10 differences between Canada and the UK

Monday was our 3-months-in-Canada anniversary, and along the way we have made a few observations of things that are different with back home in the UK.

Given that Canada was once part of the British Empire and all that, some things are similar to the UK, but given the economic and cultural strength of the USA to the south, there are many things that are different to the UK.

So just like America, there are some obvious differences. They drive on the wrong side of the road, they call trousers ‘pants’, a courgette is no longer a courgette but a zucchini, crisps are chips and chips are fries, and football is soccer.

But here are some more subtle differences that we’ve noticed over the past 3 months:

1. Milk comes in a carton or a bag. Not a plastic bottle. The bag is definitely better for the environment but not so sure on the carton.

2. Pitta bread is called pita and pronounced like Peter.

3. They don’t have draining boards. Instead they use a stinky sink draining mat.

4. Wearing real fur is accepted far more. Every second person wears a Canada Goose parka which features a hood trimmed with real coyote fur.

They use coyote fur as it never freezes, doesn’t hold water and the uneven hair length creates a windbreak to protect your exposed skin. Poor coyote.

5. Shops are open past 5pm on a Sunday meaning no chance of starving to death on a Sunday night.

6. You can’t buy 6 eggs, you have to buy 12 and they will be white not brown.

7. Dogs wear boots and they come in a variety of colours and styles. Just like human boots. Apparently this is to protect their paws from the salt on the pavements.

Search youtube for more dog related boot fun
Search YouTube for more dog in boots related fun

8. The smallest denomination is a 5c coin, meaning all prices are either rounded up or down to the nearest 5c.  Sometimes it works in your favour, sometimes it doesn’t.

9. They don’t use the 24hr clock. Poor Stewart spent ages trying to change the time to 24hr on the microwave but sadly it’s not possible.

10. University is referred to as school.

Bacon bowl
The shops are full of weird and wonderful things. This is definitely one of our favourites so far!

We hope you’ve been enjoying reading our blog over the past few months and will continue to do so over the coming months. We still have lots more adventures planned.

We’re now off to spend the rest of Christmas Eve eating homemade pizza and watching Breaking Bad.

Emma and Stewart

3 thoughts on “10 differences between Canada and the UK

  1. I visited Canada in 2013 and loved it. One big difference between Canada and Australia is that we are more direct in our conversation and usually will say what we think. Canadians are lovely reserved people, reluctant to hurt others by speaking directly. Thanks for liking my post


    1. I think there’s where the British and Canadians are very similar – we’re not very direct either. We’d neither complain about poor service for example, just moan about it to everyone we knew afterwards!


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