Do Canadians use the word county?

[megadude]

I'm currently watching The Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. It's a fascinating documentary on the infamous White family of Boone County, WV.

You hear "county" in American movies or on the news all the time. Erie County this, Dade County that.

In the more rural places I hear them reference the nearby counties all the time. Instead of saying they're going to the nearby town, you hear them say they're going to Lincoln County. Well, the county contains many towns. Why not just specify the town you're going to? It's only in the next county over. I'm sure people have heard of the town you're going to.

You get the point.

Seems to me counties in Canada are bigger geographically compared to the US where even in sparsely populated states they have a different county every 10 miles down the road. Mike Harris' PCs of the late '90s and early 2000s would have a nightmare if they saw a map like this (that's 93 counties!):


https://www.digital-topo-maps.com/co...nebraska.shtml


Do we ever reference counties in regular conversation? I know I've never said I'm going to Dufferin County. I say I'm going to Orangeville. I don't say Perth County. I say Stratford or St. Mary's. If someone said Simcoe County, well Tottenham to Penetang is a 1:15 drive.

Anyone in the rest of Canada use "county"?

[Calgarian]

Do we need a thread for every single random question people can think of? should I start a thread for this?

[Docere]

Southern Ontario and the Maritimes have counties similar to US counties (though more urbanized ones in Ontario are called "regional municipalities").

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Do we need a thread for every single random question people can think of? should I start a thread for this?

[hipster duck]

In fairness, some of the recent bumper crop of new threads have sparked intelligent discussion. Up until recently, discussion on the forum was starting to get a little stale. However, opening up 10 new threads a day buries these discussions.

[MonctonRad]

We certainly use the word "county" in NB. Around Moncton, people refer to Albert County and Kent County all the time. Westmorland County is pretty much synonymous with "Moncton" itself, so is little used in common speech.

It depends a bit on whether or not the county has a major shire town or not. Albert County really doesn't, therefore the name remains in usage. Kings County however isn't used in everyday speech quite as much because that county has a large shire town (Sussex).

FWIW, counties in NB are essentially an anachronism any more. They still exist (on paper), but any county governance structures were abolished in the 1960s by Premier Robichaud as part of his equality platform. All county governance structures (roads, schools etc) reverted to the province under his legislation, although individual cities, towns and villages were unaffected. Interestingly, the county seat for Westmorland County (where Moncton is located), wasn't Moncton but was instead Dorchester, a sleepy hamlet of about 200 souls best known as the home of a rather infamous prison........

Counties on PEI are similarly a historical anachronism. They exist, but have no government structure.

[TownGuy]

Who cares if he makes threads? That's the point of the forum. I guess you'd rather stick to the same 5 "Great Canadian Whatever..." threads where everyone talks in circles.

To answer the question I live in Northumberland County although just say Cobourg. Nearby Prince Edward County is colloquially known as "The County" and that's what's said when traveling anywhere in it.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Who cares if he makes threads? That's the point of the forum. I guess you'd rather stick to the same 5 "Great Canada Whatever..." threads where everyone talks in circles.

Hear hear!

[someone123]

People use county in Nova Scotia all the time. They might say they live in Hants County for example. And the county sizes are similar to what they are in a lot of US states. I assume NB and PEI are the same.

Nova Scotia has "regional municipalities" too, but nobody says they are going to "Cape Breton Regional Municipality".

[megadude]

Wow! Seeing a lot of passive aggressiveness in the past couple of days about new threads.

I used to post on redflagdeals.com for many different topics and questions but with that kind of forum you get the trolls and the juvenile crowd. Here it seems virtually everyone is smart, knowledgeable, well traveled and well informed. And this is the main reason I think people pose these "random" questions here. Because they will actually get the informed answers they are looking for and not the dreck that comes with other forums. Plus, like others have said, it sparks additional discussion that is interesting and educational to some members.

[Docere]

I think you need to be a member for 10 years before getting the "privilege" of starting "too many" threads.

Are 60,000 post threads on city murder rates or the weather really better?

[megadude]

I agree that the forum was getting stale, which is natural as forums are cyclical. Not all threads in the last couple of days tickled my fancy but it was nice to see an injection of new topics. If it doesn't interest you then don't click on it. There are tonnes of threads lower on the page that haven't been replied to in several days.

And every thread has seen activity because it has interested at least a few people. So what's the problem? It's not like someone is starting a thread called "What should I have for dinner?

[mintzilla]

Originally Posted by megadude

Wow! Seeing a lot of passive aggressiveness in the past couple of days about new threads.

Here it seems virtually everyone is smart, knowledgeable, well traveled and well informed.

[citation needed]

[lio45]

Same as the other Easterners, we'll use "county" here when we're talking about a place rural enough (if we can instead mention a city, that's what we'll do).

For example, I'd say to someone only somewhat familiar with the area that my grandfather lives in Shefford County (loose translation that's loose on purpose: my knowledge of local English is actually good enough that I would say "my grandfather lives in Shefford Township".) For someone less familiar I would say he lives outside Granby, or someone even less familiar I'd say he lives halfway between Mtl and Sherb.

You can see it on this map which happens to look a lot like your OP map. (His nearest go-to city is Granby; for a bigger city he has to go to Sherbrooke).

[lio45]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Who cares if he makes threads? That's the point of the forum. I guess you'd rather stick to the same 5 "Great Canadian Whatever..." threads where everyone talks in circles.

Exactly my view as well. The forum was very dormant this past weekend, now the flurry of new threads have made it alive again. I don't see any downside...? Just don't click on any thread that doesn't interest you -- that's been my MO ever since I started visiting online forums, and it's always worked well for me.

[megadude]

Interesting. Obviously I don't spend enough time in these places with the locals.

When I'm passing through smaller places on my road trips I'm only stopping for gas or for a bite to eat. Or I'm in a touristy area surrounded by other tourists and not immersing myself with the locals.

Plus I've never been outside ON and QC (only stayed in Mtl and QC) in this country, which is one of the reasons I posted the question in the first place. If I had more time and money I would have visited and stayed in many more parts of the province and country.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by mintzilla

[citation needed]

Lol.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by lio45

You can see it on this map which happens to look a lot like your OP map. (His nearest go-to city is Granby; for a bigger city he has to go to Sherbrooke).

Those are townships, though. It's not showing the counties. For example, my grandfather's family came from the township of Lingwick in Compton County (on the right of the map). The old county names have mostly been replaced by more French-sounding names for larger regions (Haut St-Francois etc.) but the federal government still some of them in electoral district names (e.g. Compton is still a federal electoral district).

[esquire]

So are counties strictly an eastern thing, from Southern Ontario to the east coast (excluding NL)? I've never heard the term used in the west, although I'd imagine that what we call Rural Municipalities in Manitoba are functionally the same thing.

[Andy6]

Manitoba was divided into counties initially, but they were eliminated in 1890. The density of the Prairie population wasn't enough to warrant a middle level of government. The only old county name that is still somewhat familiar is Beautiful Plains, whose county seat was the town of Neepawa. The Beautiful Plains County Court building is a prominent building in Neepawa, and this webpage gives a bit of a history relating to the county.

The province is divided into Rural Municipalities, which are sort of the same thing but are the bottom tier of government (unlike counties, which can contain towns and villages that are still part of the county - an incorporated town or village in a RM is separate from the RM).