@dyslexia,
The term yank comes from yankee doodle :
Quote:The first verse and refrain, as often sung today, runs:
Yankee Doodle went to town,
A-Riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his cap,
And called it macaroni.
The song's origin is unclear.[2] Traditions place its origin in a pre-Revolutionary War song originally by British military officers to mock the disheveled, disorganized colonial "Yankees" with whom they served in the French and Indian War. It is believed that the tune comes from the nursery rhyme Lucy Locket. One version of the Yankee Doodle lyrics is "generally attributed" to Doctor Richard Shuckburgh,[3] a British Army surgeon. According to one story, Shuckburgh wrote the song after seeing the appearance of Colonial troops under Colonel Thomas Fitch, Jr., the son of Connecticut Governor Thomas Fitch.[2]
[edit] Etymology
As a term Doodle first appeared in the early seventeenth century,[4] and is thought to derive from the Low German dudel or dödel, meaning "fool" or "simpleton". The Macaroni wig was an extreme fashion in the 1770s and became contemporary slang for foppishness.[5] The implication of the verse was therefore probably that the Yankees were so unsophisticated that they thought simply sticking a feather in a cap would make them the height of fashion.[6]
It has been reported that the British often marched to a version believed to be about a man named Thomas Ditson, of Billerica, Massachusetts. Ditson was tarred and feathered for attempting to buy a musket in Boston in March 1775, although he later fought at Concord:
Yankee Doodle came to town,
For to buy a firelock,
We will tar and feather him,
And so we will John Hancock.
For this reason, the town of Billerica claims to be the "home" of Yankee Doodle,[9][10] and claims that at this point the Americans embraced the song and made it their own, turning it back on those who had used it to mock them. After the Battle of Lexington and Concord, a Boston newspaper reported: "Upon their return to Boston [pursued by the Minutemen], one [Briton] asked his brother officer how he liked the tune now, " 'Dang them,' returned he, 'they made us dance it till we were tired' " since which Yankee Doodle sounds less sweet to their ears."
The British responded with another set of lyrics following the Battle of Bunker Hill:
The seventeen of June, at Break of Day,
The Rebels they supriz'd us,
With their strong Works, which they'd thrown up,
To burn the Town and drive us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle
I used to wonder why USAians called Nappies, Diapers. Diaper is the old english term for a particularly strong weave that looks like a diamond. Nappy is short for Baby Napkins. I think the yanks won this won....
@Ionus,
I always thought that the term "macaroni" was the ,then term for military uniform decorations, piping, epaulettes, chevrons , ribbons etc.
The only time I've ever heard Canuck's being called an American.It was by an American, who insisted I was, because I lived in N. America. Or by a confused person who mistook my accent for a Texan or whatnot, not that I have one, really!!. This has happened many times...
We commonly call people or news, or shows etc from the US as being from the States or from Down South. I don't believe Americans ever shorten it in that manner, but I'm not sure.
Here's a short list of Canadian sayings... I'm not sure if they are in common usage anywhere else. I copied some of them off the net, but have added a lot of my own comments.
All set - ready to rock'n'roll, to be ready or prepared.
An all-nighter to stay awake all night, usually for work, school, or a party.
Allophone or Francophone - English speaker or french speaker...
anglo - anglophone - non french speaker
b'y - boy in Newfoundland
beauty - that was a beauty - something done well, normally sarcastic, like when you have a lip-stand - trip while walking.
biffy - the can, john, toilet, bathroom
a brew - a beer
brutal - that was a brutal play - a really bad attempt at doing something
buck - loonie - a dollar - i'd pay two bucks or a twoonie to see that.
bug - to annoy,
bugger off - take off eh! screw off, you're pissing me off
a butt- a fag, smoke, ciggie, cigarette
chinook- a warm wind in winter
click- i'm driving 16 clicks over... 16 kms faster than the speedlimit
crab, to bitch and moan, gripe, complain
deckal - a decal or a deecal as the americans would say
double-double, a coffee with two creams and sugar
Eh! - huh? or an agreement or a affirmation tacked on to a sentence
fire hall- fire men work there
forty-pounder, a two-sixer- a 40 or 26 oz bootle of booze, hard liquor
ginch- underwear, tighty-whities
goof - idiot
GTA, tranna, tronno, centre of the universe, hogtown, t dot, t.o.,Toronto
I had it - I've had enough, sick, sore and tired of whatever...
homo milk - homogenized milk
A hoovered - to eat a lot, a hoover - a person who eats too much, or a blowjob - he got hoovered, she gives a mean hoover
hoser - a loser,
housecoat - bathrobe
How zit goan? - How are things or you?
jacked - he was jacked, as in robbed.
kerfuffle - a stressful situation, she's in a right kerfuffle.
