Canadian Sayings a new batch from Alberta to Newfoundland from Bill Casselman's Canadian Word of the Day

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Some Newly Collected Sayings,

Canadian and Otherwise

Hunting in Canada

We’re gonna deke out for some jack-lamping.

• Jack-lamping is illegal hunting at night with bright lights, often fastened to the roof of the cab of a truck. Such lights can be used to stop deer in their dainty-hooved tracks and then the brave hunters can blow their heads off with elephant guns. Ah, what manly sport!

Alberta Tough Guy

He has more guts than Gainers.

• Gainers was a packing plant that existed in Edmonton for many decades.

Canadian Prairie Weather

You know it's a bad prairie storm when your mother is going through the ash trays for the third time trying to find enough tobacco for a re-roll smoke.

Bill Turner, Brandon , Manitoba

Anger

She was some choked off.

• In our Maritimes it means that she was very angry.

Happiness

Whatever floats your boat.

• Meaning whatever makes you happy, content, or satisfied, this maritime expression can also suggest that you try whatever method will work in a current work project.

Tyler B., Corner Brook , Newfoundland

How Drunk Were You?

Woke up with a sore arse and a tattoo.

I.Q.

He couldn't get a job shoveling horse shit at a rodeo.

• He's not too bright.

Len Ross, North Bay , Ontario

Saying the Wrong Thing

When he opens his mouth, it is only to change his foot.

Drinking

I got rid of my alcohol problem. I divorced him.

-from a listener to Bill Turner’s radio show on CKLQ in Brandon , Manitoba

You Can’t Take It with You

There’s no trailer hitch on a hearse.

Tim Gompf, near Oak Lake , Manitoba

Cars

Drive it like you stole it.

• This is advice to someone driving a vehicle too slow.

Tim Gompf

Sex

No chuppah, no shtuppah.

• The basic meaning here is that there shall be no sex until we’re married. Both words rhyme with cook-a. This is an old, rough joke supposedly uttered by a North American Jewish princess when the young man asks for sex. Shtuppen is vulgar Yiddish (from German) and means ‘to have intercourse.’ The huppah or chuppa is a satin or silken canopy under which an Orthodox or Conservative Jewish bride and groom take their vows. Supported by wooden poles held up by male relatives, the chuppah often has a Biblical quotation stitched in Hebrew letters into the silk or satin. Jewish scholars suggest the original meaning in Hebrew may have been ‘covering’ or ‘room of the covering.’ In some historical Jewish communities the chuppah was the bride’s veil; in others a shawl that covered the heads of both the bride and the groom. In American and some Reform synagogues the chuppah can be an arch woven of green leaves and flowers.

If you have Canadian or other sayings you would like to share, email them to me. If you want your name listed below the saying as contributor, tell me so in your email.

canadiansayings@mountaincable.net