What Are Some Of Your City's Inside Jokes?

[snowmobile]

Winnipeg:
We were born here, what's your excuse?
Esplanade Riel - "Million Dollar toilet " (for a while anyway)
Transcona = Trashcona

[SignalHillHiker]

One offensive one. Sorry Marty.

Conservative Muslim women = Mummers.

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[wg_flamip]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Wouldn't people in the Golden Horseshoe have mostly used the term "Guido" for that type of individual?

Definitely Gino and Gina. I've only heard "Guido" from Americans.

I remember a Polish guy at my high school once went on a rant about how Ginos could come from any background ("There are Portuguese Ginos, Polish Ginos, Persian Ginos, it's a lifestyle not a culture!"). By the early to mid 2Ks - at least in my little slice of the world - "Gino" had become a subculture, not a slur.

[GlassCity]

Surrey Jack: Obnoxious young guys from Surrey who cause trouble and try to intimidate people. They legitimately have their own lexicon, which is heavily mocked by the rest of the region.

[vid]

All of Thunder Bay's "inside joke" neighbourhoods fall along the same bus route: the Mainline, which roughly mirrors the original 1892 street railway.

At the north end is Current River, a post-war neighbourhood separated from everything else by a large park with a lake in it. It is basically a small town within the city limits, with its own pathetic excuse of a downtown (but no traffic lights). At the opposite end of the bus route, and at the opposite end of the city, is Westfort. Westfort is older and has a more full-fledged downtown (they even have apartment blocks, office buildings and traffic lights and numerous other bus routes) but generally, Westfort plays the role of Florida within the city: if it's going to happen, it's going to happen in Westfort.

The Mainline also travels on a street in downtown Fort William called Simpson Street, which until about 15 years ago was lined with cheap hotels and dive bars and every corner had prostitutes. The Hells Angels still maintain a presence on Simpson. Today the street is much quieter but still has the stigma against it even though several streets are now worse off than it.

So basically, the Mainline is our version of Hamilton's Barton Street Bus, and the same comment has been made about it being cheap entertainment. (Though honestly I've seen sketchier shit going down on the Memorial Ave bus three blocks over.)

Port Arthur used to refer to Fort William as "the frog swamp" since it was a low lying wetland along a river, while Fort William referred to Port Arthur as "the ant hill" since it was up on a hill.

Everyone makes run of a rural community to the southwest called Nolalu, they're pretty much all hicks and most are communist but some are libertarian. They had a party line until the 1990s.

[ssiguy]

Surrey girl's idea of safe sex.................a bus shelter
Toronto's CN Tower elevator.................the vomit comet
London..............no one ever goes EofA...........east of Adelaide
Duncan...............drunken

[manny_santos]

A few I remember from Kingston:

- Disneyland = Collins Bay Penitentiary
- Stay away from North of Princess (similar to EoA in London)
- Anyone who doesn't know what "the Township" is is an obvious newcomer

Toronto has one: Rob Ford.

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by vid

All of Thunder Bay's "inside joke" neighbourhoods fall along the same bus route: the Mainline, which roughly mirrors the original 1892 street railway.

At the north end is Current River, a post-war neighbourhood separated from everything else by a large park with a lake in it. It is basically a small town within the city limits, with its own pathetic excuse of a downtown (but no traffic lights). At the opposite end of the bus route, and at the opposite end of the city, is Westfort. Westfort is older and has a more full-fledged downtown (they even have apartment blocks, office buildings and traffic lights and numerous other bus routes) but generally, Westfort plays the role of Florida within the city: if it's going to happen, it's going to happen in Westfort.

The Mainline also travels on a street in downtown Fort William called Simpson Street, which until about 15 years ago was lined with cheap hotels and dive bars and every corner had prostitutes. The Hells Angels still maintain a presence on Simpson. Today the street is much quieter but still has the stigma against it even though several streets are now worse off than it.

So basically, the Mainline is our version of Hamilton's Barton Street Bus, and the same comment has been made about it being cheap entertainment. (Though honestly I've seen sketchier shit going down on the Memorial Ave bus three blocks over.)

Port Arthur used to refer to Fort William as "the frog swamp" since it was a low lying wetland along a river, while Fort William referred to Port Arthur as "the ant hill" since it was up on a hill.

Everyone makes run of a rural community to the southwest called Nolalu, they're pretty much all hicks and most are communist but some are libertarian. They had a party line until the 1990s.

I grew up in Thunder Bay, my parents grew up in Nolalu, and most of what you wrote is totally foreign to me.

Frog swamp? Ant hill? Communists and libertarians?

But yes, Simpson St. and Wesfort are "interesting" places and the party line thing is true.

[caltrane74]

Be careful giving directions in Toronto, as you might inadvertently tell them to either:

Go down on (or come on/ or come down) Peter or John.

