Over at Ask Metafilter, languagehat writes that he is putting together a book on cursing worldwide, and can’t come up with anything good for Canada. He’s looking for “pointers to good use of wicked language by Canadians (doesn’t have to be obscene; cf. Twain’s “Harte is a liar, a thief, a swindler, a snob, a sot, a sponge, a coward…”), old or new, online or off.” There are some suggestions posted that he could probably use some input on (is it “nob” or “knob”? was “hoser” an insult before Bob and Doug Mackenzie?).
So, Canadians among us: can you think of anything? Can your friends? Ask around. Post here and I will email them to him, or you can email him directly: languagehat AT GOOD OLD gmail.com.
alif sikkiin | 21-May-07 at 11:31 pm | Permalink
I have one:
“goof”
You might think it’s innocuous and a little…goofy. But in Hamiltonian prison culture, it’s incitement to fight. It’s worse than calling someone a motherfucker.
It might just be a regional thing, though.
Chris | 22-May-07 at 9:42 am | Permalink
You know, I can sort of hear “goof” used that way. If said properly, it can be withering. Perhaps that’s why my Dad usually said “goofball” – the “ball” softens it considerably. On the other hand, my family made the Cosby Show look like a prison drama.
anne | 22-May-07 at 1:02 pm | Permalink
alif, that’s really interesting. Is it a way of calling someone gay, or unmanly? What’s the source of this info (if I can ask)?
alif sikkiin | 22-May-07 at 2:51 pm | Permalink
Is it a way of calling someone gay, or unmanly?
I have often wondered this. As far as I know, it doesn’t, but it has that kind of force.
It’s pretty well-known among Hamilton’s lumpenproletariat that you never, ever, call someone a goof. I first learned it the hard way by calling some guy who’d been to prison a goof, and he got super-mad, instantly.
I had a friend in high school who was dating a bouncer at “The Foxe’s [sic] Den” strip club. One night they were hanging out and he said something or other and she said, “don’t be so goofy”. His face just clouded over and he was like, “WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?” Then they got into a hair-splitting discussion over whether “goofy” should be taken the same way as “goof.” (the answer, I guess, was “no.”)
alif sikkiin | 22-May-07 at 2:54 pm | Permalink
We also used “bird” to mean “idiot.” As in, “you fokken bird.”
Matt Weiner | 22-May-07 at 3:52 pm | Permalink
Back at alif’s place I suggested the Quebecois church-related swear words.
anne | 22-May-07 at 6:19 pm | Permalink
alif: same sense as calling a very easy university course a “bird” or a “bird course”? (I think Americans would call such a course a “gut”)
matt: excellent; I’m passing this all on to him.
alif sikkiin | 23-May-07 at 1:12 pm | Permalink
I don’t think “bird” and “bird course” are related, but I could be wrong.
Someone on the Metafilter thread suggested “mangia-cake” as a mildly derogatory word used by Italian-Canadians to describe Anglo-Canadians. This is a really good one; I went to an elementary school whose students were mostly of Italian descent and that expression was used all the time.
Ally | 28-Jan-08 at 6:33 pm | Permalink
Why do Canadian people say Eh?
Chris | 28-Jan-08 at 6:38 pm | Permalink
Sometimes it’s because it turns a statement into a sort of question, which has the effect of softening it a bit.
NoCash | 08-Jul-08 at 2:23 pm | Permalink
To those wondering, to French-Canadians, goof is a term for a child molester, and is one of the most disgusting things to call a person.
If your in eastern Canada, better not call someone a goof, ’cause if it’s a French-Canadian, no joke, he’ll break your face.
Some more are Dart, as in, ‘ You’re such a dart.’ (Don’t know origin, but means dumb and ignorant.
Tool is a good one as well as Poser, means someone who tries to hard to be like others.
In case no-one answered, it’s said ‘knob’, as in the head of your dick.
Jewballs is one is for the younger crowd, and I have absolutely NO idea what it could mean. Kinda wrong sounding, but I hear it alot. Said as in ‘ Yeah, ok JewBalls. Whatever you say JewBalls” Kind of a name replacement meant to be said near deadpan. Sounds pretty funny when done right.
I’m sure there are many more, but many are interchangeable with British and/or USA swears (Hey, we like a good swear too :).
Joe | 13-Jul-08 at 6:11 pm | Permalink
@Ally: Why do Yankees say Yall or Yhear?
tori | 25-Jul-08 at 10:09 am | Permalink
what are “Chirps” exactly? I got into a huge aguement with like 8 of ‘em and they kept talking about chirps
kg | 04-Aug-08 at 12:17 pm | Permalink
Y’all and Y’hear are southern slang words in the U.S. In the south they love to push words together so that they can be said faster and confuse more people. My favorite is finna (fixin + to) as in “I’m finna eat good tonight!” Y’all is widely used across the country. Obviously, it means you all. Interestingly enough in certain regions its actually singluar as in “y’all finna eat that?” and the plural for becomes all y’all or the posessive, all y’alls. As in “Gimme that food or I’m finna kick all ya’lls asses”
Y’hear is great because it can be a question or a command used to ask if something is understood or to show emphasis. “Y’all put that down in the kitchen y’hear?” Or “You don’t ever talk like that in front of a lady, y’hear!” Another y+ word that might be similar to the canadian eh is y’know. It can be put almost anywhere in a sentence,(much like eh) but cannot be used quite as liberally and doesn’t sound as cool.
