The little local tells

[Acajack]

One thing Other Worlders notice about North America is "the people who eat with just one hand".

What they refer to by this is people who start eating by cutting all their food into small pieces first. And then put down the knife and eat everything just using the fork.

[shreddog]

An American and a Canadian come to your front door. Which one walks right in and which one takes their shoes off?

And what about the Brit who is 3 steps behind them?

FTR, while I'm a thumb counter, just for fun I'll also do binary just to mess with people

[rofina]

Originally Posted by Acajack

One thing Other Worlders notice about North America is "the people who eat with just one hand".

What they refer to by this is people who start eating by cutting all their food into small pieces first. And then put down the knife and eat everything just using the fork.

Seen this. Didn't know it was a "thing." Not a proponent myself.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

One thing Other Worlders notice about North America is "the people who eat with just one hand".

What they refer to by this is people who start eating by cutting all their food into small pieces first. And then put down the knife and eat everything just using the fork.

By "other worlders" you clearly mean Europeans, as what East Asians see are barbaric Western societies where the cooks are too lazy and inconsiderate to chop the food up properly before serving it.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by rousseau

This is something I've never thought of before, but yeah, how do you Euro counters manage when you get to four? It's awkward and painful trying to get the ring finger to pop up without dragging the pinky along with it, isn't it?

Not only that, but if you're counting slowly, one looks like a thumbs up, and two looks like either a gun gesture or pointing at something.

Seems like madness.

The pinky stays down at that point because it’s folded into your palm.

I’m also a thumb counter. I guess my Nordic family passed that along.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by rousseau

By "other worlders" you clearly mean Europeans, as what East Asians see are barbaric Western societies where the cooks are too lazy and inconsiderate to chop the food up properly before serving it.

Interestingly enough, one of the first people who pointed this out to me was (East) Asian himself.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Razor

Using "Shut" instead of close is also Northern ON speak "Shut the door". "shut the lights". "shut the vacuum cleaner off"."Shut the t.v off".yet, we are going to "close up our cottage this weekend"..Go figure.

"Close the lights" and "Close the TV" was commonplace among the parts of my family who were from Northern Ontario.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by shreddog

An American and a Canadian come to your front door. Which one walks right in and which one takes their shoes off?

Depends on what part of the US. I believe the north is similar to Canada on this; it's further south where shoes stay on. In Mexico shoes always stay on.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

One thing Other Worlders notice about North America is "the people who eat with just one hand".

What they refer to by this is people who start eating by cutting all their food into small pieces first. And then put down the knife and eat everything just using the fork.

That’s crass. You’re supposed to cut one or two bites, put the knife down, move the fork from left to right hand. Eat and repeat. The point was to have the knife in your hands as little as possible, back when that was considered sophisticated. I think it was the French who invented that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

That’s crass. You’re supposed to cut one or two bites, put the knife down, move the fork from left to right hand. Eat and repeat. The point was to have the knife in your hands as little as possible, back when that was considered sophisticated. I think it was the French who invented that.

A-ha! Would you believe me if I said I bet a million dollars with a bookie, expecting or hoping you would chime in after I wrote that?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

A-ha! Would you believe me if I said I bet a million dollars with a bookie, expecting or hoping you would chime in after I wrote that?

One is compelled ...

[Gresto]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

"Freeway" is almost never used in Ontario, but it is commonly used in many parts of the US,

It depends. The 401 in and around Toronto is almost always designated a "freeway" in speech, while smaller highways, such as the DVP or QEW, are never referred to as such.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Gresto

It depends. The 401 in and around Toronto is almost always designated a "freeway" in speech, while smaller highways, such as the DVP or QEW, are never referred to as such.

Really? I've never heard the word used in my life in Ontario. The 401 is "the 401" in my experience. I don't think we have enough of those types of highways to refer to them with a generalized all-encompassing moniker the way you would in California, say.

Edit: D'oh, the official name of the 401 is the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. I've seen the "M-C" sign along the 401, but never looked closely enough to see the word "Freeway" on it. Still though, I'd do a double take if someone in Toronto advised me to "stay off the freeways" when giving directions. It wouldn't sound right to my ears.

[niwell]

Agree with Rousseau here - the official use of the term “freeway” doesn’t really represent what anyone actually says. If anything the GTA is like Southern California in that we say “the 40X” as opposed to “highway 40X”. I guess this may date back to the QEW being one of the first true limited access highways in North America.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by niwell

Agree with Rousseau here - the official use of the term “freeway” doesn’t really represent what anyone actually says. If anything the GTA is like Southern California in that we say “the 40X” as opposed to “highway 40X”. I guess this may date back to the QEW being one of the first true limited access highways in North America.

I recall in Kingston the 401 being sometimes referred to as “the highway”. That might make some sense as that is the only 400-series highway in the area and people would generally know what you’re talking about.

In London it’s always referred to as the 401, and the 402 is always called the 402.

[bartolo]

Originally Posted by niwell

Agree with Rousseau here - the official use of the term “freeway” doesn’t really represent what anyone actually says. If anything the GTA is like Southern California in that we say “the 40X” as opposed to “highway 40X”. I guess this may date back to the QEW being one of the first true limited access highways in North America.

One thing I notice at least with myself, every divided highway I will refer to as "the" something. Example in KW its "the Conestoga", whereas a city street would just be "Homer Watson". Example: "Stay off the Conestoga" vs. "Stay off Homer Watson".

[kool maudit]

I always thought "freeway" was a California-ism, although Angelenos also will say "the 405" just like Torontonians say "the 401"; in the Northeast, for instance, you never say "the 95".

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

in the Northeast, for instance, you never say "the 95".

No, but you will get "the I-95" though.

In Atlantic Canada the main highway is simply referred to as "the TCH" or "the Trans-Canada"

In those circumstances that the divided highway is not part of the Trans Canada system, the highway gets referred to by it's numerical designation ("the 101" or "the 102" in NS or "Highway 15" or "Highway 11" in NB). Our (relatively) expansive grade separated limited access divided highway system is virtually never referred to as a freeway.

Personally, I wish we had a truly national system, with all freeway grade highways referred to as "autoroutes". I really like autoroute as a name. I wonder if Quebec would mind sharing this designation?

Actually, Highway 15 between Moncton and Shediac has been named "Veterans Highway/Autoroute des Anciennes Combattants", so the trend may be spreading anyway.

[quall]

My family is all from northern Ontario and I can attest to being thumb-counting euchre players. Also - in Ottawa we say "going to the cottage"; in Sudbury it was "going to camp."

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by quall

My family is all from northern Ontario and I can attest to being thumb-counting euchre players. Also - in Ottawa we say "going to the cottage"; in Sudbury it was "going to camp."

My camp's in the bush versus my cottage in the woods.