Interesting Phraseology

In tribute to my dog-walking friends, I thought I would provide a list of words and/or phrases which Bruce and Gary have found amusing. The cause for their jocularity being, of course, that my Canadian upbringing has given me a slightly different vocabulary than their own.

• nimrod - I must have pulled this one out of my childhood, because I hadn't used it in some time, but it caused much guffawing, especially from Gary, who insisted that this must be a classic Canadian word. I tried to explain that "touque" and "poutine" were the classics, but he was having none of it. So I apologize in advance should Gary approach a fellow Canadian with this "classic" Canadianism.


• ying-yang - As in "I had so much booze, it was coming out my ying-yang." I liken the word to "hoo-ha" or "wazoo", but nonetheless, neither had heard of it before, and caused much mirth.


• carnie - There was a carnival set up in the park where we walk our dogs last week, and while we were all moaning about the disruptions to our daily routines, I added: "And these carnies don't even clean up after themselves." Bruce couldn't figure it out. "Do you mean gyppos (excuse the spelling)?" I tried to explain that in North America that most carnival folk are not gypsies or pikies, so they had come up with a less racist, more generic term to describe them. He was having none of it...he's still teasing me about it a week after the "carnies" have disappeared.

I'll probably have more once I get back to London...