Matt E | 07-Aug-08 at 6:49 pm | Permalink
A chirp’s something I’d never heard until I went to University (in Waterloo, On) but now it’s just such a part of the local lexicon that I practically use the word every day. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a new word that’s evolved since I was in high school or whether it’s a regional thing.
Anyways, a chirp’s just an insult, a jab, not too serious or mean-spirited. Can also be a verb, “I was at the front row at the baseball game and I was chirping the other team’s third baseman the whole time.”
In terms of Canadian swearing, you can’t talk about it without mentioning the Quebec “sacres”. There’s a whole rich history to them that ties in with the strong Catholic culture of French-Canadians and how they took shortened forms of semi-obscure church-related terminology (tabernacles, chalices, sacraments, votives) and they can be used in absolutely any way – insults, expressions of frustration, and you can tie them together in a never-ending string of “___ de ___ de ____ de….”
Here’s an article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity
Also, “goof” as a prison insult is definitely nation-wide, or at least I’ve heard about it being used from BC, Ontario and Quebec.
“Hoser” is a long-standing term before Bob&Doug meaning any Canadian version of a redneck, beer-swilling, hockey-watching, etc. Also the derived “take off, hoser.” Yeah, you don’t hear these things being used much anyone, but hoser’s still the prototypical Canadian insult.
“Mangia-cake” / “caker” is something I definitely heard in high school from Italian students. Not very offensive.
Something no one’s mentioned: “Frogs”, “Pepsis” or “Peppers” to refer to Quebecers, with the last two being because stereotypically Quebecers prefer Pepsi over Coke. Seen as pretty offensive. Quebecers call English Canadians “anglos” or “square-heads”.
Victoria | 03-Mar-09 at 3:46 pm | Permalink
“Goof” in Ontario is the equivalent of calling someone a pedophile.
Chris | 04-Mar-09 at 12:02 am | Permalink
Really? I grew up in Ottawa and spent 5 years in Toronto and never heard it used in that way (at least, never understood it to mean that).
Anonymous | 22-Apr-09 at 10:58 pm | Permalink
Way to lose yer lumber on the ice, ya hoser.
Graham | 07-May-09 at 1:15 pm | Permalink
Don’t call anyone in Ontario a goof… its not good… you will have to fight someone..
Bobby | 09-Aug-09 at 1:43 am | Permalink
Goof, is a heinous insult in the slang of prison-culture, presumably out of Ontario, but even out here in Vancouver, this new much more severely insulting sense of the term is widely familiar to most younger people, and more specifically to those of a delinquent background, as well as anyone in, or on the periphery of the penal system. Even outside the prison system, in your average vancouver high-school over the past 5 years or so, if a kid calls another kid a goof, 80% or more of the time it will be in this neologistic context… in which it is purported to mean pedophile… but basically it’s a generic insult whose severity or order of magnitude approaches infinity. For example, in theory, even a sex offender, when called a goof by another sex offender should in theory be very offended. In the context of prison culture, it’s a provocation to violence that cannot, without complete loss of face, go unanswered.
Bobby | 09-Aug-09 at 1:46 am | Permalink
in prison speech you might see it decorated w/ other similar colloquialism:
Eg, that dude ain’t a dude, he’s a bitch! He’s a bitch, and he’s no-good, skinner, rat, goof. (skinhead/informant/child molester)
Tom | 31-Mar-10 at 11:26 pm | Permalink
Ok , I’m dying here. I’m trying to find out the origins of the supposed insult: Go eat a doughnut!! Does anyone know how it originally started and what it really means? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
J.J. | 19-Apr-10 at 1:27 pm | Permalink
It’s a hockey thing about former ref Don Koharski. From his wikipedia bio:
1988 Stanley Cup incident
Koharski is perhaps best known for an incident that occurred following a 1988 playoff game between the Boston Bruins and the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey coach Jim Schoenfeld was infuriated with Koharski’s performance and waited for him in the hallway near the officials’ dressing room. Koharski fell, but believed Schoenfeld had pushed him. Koharski yelled several times after Schoenfeld “You’re done”, implying that he would be suspended over the incident, and said he hoped the incident was on tape. Schoenfeld responded by yelling in Koharski’s direction, “Good, because you fell, you fat pig! Have another doughnut! Have another doughnut!” (A videotape of this incident recorded by WABC has become part of sports television lore ever since, usually when discussing coaches losing their tempers.)
