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If you’re sitting kitty-corner next to some hoser at a cashpiel while eating your kokum’s world-famous blueberry grunt — it’s probably going to turn into an elbows-up affair.
And if you need some help translating that sentence, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has just added seven new entries from Canadian English.
Here is the full point form list:
- Cashspiel (noun): A competition or tournament held for cash prizes. A play on “bonspiel,” often a curling tournament held between players from different clubs or districts.
- Elbows up (phrase): Used to indicate willingness to (aggressively) defend oneself or fight back. Frequently as a modifier.
- Grunt (noun): A dessert consisting of stewed fruit with a biscuit or dough topping, typically cooked on a stovetop rather than baked in an oven. Frequently with modifying word indicating the fruit used.
- Kitty-corner (adjective and adverb): Situated diagonally opposite someone or something.
- Kokum (noun): Chiefly in Cree cultural contexts: a grandmother; one’s grandmother; (more generally) an elderly woman. Also as a familiar title or form of address.
- Land acknowledgment (noun): A formal written or spoken statement to recognize and honour the original Indigenous inhabitants of land that was subsequently colonized and on which an event or activity takes place, or an institution is located.
- Point form (noun and adjective): A format in which written information is presented in a list or series of concise statements.
The OED uses several methods to track the emergence of new words in English. Sometimes, new words are crowdsourced. Other times, they come from scholars who study how English is used in Canada. The OED also uses software to track the frequency of words in different parts of the world.
So it’s no surprise “elbows up” was one of the phrases added this year.
In response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Canadian actor Mike Myers may have started a movement by pointing to his elbow and mouthing the words ‘elbows up’ during appearances on Saturday Night Live. The phrase has caught on and has become a rallying cry in the trade war.
How the world sees Canada
“It’s been really fun working on this batch,” said Danica Salazar, world English editor at the OED. “Canada has been showing a lot of soft power especially in the past year with the Elbows Up movement and Heated Rivalry. Canada has been on everyone’s mind.”
With these new words joining the broader lexicon, it’s possible other English speakers will see Canadians a little bit more like we see ourselves.
“The stereotypical idea of Canadians is that you’re quite polite and … tend to be quite apologetic and self-effacing,” said Salazar. But with elbows up being known more widely, she says people are seeing a new dimension to Canadians. “You fight when you do need to fight… You’re far from being doormats.”
Hang on, isn’t kokum Cree?
Salazar said it’s natural for English to absorb influences from other languages it contacts.
“So, naturally, Canada being a place where there’s a lot of influence from Indigenous cultures, it’s expected that some of these additional words also make their way into general Canadian vocabulary.”
The Cree word kokum, she said, is an example of that process.
What does the rest of the world call ‘point form’?
Bullet points is the more common term, which we also use. The Canadian “point form” is apparently a rare, more versatile alternative.
Salazar said she had never heard of the term point form before, even though she has some family that lives in Canada.
Now she plans to introduce it into her own vernacular because it can also be used as an adjective. “I think it’s really useful.”
