Happy Canada Day!

To celebrate Canada's 143 birthday I'm going to offer you, yet again, some interesting, possibly little known Canadian facts.

Fact #1.
Canada comes from the Huron-Iroquois word "Kanata" meaning village.

Fact #2.
The square headed screwdriver and screw (the Robertson) was invented in Canada by a Canadian, Peter Lymburner Robertson.

Fact #3.
Canada is the worlds largest source of fresh water with our land covered by nearly 800,000 sq. km of lakes and rivers.

Fact #4.
Canada has more automobiles per person than any other country - I vehicle for every 2 people.

Fact #5
Newfoundlanders (aka Newfies) have their own language. They do speak English but it's Newfinese. They also have their own dictionary to translate (it's a massive dictionary!). For example "squish" does not mean 'to squeeze something' to a Newfie. It means 'crooked' - as in "That picture you hung on the wall is squish" And crooked does not mean askew, it means contrary. "You're a crooked one today, aren't you" Your standard greeting is not "Hi, how are you?" It's "How ya gettin' on?" (there is a tasteless joke involving this greeting, a Newfie bus driver and a man in a wheel chair but I won't tell it. You're smart and can figure it out)

Fact #6
Canadians have their own language as well. I don't mean French. I mean things like eavestrough (gutters to my US friends) double double (coffee with two milk and two sugar) and raised bungalow (a bungalow in which the basement of the home is partially above ground)

Fact #7
Yes we say "Eh" and it can mean as much as 25 different things depending on the situation and inflection of your voice.

Fact #8
Some things only available in Canada....
Newfie Screech (rum - very strong...no one really likes it)
Butter tarts (really - my US friends...no butter tarts....oh you don't know what you're missing!!)
Smarties (like M&M's only better!)
Red Rose Tea (Tetley has nothing on Red Rose!)

Fact #9
Along with the Roberston screw driver some other fabulous Canadian inventions include:
the jolly jumper, duct tape, walkie talkies, roller skates, air conditioned vehicles, standard and daylight savings time and snowmobiles.

Fact #10
Canadians eat more macaroni and cheese than any other nation. But here we don't call it Kraft Dinner. It's KD. And you gotta load it up with ketchup (not catsup)
Gotta be KD!

Happy Canada Day! Now go get some poutine!