We've been living in the U.S. for 3 years now and just getting the hang of all these different words and meanings for everyday things. Now I'm wondering whether the Canadians generally use U.S. or British words for things, or have their own versions! For instance:

Sidewalk or Pavement:
Hood or Bonnet:
Restroom or Toilet:
Cookies or Biscuits:
Candy or Sweets:
Candy bar or Chocolate bar:
Plush or Teddy:
Flashlight or Torch:
Soda or Pop:
Leash or Lead:
Yard or Garden:
Cider or Applejuice (non alcholic):
Applejack or Cider (alcholic):
Lumber or Timber:
Freeway or Motorway:
Mail Carrier or Postman:
Pants or Trousers:
Soccer or Football:
Line or Queue:
Principal or Head Teacher:
Beef pattie or Beef burger:
Biscuit or Savory Scone:
Grill or BBQ (outside):
Broil or Grill (inside):
Gas or Petrol:

I have a feeling most of the words will follow the American ways but with English spellings - is this about right? Anyone think of any other differences?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Canadian
Sidewalk or Pavement: Sidewalk
Hood or Bonnet: Hood
Restroom or Toilet: Bathroom or washroom
Cookies or Biscuits: Cookies
Candy or Sweets: Candy
Candy bar or Chocolate bar: Chocolate bar
Plush or Teddy: Stuffy
Flashlight or Torch: Flashlight
Soda or Pop: Pop
Leash or Lead: Leash
Yard or Garden: Both
Cider or Applejuice (non alcholic): Cider
Applejack or Cider (alcholic): Cider
Lumber or Timber: Lumber
Freeway or Motorway: Freeway
Mail Carrier or Postman: Mailman
Pants or Trousers: Pants
Soccer or Football: Soccer
Line or Queue: Line-up
Principal or Head Teacher: Principal
Beef pattie or Beef burger: Hamburger pattie
Biscuit or Savory Scone: Biscuit (Cheese etc)
Grill or BBQ (outside): BBQ
Broil or Grill (inside): Broil
Gas or Petrol: Gas
Woolly Hat Toque (pronounced toook)
e.g. He drank five beers He drank five beer (no "s")
Really? No doubt?
English British
Terraced house (UK) Row house
Semi detached house (UK) Duplex
Complete house sale (UK) Close
Dungarees Overalls
Jumper Sweater

I could go on...and on....and on....

Bilmey guv' - I thought it'd be mainly American OR mainly British but noticed it can be some of one or some of the other.

One other thing - can Canadians turn right on a red light (stop light) if the road is clear? Do they have roundabouts (confused the hell out of the Americans when they installed one in Nashville centre! ) and can you overtake vehicles on either side on the interstate/highway/freeway/big long road thingy?

You can turn right on a red light as long as its safe to do so. As for roundabouts, we have only one near where we live in BC.

I imagine youve been to canada already, if you did did you see many roundabouts ?

From memory I got yelled at driving in Quebec when I turned right on a red??? Or am I dreaming? Everywhere else you can turn right on a red unless it is prohibited or not safe to do so. Roundabouts = traffic circles...and I still watch people stopping, staring, then going the wrong way round the few little ones up here in the Fraser Valley. What can be so hard? Overtaking on the inside is not prohibited on the freeway but they encourage (ha ha) you to keep right if you are slower than the traffic flow.

I think Quebec is the only province with no right turn on red. I think they considered it recently but If you've ever been to Montreal you'll find that people don't pay much attention to traffic signals anyhow!

From personal experience add

Eraser or rubber : eraser

rubber or condom: rubber

The answer is no, and er, no!!

Hey - I've thought of some more (how could I forget these?)

Fries or Chips:
Chips or Crisps:
Server or Waiter:
Closet or Wardrobe:
Ranch (as in 1 story house) or Bungalow:
Remodel or Redecorate:
Realtor or Estate Agent:

I still, even now get confused with chips v crisps v fries. My hubby said the other day - how long have you been here? Doh!

Im a bit confused are you emmigrating to canada or staying in the states ?

Here are a few more:

(CAN)Hamburger =(UK) Minced beef

(UK) Biro = (CAN) Ballpoint. I got a lot of blank stares asking to borrow someones Biro, asking for a Bic is a little better, although that is usually a lighter.

(UK) Hoover (noun) = (CAN) vacuum. Hoover is a brand, not an activity

(UK) Beer, a nice dark coloured, warm liquid with flavour and a creamy froth on top = (CDN) Beer, a light coloured, cold drink with flavour = (US) Beer, a light colored cold liquid.

Iain

If you read my posts regularly you'd know that I'm a Brit in the States and moving to Canada. Where's the confusion?

The confusion was that when I asked you whether you had visited canada and if so seen any roundabouts you said no to both.

Then I thought to myself surely you must of visited canada before deciding to emmigrate there since most people dont really emmigrate to a country without checking out first hand what it had to offer.

So I presumed that you had visited canada then you said you hadnt, and thats when I got confused.

Ah - I gotchya!

This is our 3rd time emigrating and the 1st two times we did visit the country first and it made little difference in the end as there's no real way of sussing a place out until you've lived there (or been lucky to visit for a long time.) We only have 10 measly days vacation in the U.S. and a lot of those days were used up seeing my mum after my father died during 2001 and then 2002-2003 I worked in England to save up money for the Canada move (as I cannot work in the US on spouse visa) so that gave us no time left to visit Canada. Our US visas run out in May so it's a choice of returning to the UK this year or moving onto Canada and so we chose Canada first, with a view to returning to the UK if it doesn't work out. So in a nut shell there's nowt to lose by moving there without visiting first, if you get my drift!!

But, in my defense I have spent huge amounts of time researching everything from job prospects, to weather, to schools, to housing, to provincial tax rates, to cost of living etc etc. so if anyone else is thinking of moving without visiting remember to do your homework first! Don't rely too much on preconceived ideas - gather as much information as possible and best of all, befriend an expat who has already moved to help you.

Ah I see now.

Which province are you going to settle in ?

Manitoba - the birthplace of my dear grandmother