Definition

[tvordlj]

By the way.. a "toque" as referred to in that other thing i posted, yes it's a hat, a knitted pull on one often with a bobble or pom pom on top, occaisionaly with a patch on it for a design (i.e. hockey team... tha'ts "ice hockey" to non-Canadians). And a good comparison , "An American's Guide to Canadianisms" at http://www.icomm.ca/emily/isms.html

Comments

Toques

[abishag.livejournal.com]

Thanks for info- I deduced it had some special meaning in Canada, as here a toque, if mentioned at all, means the kind of off-the-face steep-sided hat Queen Mary used to wear.
In french it means a chef's hat, or a jockey's or the kind of upright hat magistrates wear, so I guess the word arrived separately, in UK via Paris millinery and in Canadian English via Quebec sportsmen!
O I do love tracking the tangled trails of words!

Re: Toques

[tvor.livejournal.com]

And it's pronounced "toooook" as in "ooh" not Oh. like the Lancashire's pronounce "Book". I love the difference between the language and use a lot of (ahem) British expressions, i pick up so many from Corrie and from my mates over there. My friend in Ireland has such a comical way with a phrase, similar to the Newfoundland sense of humour which is only apt since Newf. has a strong Irish heritage. More on that in the other thread. I'm going to think on that for awhile as i have a few comments to make and things to do this aft.

Re: Toques and other Canadiana

[abishag.livejournal.com]

Just using this for a list of brief comments and nods of appreciation about various oddments and things I noticed in your recent replies, and on the website you mentioned.
Newfoundland-yes I knew about their being latecomers to Canada; I am so old I remember it happening- or at least having it explained in Geography. 1959 was the year I started senior school, and first year geography was a series of 'how folks live' around the empire/ commonwealth.
Tin plate in s.Wales, Miners in Cowdenbeath, fishermen in Newfoundland, blue dye and wadis in Aden, homework on "A Day in the life of a Victorian Vigneron". At this point I don't think I actually knew what wine was!

Coins- does the reference to using or not using them mean that George Washington's attempts to persuade people in the States to give up fistfuls of identical green notes have got nowhere in the 2 or 3 years since I was there?
I absolutely love our recently introduced £2 coins, so big and satisfying and easier to deal with than floppy, tatty £5 notes.
But no-one here, as far as I know has tried to take them apart....
Perhaps the news that you have a similar coin in good old Canada should be publicized for the information of those who see them as a nasty "continental" innovation!

Had a pleasant chuckle at all the things Canada shares with UK that the US doesn't- proper national banks-{the inconvenience of localised banks is amazing- and in the land of efficiency! We are now at the point of being frustrated by the way banks won't work across whole of Europe!}; candyfloss the word, the cigarette brands of my childhood, which have mostly vanished here {tho I'd be happy if they all vanished entirely, they won't of course};
smarties-yaaay!- indispensible :-) for learning one's colours-even my sister learnt that way; they now even have blue ones-well turquoise-[not sure what I think of that], but *this* devotee used to keep the dark brown ones till last, and avoid the orange. But they are too sweet for me now.
And Mac's toffee; my aunt-in-law who worked for years for Mac's in Halifax, *would* be pleased to know the name lives on amongst Canadians.

And Poppy Day- tho' the actual poppies are different. Ours have black middles-so no hopeful symbolism there!
Plus I love the word depanneur with is delightful "emergency pit-stop" imagery.

Re: Toques and other Canadiana

[tvor.livejournal.com]

well they are going to bring back the black middles to the poppies but not until all the back stock is used up. I remember the black middles with little green bits in the center when i was younger. And Smarties are far better than M&M's, far!

I think they US is trying to introduce one dollar coins but they tried it before and it was a failure with the Susan B. Anthony dollar. What Canada did was the right way. Just stop circulating dollar/2 dollar bills altogether. They didn't do that in the States.

Anyway i'm off to my Mother and FAther's to have Thanksgiving dinner. Roast beef instead of traditional turkey as Mum hates cooking a bird. Does it under sufference at christmas LOL!