Mounties - the RCMP or the police in red serge.
pipe down - quieten down
pogie, dole, unemployment - cash the gov. give you when worked enough weeks and have been laid off or quit for reasonable reasons...
polluted, pissed, hammered, fucked, goofed up, loaded, three sheets to the wind, gooned,
Jesus Murphy, Lord Tunderin' Jesus, - Jesus christ!!!...
serviette - napkin,
Skull cramp, a doozie - a headache
Slough, pronounced slew, a pond.
shinny - street hockey game
Shoot the **** - a coversation
A two-four, a flat of beer, 24 beers
Yankee, yanqui, yank- An american
yous, yoose - hey yoose guys I'm picking up a two-four and a 26er, you in?
Zed - the proper way to say zee, as in I drove my zed28 50 clicks over.
The rock - NFLD, newfound land,
The Peg, winnepeg,
Oil town, Edmonton, or the chuck - lots of Ukrainians here.
Tougue - toook, wool hat,
Van - couver, la la land, the wet coast
Now in Australian , Ive seen that everybody jut adds an "O" to the end of a word and that turns it into a noun.
@Ceili,
I'd have to work my way through that, but lots of your examples are common to me (in california). Lots aren't.
@Ceili,
I've got to go around the corner, then I'm going to Timmy's. You're a double-double eh.
(I'm going to the bathroom, then I'm going to Tim Horton's for coffee. Should I bring you back a coffee with two creams and two sugars?)
@Ceili,
Thanks for that Ceili. My impression is that about 40% of those terms are also used here. Most (not all) of the rest would be understood but would get the reply , "You from Canada?"
I remember the time my cousin came from Ireland, she told me to meet her at half-four. So I showed up at two and waited for two and half hours...
@georgeob1,
Cool. There are a ton more, but since I'm from the prairies, we speak pretty much like the northern states, minus the accent of course lol. If I were from the East Coast, I could probably make your head spin with their colloquialisms. I barely get some of them meself... Where you at b'ys, and I'll come where ye to.
USA - "line"
UK - "queue"
I don't know the Canadian and Ozzie usage...
Truck/lawrie (sp?)
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Yankie is an interesting term. Certainly in the international context is means you're from the USA, but inside the USA the term is used in the South Atlantic often to refer to northerners. It can also be used as a pejorative in this way.
Yankie/Dixie.
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@failures art,
Queque is more a verb. We have to queque for meals. Line is more a noun. We are in a line for our meals.
Semi-trailer is a lory, truck is a truck. Prime mover is the truck part of the semi-trailer. Road Train is where two to six trailers, and sometimes two prime movers are attached together. Dont get in their way...they take half the continent to stop.
Snog/Snogging = British term for what we Americans call a French kiss or sucking face.
@ossobuco,
Quote:I thought it was queue..
I dont know if Sylexidic is really sylexidic, but I am. If I see a word spelt wrong it takes me ages to get rid of the wrong spelling, so when I saw Queque I continued without thinking. It is queue....as usual, you are correct osso...
Just found this '......Que-Que - 1 definition - Pronounced either Kwee-Kwee or Kwa-Kwa, it is a common response to when somebody (usually a guy) says or does something gay.
@Ionus,
Ionus wrote:
Semi-trailer is a lory, truck is a truck. Prime mover is the truck part of the semi-trailer. Road Train is where two to six trailers, and sometimes two prime movers are attached together. Dont get in their way...they take half the continent to stop.
I'm used to calling those a "Semi" or an "18-wheeler."
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Truck
Oops wrong account!
I just finished reading "Life of Pi" which is written by a Canadian but is about a 16 year old Indian boy. The book uses many idioms from India in the internal dialog of the protagonist. They were amuzing.
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TKO is sooooooo 2006.
@Diest TKO,
An 18 wheeler is the full tractor trailer rig. Strictly speaking, a 'semi' is only the trailer. It is 'semi' (half) because it only has wheels on the hind end. The front is supported by the 5th wheel. When you see a double bottom rig, the second trailer is a full trailer. It has a steerable axle on the front, though most are actually made as a semi trailer and fitted with a converter dolly. Interestingly, while the semi trailer cuts corners, the full trailer behind it exactly follows the trailer in front of it. A tripple bottom reminds one of a snake, with each trailer following the leader.
There. Now you've got some new jargon to toss around.
