Canada: the English & the French ...

The Girl brought home a tourtière recently, and i just loved it. It reminded me of my grandmother's meat pies, except that she put diced potatoes in her pies. It were verra, verra good ! ! !

most i've had have been a combination of veal and pork, it's the spices that really add to it, dried savory, dried thyme, ground cloves and cinnamon

Goodness me, djjd!

And when an English Canadian curses?
Are there particular home-grown specialty curses?

I'd dust it off before going, msolga.. practice my please and thank-yous, try and perfect my coffee order and deliver my efforts with the best good humour and effort I could possible render. I'd do the same in Spanish, or Thai, or any other language of the area I was visiting.

I adored hamburger's article and bonjour/hi.

just the usual i guess, i watch too many british tv shows so i tend to say "bloody hell"a lot, which is not typically canadian

Very wise & also extremely useful when traveling, I know, Joe. The locals (where ever you might be) really appreciate it. I really wish I had more languages up my sleeve. Sigh.

A most informative and enlightening thread. thank you all.
Would it be possible to find a map of Canada with the french/english/multilingual speaking parts denoted?



I was interested in Ms Olgas comments that she could think of only a few countries where shuch a cultural divide existed. My thoughts went immediatly to Belgium then I had a hard time thinking of any country where such cultural divides did NOT exist. Israel/palestine, india/pakistan, Bosnia, China, Africa england/ireland/scotland Greece/macedonia/Turkey. Those countries without cultural differences tend to have other differences such as religouse or caste
Australia (if you dont count aboriginal culture) the US and germany (i'm sure there are others, France?) are the only countries I can think of where some kind of great cultural divide does not exist. Even with the US there is the North south thing happening.
Most of you will have little idea of just how much Australia's isolation and lack of borders really affect our way of thinking. I do believe we (Australia) really are "The Lucky Country"
{Edit just thought of east and west germany }

I'll go along with that assessment, dp.

And we're going to end up a Eurasian country. That's where we're headed.

I hope we are going to be Australian, Ms Olga. If that is an infusion of asia and Europe so be it.
The whole nationalistic fervor thing (like religion) leaves me a bit cold.

We are one but we are many.

We'll be Australian Eurasions, dp! (Seriously)

Nationalistic fervor leaves me cold, too.

see this government site

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/peopleandsociety/lang/languages2006/MotherTongue06

using the menu on the side you can see the following distributions

Mother Tongue by Census Division (English)
Mother Tongue by Census Division (French)
Mother Tongue by Census Division (English and French)
Mother Tongue by Census Division (other languages)

from the menu on the top, use zoom to region to see how the languages are dispersed throughout the provinces

Is it not so that since the Second World War, immigration to Australia has been across a much wider segment of the world population than the original Irish/English/Scots settlers?

Thanks DJ.
Again, most interesting.

Interesting country, isn't it, dp?

I'm wondering about gaps in my knowledge that haven't been touched on here.

Go for it, you Canadians, if the spirit moves you! All things Canada!

we're very similar to you guys in some respects, lots of land, few people most of us concentrated on the edges (well, the west and east coasts and the us border)

if you get a chance try to see Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World

The Northwest Passage was sought after for centuries as a potential new commercial sea route through the freezing Arctic Ocean, but all attempts failed, including the famous Franklin expedition in 1845.

Now, a new four-part TV series sees comedian Billy Connolly turn explorer as he embarks on a rare and remote journey through the fabled Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

In Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World, Billy travels from his starting point of Lunenburg, stopping off at places like St John's and Resolute Bay, as he heads northwards into the freezing Arctic ice. The trip continues across Canada's vast landmass before concluding in Friendly Cove, on British Columbia's Pacific Coast.

In following Billy's weekly exploits you can also visit many of the places and communities that Audley visit and marvel at the spectacular wildlife and awesome scenery which you could expect to see on an Audley itinerary across the top of the world.

I'm hoping we get to see that on Oz television, djjd. Sounds great.




(Going out for lunch in a minute. Back later. Keep posting away, anyone who feels so inclined ... )

I think we have had it twice, so far.

It's great!

It's on sale in ABC shops.

Really?
I must watch more television. Or at least read the GreenGuide, to see what's on.

Thanks, Deb.

Just quietly indulging myself here, as Canada & A2K sleeps. I was actually looking for Joni singing Canada ... but not to be found.
One of Canada's finest, Joni .. along with Leonard C, Neil Young, k d lang, etc, etc ... and probably heaps of others, too, I have never heard of.

I'm watching you......so don't think you can get up to too much!