Missy | 08-May-10 at 8:20 pm | Permalink
These may be regional (Northern Ontario) but.. 1. Dirt/Dirtball – A dirty or sometimes poor person. 2. Burnt- A verb basically meaning you’re f*cked or messed up. “Dude, he’s so f*cking burnt!” 3. Burnout- Generic, relates to burnt.. “You’re such a burnout!” 4. Fudge packer – A homosexual man 5. Goof – already talked about, but I didn’t know it meant pedophile . 6. Chirp means to “bitch at someone” or tell off, it could also mean to insult… when I hear it used, it usually isn’t in a friendly manner. And then you can always go the French Canadian route- Tabarnac, Calis, etc. All of which are usually religous.
Julie Supastar | 08-Aug-10 at 1:04 am | Permalink
you can use my video for your post , french canadian swear words , let me know
Julie Supastar | 08-Aug-10 at 1:05 am | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNalcAF6yyI
Aubrey | 06-Feb-11 at 1:58 am | Permalink
Newf or newfie is a pretty popular one. theres a whole line of newfie jokes like dumb blonde jokes. i live in bc but we still call people newfs. mostly for if youre dumb or have a thick canadian accent.
karen | 27-Feb-11 at 1:09 am | Permalink
it’s not strictly an insult per se, but at my old highschool a ‘heatbag’ was someone who was causing a scene or making a fool of themselves, usually drunk.
Darian | 11-Mar-11 at 10:03 pm | Permalink
queeb! why hasnt anyone said queeb?? my favorite of insults toward french cadians. behind that id say hoser, newfie, brown-noser, puck chaser, frostback, and snow frog lol.
BobandDoug Mckenzie | 01-Apr-11 at 5:26 pm | Permalink
all this chatter about canada tightens my sphincter – telling someone to go eat a donut is a reference to the licking of my taint, my chocolate starfish, my leather cheerio – my balloon knot, the dirty penny – my mud button – my a**hole – don’t you get it? there is nothing positive that can be said about you puck chasing – peace loving – igloo dwelling canucks. Lick my american pie producing ahole -you f***s
Anne | 03-Apr-11 at 3:39 pm | Permalink
UPDATE: Languagehat did eventually publish his book of international curse words: Uglier than a Monkey’s Armpit. It’s the most fun you can have for $10.
Deryk | 31-Jul-11 at 2:11 am | Permalink
turnover – someone who cheats , a cheater
Kurstie96 | 10-Oct-11 at 7:06 pm | Permalink
Hoser means like an acoholic right? I’m from the U.S. in Arkansas. For those of ya’ll that don’t know, it’s one of the hickest places in the U.S. We say ya’ll a lot. It’s in the dictionary now:) Ya’ll really say hoser, newfie, and (my favorite) eh?
Coliniski | 11-Nov-11 at 3:30 am | Permalink
A goof is a rat or skin beefer (sex crime of any sort) and other such things… It has nothing to do with being a “skinhead” in any way as stated above. I think that was a mere non-intentional mis-statement or a personal grudge by *Bobby 09-Aug-09 at 1:46 am*
A bird is also a rat, a bird chirps…
Flora | 17-Jun-12 at 11:43 pm | Permalink
a tool in eastern Canada is calling someone an real idiot
a goof is equivalent to calling someone a pedophile (in some regions)
Calling someone either of these to their face can get you in a serious fight
Dave | 18-Jun-12 at 11:32 pm | Permalink
Eh has 27 different meanings, from asking a question, to asserting a truth, to getting attention, to signalling the start of a secret invasion of Arkansas. Hoser supposedly means someone who steals gas, but mostly means you like Bob and Doug McKenzie. Newfie is an insult in the East but gets more congenial as you go West.
Anne | 26-Aug-12 at 1:57 am | Permalink
Another friend’s site, with general colloquialisms from New Brunswick:
http://dooryard.ca
MeatHook | 05-Nov-12 at 7:40 pm | Permalink
First off Hoser was a slang before Bob & Doug. It was a term used for losers of a hockey game, who had to literally HOSE the ice after the game. Goof means just that Sexual Predator, usually consisting of the child variety.
Jack | 14-Nov-12 at 2:57 am | Permalink
In some places and contexts, “goof” could mean a pedophile, but in the non-prison culture of most of Canada, it could simply mean a stupid, contemptible jerk or loser, and it’s still a pretty strong insult even in those cases.
Jack | 14-Nov-12 at 3:01 am | Permalink
Meathook: that’s interesting. I used to think that “hoser” was a type of phallic insult, like calling someone a dick or prick.
In terms of “goof”, perhaps it does mean “pedophile” or “skinner” in the Canadian prison context, but I’ve heard it used simply as a strong substitute for “moron”, “imbecile” or “shithead.”