of jokes from Canadians about the US, British and the German as well. If you take these comments to serious, please change your core activity and write nice books about Russian jails or the surface temperature of the Mars.

Your comment is typical German: Knows everything better, complete lack of humour and the missing capability to laugh about itself.

Zitat von Ohms-Law

---

Zitat von maxim

---

Your posting is stupid

Sorry
That’s a stupid German interpretation by a German just first time in Canada
No idea about real life and interprets words like he thinks is right.

But you are not right – a Canadian can tell you.
You and the other postings look like stupid Germans which will never understand a Canadian.

---

Maxim, I’ve been called worse things by better man. I know that you are a very modest man. And indeed, there’s a lot you have to be modest about, e.g. humour etc.

The fact that you are summarizing stories and information and sell them in form of books does not entitle you to call yourself an expert and last instance concerning everything.

There may be thousands of jokes from Canadians about the US, British and the German as well. If you take these comments to serious, please change your core activity and write nice books about Russian jails or the surface temperature of the Mars.

Your comment is typical German: Knows everything better, complete lack of humour and the missing capability to laugh about itself.

---

@Ohms-Law
simply gorgeous

Canadian> "Very interesting" / Deutsch> "Interessiert mich nicht die Bohne"

Canadian: Grml f**k grml f**king grml f**k grml motherf**ker

That's my neighbor at a barbecue after a couple of alpine cans - I felt like in the middle of "Trailer Park Boys"

Zitat von maxim

---

Hello Wayfarer

Your posting is stupid

Sorry

That’s a stupid German interpretation by a German just first time in Canada

No idea about real life and interprets words like he thinks is right.

But you are not right – a Canadian can tell you.

Just one word
„Sorry“– the meaning can be very different

- If a friend tells to you in the night: My brother died tonight – cancer and he was just 24 years.

and you say: I’m sorry – and you mean it – that’s just right

Etc.....

You and the other postings look like stupid Germans which will never understand a Canadian.

---

Talking solely by emoticons takes you at a high risk of ending on pogey. Better start practising your language proficiency, emoticons are not a substitue for the written word yet.

And by the way, do you really agree with such a poor grammar:
"You and the other postings look like stupid Germans which will never understand a Canadian."
Please do not rape the English language, Germans are human beings so it is "who will never understand".

Sorry, just have to pick myself up of the floor. TOO funny. Esp. Maxim's comment. Maxim... you couldn't possibly be any more German. Hope you don't take this as an offence. I could add heaps of stuff, but it would be Australian English....