Worse; you cold tell someone to:

Come down Leslie. (Or come across Leslie)

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

They legitimately have their own lexicon, which is heavily mocked by the rest of the region.

I'm sure that's kind of grating in person, but I actually find that pretty interesting. Is it totally unique to Surrey or is it basically the same as what you'd hear in the equivalent parts of Seattle, Calgary etc?

[Hali87]

Halifax Explosion Jokes, references to Trailer Park Boys, Rick Mercer, and local musicians; Picnicface references; frequent jabs at both the Habs and the Leafs (most are fans of one or the other while not truly expecting either to ever actually win the cup), Theodore Tugboat references. References to the constant construction, the heritage/hyper-progress battles and the city's "huge expenses" on one hand and "redundancy" on the other (the new convention centre is basically across the street from the old one, same with the new and old central libraries).

Then things get a bit more complicated:


Swimming in the harbour: still borderline taboo; up until a few years ago, raw untreated sewage was dumped into the harbour constantly and it was not something that you wanted to be in. That stigma still lasts.

Citadel Hill: Pride of Parks Canada by day, very notorious gay cruising area by night (historically there tended to be a prostitution element as well.. not sure if that's still there)

References to "Ralph's": It's the only strip club in the HRM, sort of in the centre of (not Downtown) Dartmouth. It's reputation is basically the greasy but aw shucks friendly neighbourhood strip joint with not particularly impressive strippers. (In practice, I beg to differ, it's just the right amount of retro tacky and a couple of the dancers were genuinely impressive). Most people really have to go out of their way to go there - it's not somewhere you can just kind of end up at on a pub crawl.

Tim Bosquet and Peter Kelly: Peter Kelly was mayor of Halifax for about 12 years. If you're not from Halifax you've probably never heard of him because he never really did anything. Tim Bosquet is an inflammatory local investigative journalist that ostensibly helped bring down Peter Kelly by exposing some fairly mundane and very personal distribution-of-inheritance-wealth scandal (he hadn't gotten around to doing that either); there were several other controversial series of articles, on the transit strike and the Nova Centre in particular. He's no longer the editor of the Coast but he's still a familiar name in Halifax and many people hold strong opinions about him either way.

The Night Watcher: The Night Watcher is an adult male who sneaks into womens' homes at night and watches them sleep. Unfortunately I'm not making this up, and it started several (at least 6) years ago.

Rapey SMU students: A couple years ago St. Mary's made national headlines because of an exuberant frosh chant that basically glorified raping people's underage sisters. It was really controversial and a lot of consequences followed for a lot of people, and we had to keep hearing about it for a really long time.

Rapey Dal students/Rapey Dentists: Last year Dal made national headlines because of a leaked facebook group in which some male dentistry students made offensive sexual jokes about their colleagues and classmates. It became a gigantic scandal, and all things considered was handled poorly - sort of well "at heart" but poorly in practice - and we had to keep hearing about it for a really long time. Like several times a week for a whole year.

The drunk tank: I'm not sure on the statistics, but I wouldn't be surprised if most people my age (I'm 27) haven't (edit: have) been to the drunk tank at least once.

Having "the first _____ in North America!" or "the largest _____ east of Montreal!": There are a lot of these, and tend to forget about Mexico and Quebec City. But whatever.


Stereotypes associated with prominent bars:

The Dome: Trashy, desperate for sex or attention. Very low standards for music.
Reflections: Sexually adventurous, probably on drugs. People who listen to esoteric EDM music in their free time.
Toothy Moose: Trashy, but in a different way from the Dome. Devoid of culture. Lacking the desperation of the Dome as well as any sense of character whatsoever.
The Marquee/Seahorse: Full of music scene people who will pay $40 to see someone they don't like just to say they went
Lion & Bright: Ugh, too many macbooks and perfect beards.
Stillwell: Actually too many hipsters to be able to talk at a normal volume.
Gus's Pub: Metalheads and cheap beer and absurdly bad acoustics for a music venue
Pacifico: Douchey, everyone smells way too nice and falls going up the stairs at least once on the way out.


Neighbourhoods that are associated with violence and poverty: North End, Spryfield, Sackville, Dartmouth, Fairview

Neighbourhoods that are associated with pretentiousness and excess: South End, Bedford, Fall River, Hammonds Plains

Neighbourhoods that are considered especially boring: Spryfield, Bedford, Clayton Park, Sackville, most of Dartmouth, Cole Harbour

Sackville has a remarkable number of car dealerships.




