Canadian Terms Beginning with C

Cabin - In Canada this is used in the same context as cottage.

Caesar - See "Bloody Caesar".

Canada Day - Canada's birthday, held on July 1, the anniversary of the Confederation of Canada in 1867. The day is marked by parties and fireworks.

Canadian Tire - A very popular hardware and household goods chain.

Canadian Tire Money - A loyalty gimmick used at Canadian Tire stores. It looks and feels like real bills, and it features a picture of a "Scotsman".

Canadian Tuxedo - Wearing a denim jacket with blue jeans.

Candy Floss - What Canadians call "cotton candy".

Canuck - A slang term for "Canadian" in the U.S. and Canada. It sometimes means "French Canadian" in particular, especially when used in the Northeast of the United States and in Canada. Adopted as the name of the National Hockey League team in Vancouver. Sometimes jokingly pronounced can-OOK.

Cape Bretoner - A person that hails from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

Caper - A person originally born on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Typically used to identify someone who has left the island in search of employment.

Caramilk - A strictly Canadian chocolate bar, which markets itself as the candy with the caramel secret

Case (of beer) - A cardboard package containing twelve or twenty-four bottles of beer.

Celly - Short for "celebration," as in a celebration after a goal is scored.

Central Canada - What Ontarians and Quebecers like to call their provinces. A misnomer, as Manitoba is more central (geographically speaking) than Ontario and Quebec.

Centre of the Universe - How local Torontonians refer to Toronto, Ontario. Unfortunately, the remainder of Canada does not normally share the sentiment.

CFA - A derogatory term used in rural Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, acronym for "Come From Away", often shortened to "From Away" indicating someone who has immigrated to Nova Scotia from another province or country, purchased land, and criticized the local way of life.

Chesterfield - A Canadian term for a sofa or couch. Used somewhat in Northern California; obsolete in Britain (where it originated). Sometimes (as in classic furnishing terminology) refers to a sofa whose arms are the same height as the back, but more usually to any couch or sofa.

Chinook - 1. A warm, dry wind experienced along the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Most common in winter and spring, a chinook wind can result in a rise in temperature of 20C in a quarter of an hour. Pronouned as "Shin-uk". 2. A Chinook in BC is also one of the five main varieties of salmon, also known as a "Spring".

Chips - Can be used to describe potato chips or french fries.

Chirp - Constantly talking trash. "Chirping" would be to issue a steady stream of insults.

Chocolate bar - Candy bar. Popular Canadian brands include Aero, Crispy Crunch, Crunchie, Coffee Crisp, Caramilk, Bounty. Mars Bars have darker chocolate and no nuts. Other Canadian candies include Smarties (imagine very sweet M&Ms in brightly colored boxes, not the sweet-tart chalky things), Mackintosh toffee, and Callard & Bowser toffees.

Civic Holiday - A day off work for no good reason. In Manitoba, the former name of the first Monday in August, which was a statutory holiday. (Recently renamed "Terry Fox Day")

Clamato - A bottled juice made by combining tomato juice and clam juice. Nobody really knows how this combination came about, but Clamato Juice is the main ingredient in a "Bloody Caesar", a very popular Canadian drink.

Clicks - Slang for kilometres, or kilometres per hour.

Coffee Crisp - A very popular candy bar only available in Canada. It has layers of wafer and coffee flavoured filling, and covered all over in chocolate. Are you hungry?

College - In Canada, "College" strictly refers to a community college.

Concession Road - In southern Ontario and southern Quebec, one of a set of roads laid out by the colonial government as part of the distribution of land in standard lot sizes. The roads were laid out in squares as nearly as possible equal to 1,000 acres. Many of the concession roads were known as sidelines, and in Ontario many roads are still called "lines".

Coriander - A leafy green the same as Cilantro.

Corner Store - A small variety store, usually on a corner in a residential neighbourhood of a city. Similar to the American "convenience store."

Cowtown - A nickname for Calgary, Alberta. Refers to its roots as a hub of ranching, livestock trade and the Calgary Stampede or rodeo culture.

Crappy Tire - Colloquialism for "Canadian Tire", a Canadian hardware chain store. Also see "Ukrainian Tire".

Crispy Crunch - A Canadian candy bar, featuring crunchy peanut butter filling covered in milk chocolate. Hungry yet?

Crokinole - A board game that includes elements of shuffleboard and curling where players take turns flicking wooden discs across a circular playing surface studded with wooden pegs. The goal of the game is to have your discs land in the higher-scoring regions of the board, while also making sure you knock out your opponent's discs. This game is especially popular among French-Canadian and Mennonite communities in Canada.