~Language is a living thing that defines us as a nation, as much as our passport~ -CBCs Dan Bjarnason

Alcool: Pure grain alcohol. Known in the States as Everclear. The kind person who described Screech has this to say: "The name Alcool actually comes from the french word "alcool" (kind of pronounced like alco-ol, like alcove and awl, but no v) which means alcohol, (obviously) but since there is no other product name on the bottle, people have come to calling it "Alcool", rhymes with tool, instead of no-name alcohol. Alcool is also easier to say than alcohol when inebriated." He notes that it may just be an Ontario thing.
anglophone: A Canadian whose first language is English.
arborite:The stuff your counter tops are made of. I forget what Americans call it.
back bacon: Canadian bacon. From the back of a big I suppose. Good on pizza with cheddar, mushrooms and pinepple.
brown bread: Whole wheat bread. If you are at a diner for breakfast and you ask for whole wheat toast, they'll understand you, but "brown toast" is a lot more Canadian. Of course don't try asking for brown bread in the States....I've had more than a few weird looks!
case [of beer]: A package containing twelve bottles of beer. (Some tell me that a case isn't a twelve-pack at all, it's a two-four. People tend to feel strongly both ways.)
chesterfield: A couch, or sofa, or whatever you call it where you are.
francophone: A Canadian whose first language is French.
Gonch: Men's underwear (eg. Stanfields, BVD's, Fruit of the Loom) Depending on where you are in Canada, you might here it called gotch or gaunch or gitch or ginch or gotches. And this seems to be throughout Canada now -- you discover that you start getting the n in it -- the gaunch -- about the Alberta, Saskatchewan border.
Gonch pull:The act of grabbing hold of gonch while on a person and yanking firmy in an upward direction. homo milk:
Homogenized milk. Known in the States as whole milk. Nobody here thinks twice about what images milk cartons with the word "HOMO" in big letters on the side conjure up in the minds of Americans.
housecoat: A robe, or a bathrobe
hydro: Hydroelectricity. Were crazy for the stuff!
icing sugar: powdered sugar, or confectioners sugar
keener: Brown-noser, suckup, bootlicker. Someone obviously trying to get on another's good side.
Kraft Dinner, or KD: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. No difference between what's in the boxes, just what's on them.
lineup: "There was a really long lineup for tickets to tonight's hockey game."
Loonie: : A dollar. The Canadian $1 coin has a loon (the bird) on the back.
mickey: A measurement of alcohol (13 ounces: it's a flat, curved bottle, supposed to fit in your pocket, but it doesn't, really).
pogey: Unemployment benefits or UI (unemployment insurance). Oooops...it's no longer called UI! We now call it EI (employment insurance) which is a real pet peeve of mine! It's NOT insurance against employment, it's insurance against UNemployment. Seems the powers that be felt UI carried negative connotations. Hello? Unemployment IS negative...but...I digress.
pop: A sweetened carbonated beverage. Canadians: not all Americans call it soda. Some call it pop, some call it coke (regardless of the brand or kind) -- it's a regional difference, rather than a national one.
poutine (pron. poo-TIN: Québecois specialty. French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy.
Robertson screws: Screws (for metal or wood) with a square hole in the top rather than a straight or X-shaped one. Robertson screwdrivers come in different colors to indicate what size they are. Green number ones and red number twos are the most common. Robertson screws are just about impossible to strip, unlike Phillips-head ones, which become unusable about thirty seconds after you've brandished the screwdriver at them. They'd be popular in the States except that Henry Ford wanted exclusive rights to them, and Robertson (the inventor, a Canadian) refused to sell.
Screech: A kind of liquor popular in Newfoundland. A visitor notes: "It's actually a Jamaican dark rum. I believe the Newfoundland<->Jamaican relationship goes back a long period of time, i.e. when the Newfs had tons of fish to trade."
serviette: French for "napkin." This term is used by anglophones as well as francophones.
Shreddies: A brand of breakfast cereal, vaguely resembling Chex.
Smarties: Not the ones you're used to seeing in the US. In Canada, Smarties are a candy resembling M&Ms. They do melt in your hand, and they're a lot sweeter.
Snarky:Lippy due to crankiness.
[The} States: The USA. Canadians hate referring to the US as "America," because Canadians are just as much North Americans as Americans are.
Swish: A kind of liquor made from putting water into barrels that have previously held some sort of alcohol (whisky, brandy, whatever) and letting the alcohol leach out of the wood. Drunk by university students who like to go blind. (Or next door neighbours who roll barels up and down their lawn!).
toonie: Our newish $2 coin. Just what we needed, more change! I used to have a bowl FULL of the suckers until they adapted the vending machines! These coins are very pretty. With a gold center and a silver ring on the outside. Everyone knows someone who has managed to pop the center out but no one has actually seen it done.
toque: Rhymes with "kook." A kind of hat, ubiquitous in wintertime.
two-four: A flat containing twenty-four cans of beer.
washroom: A bathroom or lavatory.
zed: The last letter of the alphabet. Nuff said!