Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?

Subject: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Nick E
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 09:22 PM

As above... Are all Canandians or just some Canadians Canucks? And what does it mean or imply?

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: bobad
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 09:37 PM

See Wikipedia

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 10:04 PM

Although I call myself Canadian I have some affection for the term Canuck. I will wear the shoe if it fits!

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Beer
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 10:06 PM

I have no problem with the term Canuck. In fact I am proud to be called one.
ad.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 10:16 PM

It's probably more "affectionate" than the term "yankee" for Americans.
I thought that it was meant for those who live North of the Mason-Dixon
Line, but people use it for all of them, and more likely for derogatory
reasons. I learned that it was for French Canadians, and evolved into
a term for all Canadians.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: bobad
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 10:32 PM

Captain Canuck

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 10:40 PM

My ancestors, and I'm proud of them!

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Bob Landry
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 11:41 PM

One of many hats I wear proudly, depending on the location, circumstances and which of our official languages I'm speaking: Acadian, Acadien, Cadien, Cajun (in honour of my exiled American cousins), Cape Bretoner, Caper, Cap-Bretonnais, Nova Scotian, Nouveau-écossais, Albertan and Albertain.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Bob Landry
Date: 02 Feb 11 - 11:43 PM

... and I should add, Geezer and Pépé (proud grandfather).

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 12:16 AM

And I'm Mémé, as was my maternal grandmother. Both her parents and her husband, my Pépé, were French-Canadian. My paternal grandmother was both English-Canadian and French-Canadian, and I called her Nana. When my son was born, i asked my dad if he would be Pépé because his other grandfather (Mayflower descendant) would want an Anglicized name. My dad was delighted. When my grandson (first grandchild, son's son) was born, he had his own maternal grandmother to relate to. I said I would like to be Mémé. Good thing, because my son now has remarried, so my grandson now has his mother's mom, his step-grandmother, and me in his life. And my second daughter-in-law has children and nieces and nephews, all of whom call me Mémé, and together my son and second daughter-in-law have had a daughter who of course call me Mémé, too. I love being Mémé!

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Bob Landry
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 12:35 AM

Mémé, Pleased to meet you and very happy to see you wearing the name proudly.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 01:11 AM

Nice to meet you, too!

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 04:09 PM

What's a Canuck? Among some 33 million others, that would be me.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 04:15 PM

Oh, I forgot: it is also a two-seat all-weather fighter-interceptor built by Avro Canada, the CF-100 Canuck, better known to its crews as the Clunk.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Mooh
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 05:41 PM

www.canucks.nhl.com

...and millions of others who don't play for Vancouver.

I like the expression. Lots of folks do.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 05:58 PM

"Yankee" is by no means always derogatory, and the generalization from New Englander to Northerner to American happened a century ago. The W.W. I song "Over There" contained the line "The Yanks are coming", and it was not meant as a slur. (It was revived during W.W. II; I heard it on the radio.)

There is said to be a riddle among U.S. waiters: What's the difference between a canoe & a Canuck?" "Canoes tip."

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 06:18 PM

Some time ago, I seem to remember, mud was slung at a US political aspirant over his alleged use of the word "Canuck", which was said to be used in New England as a derogatory term for Americans of French Canadian descent.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 06:30 PM

Canucks?

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Bob Landry
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 10:48 PM

We even have our own musical key: the key of eh?

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Beer
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 10:52 PM

Excellent Bob.
ad.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: LadyJean
Date: 03 Feb 11 - 11:41 PM

Back in the seventies, when I was going to Miss Sally Sutherland's School for Scottish Arts in the summer, it was discovered that Canadians didn't like to be called Canucks. So, being teenagers, we called the Canadian pipers and dancers Canucks.

They, of course, responded by saying, "Stop calling me a Canuck you yankee!" Which was a harmless comment for those of us from north of the Mason Dixon line, but for those from the south....

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 08:44 AM

If you like Yanks, or Brits or whatever, it's not an insult. If you don't like them, it is.

It seems to me the same goes for most terms like that. It's just a pity that some terms get overloaded by historical injustice.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Monique
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 01:23 PM

ChanteyLass, what you say about "Mémé" is very interesting. In France few grandmothers want to be called "Mémé", they want to be called "Mamie" as grandpas want to be called "Papy" because the "ee" sound at the end sounds English = young. So "Mémé" are most often great-grandmothers and "Pépé" great-grandfathers. We're more likely to say "une vieille mémée" seldom "une vieille mamie" unless she's your own grandma in which case "mamie" sounds more endearing than "mémé".