Moncton: Ha! Moncton! Everyone there talks all weird and there's nothing to do there except go to the annual U2 concert and complain about how smug and entitled people from Halifax are. We were rightfully appointed "COTU" by Ottawa - just ask Newfoundland

The Rest of New Brunswick: Ha! The Rest of New Brunswick! Everyone there talks all weird and there's nothing but quasi-industrial forests owned by Irving and the token moose that will leap right into your windshield if you're not careful as you drive through New Brunswick on the way to your destination. Fredericton is basically just Dalhousie in the middle of the forest and Saint John is basically just a giant pollution factory next to the ocean.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

One offensive one. Sorry Marty.

Conservative Muslim women = Mummers.

• Video Link

Wow I never connected the two, now I'll always calling them mummers.

On a side note how on earth hasn't there been a whole genre of newfoundland films based on mummering.

[Stryker]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Skeets would be the big one. Some of them even pass into infamy, like the #pizzaskeets. They're basically the local equivalent of chavs - an urban lower class with relentlessly public relationship drama, Eastern Bloc/1980s sports fan fashion sense, and lots of neck tattoos. I love them because they always have the thickest accents and it's a hyper-masculine subculture.

Twitter persona example: https://mobile.twitter.com/skeetquotes

There's also the East Ender Townie. Upper middle class, Irish accent, stern demeanour, expensive tastes, lack of patience, judgmental. You always feel like you've committed a faux pas in their presence.

Twitter persona example: https://mobile.twitter.com/SEESA1A

My personal favorite, A skeet rush.

It's where one writes a final exams and leaves within the first 15 mintues.

When I heard that for the first time I almost cried laughing.

Maybe not so funny if you are from the city, but when your a student living on campus its usually your introduction to the concept of what a skeet is.

[MolsonExport]

EoA= East of Adelaide. Shitsville in London-speak
London: a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit there. Not much is happening here.

Best of all, parodies of the wretched theme song:
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[Acajack]

Originally Posted by wg_flamip

Definitely Gino and Gina. I've only heard "Guido" from Americans.

I remember a Polish guy at my high school once went on a rant about how Ginos could come from any background ("There are Portuguese Ginos, Polish Ginos, Persian Ginos, it's a lifestyle not a culture!"). By the early to mid 2Ks - at least in my little slice of the world - "Gino" had become a subculture, not a slur.

Yeah, it's the same in Quebec. Most Ginos here in fact are of French Canadian origin, not Italian.

But just thinking and I'd say "Gina" doesn't really exist in Quebec. It's really "Ginette" that is used.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by snowmobile

Winnipeg:
We were born here, what's your excuse?

Isn't this from a Simpsons episode when they visit Winnipeg for cheap prescription drugs?

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've never actually heard that one, but it makes sense! I've always found that Ottawa had a Tijuana-type relationship with Gatineau (where booze and sex are more readily available, or at least that's the perception). Maybe not so much as in the old days though.

I hadn't heard that one either, but have a friend that lives in Gatineau, and when driving across the river he used to say, 'welcome to the terd world'. To this day, I'm not sure if he meant 'third world' with a French accent', or 'turd world'?

Originally Posted by wg_flamip

Definitely Gino and Gina. I've only heard "Guido" from Americans.

I remember a Polish guy at my high school once went on a rant about how Ginos could come from any background ("There are Portuguese Ginos, Polish Ginos, Persian Ginos, it's a lifestyle not a culture!"). By the early to mid 2Ks - at least in my little slice of the world - "Gino" had become a subculture, not a slur.

As for Ginos and Ginas, I have heard the term used a lot in the Ottawa area, sometimes to describe French or Lebanese. It's more the clothes etc.. and back then it seemed to refer to anyone driving a Firebird or Camaro.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've never actually heard that one, but it makes sense! I've always found that Ottawa had a Tijuana-type relationship with Gatineau (where booze and sex are more readily available, or at least that's the perception). Maybe not so much as in the old days though.

So an acquaintance of mine from Almonte (good friend of my best friend) claims to have coined the term "Quebexican" as a general insult. Another Almonte resident in that friend group named his post-punk / hardcore band Quebexico. They were actually fairly popular in the Ottawa region in the early 2000s among the scene kids and played a ton of small shows. He's now in a Toronto band called Teenanger - the more you know!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

I hadn't heard that one either, but have a friend that lives in Gatineau, and when driving across the river he used to say, 'welcome to the terd world'. To this day, I'm not sure if he meant 'third world' with a French accent', or 'turd world'?



As for Ginos and Ginas, I have heard the term used a lot in the Ottawa area, sometimes to describe French or Lebanese. It's more the clothes etc.. and back then it seemed to refer to anyone driving a Firebird or Camaro.

OK, maybe Gina as the feminine of Gino is more of an anglo thing. I've never heard it in Quebec or from francophones.

Also, "Gino Camaro" is definitely a term you hear here as well.

[RWin]

A really old one I heard when I lived in Victoria so maybe it doesn't apply any more:

There was a fire in Esquimalt last night that cause $2 million in improvements.