Every Canadian has a complicated relationship with the United States, whereas Americans think of Canada as the place where the weather comes from. Complication is a matter of how you perceive yourself in an unequal power relationship. – Margaret Atwood
“Chicago of the North” (Winnipeg)
“Chicago of the North” (Owen Sound)
“Little Chicago” (Moose Jaw)
“The Windy City” (Lethbridge)
“Canada’s Motor City” (Oshawa)
“Canada’s Motor City” (Windsor)
“Halifornia” (Halifax)
“Broadway North” (Toronto)
“Hollywood North” (Vancouver)
“Fox Vegas” (Fox Creek)
“Canada’s Border City” (Lloydminster)
“Sin City” (Montreal)
“Sin City” (St. John’s)
“Texas North” (Alberta*)
*A province. You should know that already.
Tags: canada, cultural imperialism, for the record, nicknames, no one actually uses these nicknames, weird true tales
I remember from taking a charming tour while there that Moose Jaw was a hub of liquor smuggling to the Chicago markets back at the time when that was more of a business, so I guess there’s that connection?
“Halifornia” makes no sense to me, but I’m slow on the uptake with these things.
Maybe it’s because we (NS people) refer to it as Hali. “Going to Hali this weekend.” Because I cannot imagine anyone confusing it with California.
Haliwood. Always.
Ha.
At Queen’s U in Kingston, ON, they sold t-shirts that read, “Harvard: the Queen’s of the South.”
I had a Harvard shirt that said “The McGill of the South”!
Didn’t we all? Also Yuck Fale.
I’m holding out for a Niagara is Gorges tee.
that’s perfect. i want that. i still begrudgingly describe mcgill as “harvard of canada” to people who give me a blank stare when i say where i went.
You do? Really?
ETA: I’m sorry, that sounded, and I guess was, really bitchy. But I have approx. 1 million friends who went to McGill, and I definitely do not think of it like Harvard. I would put Mount A or something in that category, maybe.
yes. i mean they market themselves as the harvard of canada. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc5vN2XReWs
I went to Queen’s University and there was definitely a — maybe informal? — sense that they liked to market themselves as ‘the Harvard of the North’ to potential American students: yay, you get your obsessive school spirit traditions /and/ cheaper fees!
I applied as a Brit who’d grown up in Canada, so I was sold on the lovely stone buildings (Oxbridge of the West?).
McGill sells similar shirts with “Harvard: The American McGill” or something like that.
Is it possible that I’m the only Canadian who’s ever been to Chicago? (Owen SOUND?)
No, I just went in June! And if Chicago is like anywhere in Canada, it’s Montreal.
Hahaha I always thought Chicago was a bit like a nicer, richer, cleaner, smarter Toronto. It’s not as hip as Montreal.
Nooo I live in Toronto! And both me and the other T.O. peeps (one of whom went to uni in Montreal!) also agreed that it has Montreal vibes.
I can’t argue with vibes! I just got different ones, I guess.
Where do you live in TO? I missssss it. I went to UofT for undergrad and stayed for a couple of years after. I’m a Vancouver repatriate now, and I wouldn’t go back, but I do miss it.
I live in East York, cuz it’s cheap. Pretty close to the Danforth/Pape Village.
Owen Sound?! In the first two decades of the 20th Century perhaps they’re citing the proliferation of bars and brothels later replaced by bootleggers and a temperance league that kept the city dry until 1972. Beyond that, it’s hard to imagine where that comparison had come from.
do any of the cities that have the same nicknames have petty rivalries over which is the real Canada’s Motor City? like do people is St. John’s pointedly talk about Montreal’s reputation as “Sin City” while half-proudly citing their own higher immorality statistics?
Lethbridge is already “The wickedest town in the wickedest province,” not sure why any other nickname is needed
Leonard Cohen used to introduce “Democracy is Coming to the USA” as a song “for those who are below us.”
Leonard Cohen always! Leonard Cohen day at the toast!
Lloydminster is actually the Border City because it straddles the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, so I think that one’s out – lol. For Halifax maybe that’s a play on its name, Haligonia? I have heard the Sin City one for St. John’s, as it’s locally pronouned Sin Jahnz.
From now on I’m going to refer to Chicago as “Big Moose Jaw,” who’s with me?
This Moose Jaw resident approves! By the when, when is the Saskatchewan Toast meet-up? I can’t wait.
This Chicagoan approves! I mean, “Big Moose Jawian.”
Same here!
YES SASKATCHEMEETUP.
Ahem. Sorry. But that should happen.
Agree!! What city are you in? Are there more of us here?? *her cries ring out across the desolate prairie*
Yes. But Saskatoon.
‘Big Moose Jaw Fire’
‘The Big Moose Jaw Code’
‘The Real World: Big Moose Jaw’
‘Big Moose Jawlicious’
Guilty as charged. As an Alberta resident I often describe it as Canada’s Bible Suspender, and sometimes as Utah North.
Kelownafornia! And the Okanagan – “Canada’s Napa Valley.” F’real – can’t Napa be America’s Okanagan?
Most of what I know about Canada I learned from my parents’ Gordon Lightfoot cassettes.
To be fair, that and a Pierre Burton audiotape on Niagra and you have our high school history curricula.
My hometown is Gordon Lightfoot’s hometown! Unsurprisingly, they ran him out of town for being a hippy.
Also if Canada wanted to officially rename Detroit “The U.S. Oshawa” or “America’s Windsor” now is probably a great time to snap up those naming rights.
I’ve read that there were actually several cities known as “The Windy City” before the title descended upon Chicago. This includes allegations that a newspaperman just flat out stole the nickname for Chicago because he liked it.
Toasties! Rob Ford! ROB FORD. Rob Ford.
Although honestly, it’s comforting to know that Canadian politicians can be train wrecks too. Makes me feel slightly less “below.”
ROB FORD! Drunken stupors!
ROB FORD
The worst is, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he will be re-elected next year.
I’m sure it’s really funny to watch, but I actually have to live in Toronto, and he is fucking awful. He has totally fucked transit expansion for like YEARS. And he has actually broken the law and gotten away with it. And I’m starting to think he might have had something to do with the death of one of the young men in the crack video. AND HE WON’T LEAVE.
Oh, definitely! I think the failure to focus on the MURDER that may have been committed is really distressing.
I think that’s what the police are investigating right now, or part of it, but obviously they can’t really say anything or it’ll wreck the case. But I think he did get his friend Lisi to do it.
Those dummies. No lake monster.
Nooo I live in Toronto! And both me and the other T.O. peeps (one of whom went to uni in Montreal!) also agreed that it has Montreal vibes.
I live in East York, cuz it's cheap. Pretty close to the Danforth/Pape Village.
I'm sure it's really funny to watch, but I actually have to live in Toronto, and he is fucking awful. He has totally fucked transit expansion for like YEARS. And he has actually broken the law and gotten away with it. And I'm starting to think he might have had something to do with the death of one of the young men in the crack video. AND HE WON'T LEAVE.
I think that's what the police are investigating right now, or part of it, but obviously they can't really say anything or it'll wreck the case. But I think he did get his friend Lisi to do it.
I’ve come to think of Alberta (my home province) as “Canada’s Texas Wannabe.”
But to my American friends, I frequently say, “Jon Stewart is the U.S.’s Rick Mercer.”