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 01:26 PM

For the first twenty or so years of my life, I lived at three different addresses, all within about two miles of each other, in Plainfield and North Plainfield, New Jersey.

The sports teams at North Plainfield High were (and still are) known as the "Canucks"; that was the first context in which I ever heard the word. Obviously enough, it referred to the residents of a smaller community north of a larger city.

Off the subject, I found it interesting that the Wiki articles on the two municipalities both list "famous" people who were born in, or who had lived in, each one. Only one person is listed for both Plainfield and North Plainfield: the great jazz pianist Bill Evans. Me and Bill, both with roots on the same two towns...

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: GUEST,Marc Bernier
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 01:47 PM

Very interesting; I'm a New Englander of French Canadian descent and I'v always understood that Canuck referred specifically to English speaking Canadians. The Vancouver Canucks are from BC not Quebec. It had been explained to me that during one of the world wars, the Canadian troops in Europe had some designation (either on their uniform or paper work I don't remember) Can-UK as Canada was still part of the UK. French Canadian troops were affectionately called frogs as most French speaking people are. One a side note, I'v been told that the Germans soldiers were fascinated by the French Canadian troops, as they drank beer and swore and enjoyed brawling. Behavior not stereotypical of a Frenchman.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 02:15 PM

Great to see you back, McG of H.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 02:49 PM

Canuck is what I call myself at times. I don`t find it to be insulting.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 04 Feb 11 - 03:00 PM

The "Can-UK" theory seems very plausible to me. I hadn't heard it before. The only thing that would dissuade me from believing this would be evidence that the term predated WWI.

If true, of course, it would have referred to all Canadian troops, both of French and English heritage/language, since all were Commonwealth citizens at the time.

I found it interesting so see a Canadian French-Canadian opine that the terms applied specifically to Anglophone Canadians; in the US, I've known the term to apply both to Canadians in general and specifically to French-Canadians (or perhaps more exactly, to American citizens of French-Canadian descent living in New England, including the author Jack Kerouac).

Incidentally, I don't put any credence in the argument that the name of the NHL team in Vancouver has any relevance to this discussion; those Canucks are an expansion team, which adopted that name much too recently for it to mean much except that the team is representing themselves as "Canadians" (not "Canadiens," like that other, much older, team in Montreal)...

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 05 Feb 11 - 01:06 AM

Monique, I had heard that "Mémé" and "Pépé" were not used for grandmothers and grandfathers in France. I've often wondered why French-Canadians and people of French-Canadian descent in the US use these words when people in France do not. I also wonder about what words French-speaking people in other parts of the world use for their grandparents.

Getting back to "Canuck," whether it means all Canadians, French-Canadians, are English-Canadians, I am one. Three of my grandparents were French-Canadians, but my paternal grandfather was English-Canadian.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Monique
Date: 05 Feb 11 - 06:42 AM

ChanteyLass, they're not mostly used now by young people but they were 40/50 years ago and earlier. Why French-Canadians use them, I don't know. Kids here say "mamie" which doesn't sound like "maman" while there's not much difference between "mamie" and "mommy" in an English/French speaking country. Besides I don't think that French-Canadians have the same feeling of "young, modern, avant-garde" for American English words as we can feel here. I really don't know what other French-speaking people use (GF-GM endearment terms but no words from outside mainland-France )

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: CET
Date: 05 Feb 11 - 07:10 PM

Well, Marc, Canada has never been part of the U.K., even before Confederation which occurred in 1867, and "Can-UK" was never a designation applied to Canadian troops in either of the World Wars. Canadian troops did use British equipment and wear British uniforms, and Canadian divisions and Corps did operate as part of higher level British formations.

I have always associated Canuck with North America, rather than Britain, so I would not have expected Brits to use the term. Perhaps some of the Brits can confirm or deny this.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 08:45 AM

Thank you CET and PoppaGator. There it is, 50 years of miss information and inaccurate terminology shot full of holes. It's not a term I use with any regularity anyway.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: meself
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 10:32 AM

Does ANYONE use this term with any regularity? Seriously. Other than in reference to the hockey team, I've only ever heard this term spoken a few times, and always in a self-conscious way. But then, I don't get out much.

Sign me,
A Proud Canuckian

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 10:59 AM

As an aside, there has never been all that much love lost between France and French Quebec--at least not that I`ve seen.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 11:36 AM

So far as the French go, my impression is that are pretty happy about the existence of a French speaking nation in North America.

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 11:50 AM

Really? Hmm!

Subject: RE: Folklore: So what is a Canuck exactly?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 11:55 AM

I think, McGrath of Harlow, that France may think of us that way, but it isn`t reciprocated s`far as I can see. (I`m an English Quebecker.)