Books to Sample / Humour / The Wording Room / Q&A /Biography / New / Schedule
BUY BOOKS ONLINE / Submit Sayings / Photos / Contact / Links / Site Map / Home
ISBN
0-316-13314-0
298 pages, illustrated ,ublished by McArthur & Company
Should you purchase a copy of Casselmania? Below, visitor, is a quiz to try. If you pass, buy Casselmania. If you fail, buy two copies! See the answers below.
1. "Slackers" is a nickname for what Canadian city?
(a) Vancouver
(b) Halifax
(c) Sackville, New Brunswick
2. Eh? is a true marker of Canadian speech. But which of the following authors uses eh? exactly as Canadians now use it.
(a) Emily Bronté in Wuthering Heights.
(b) Charles Dickens in Bleak House.
(c) Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales in 1400 A.D.
3. The first Skid Row or Skid Road in Canada was in Vancouver at
the end of the 19th century. The term originated because:
(a) Alcoholics kept slipping in the muddy streets
(b) Out-of-work loggers drank in cheap saloons at the end of a
road used to skid logs
(c) Cheap houses were moved on skids to slummy areas.
1. Answer: (b) Halifax. Why "Slackers"? Because often when Canadian Navy crews put in to Halifax harbour, the sailors had some "slack" time for shore leave.
2. Answer: All of the above! Eh? is almost 1,000 years old as an interjection in Old English, Middle English, and, of course, in modern Canadian English too.
3. Answer: (b). Skids were greased logs used to slide rough timber to a waterway or railhead. There was a skid road in Vancouver, where unemployed loggers waited for jobs, and took the odd bottle of liquid refreshment.
SELECT SAMPLES FROM OTHER WORD BOOKS