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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Saskatchewan-isms and the Emergence of the Bunny Hug

For those of you who don't know, Saskatchewan has a number of...we'll call them quirks. For one, it seems no matter how dry or wet the weather is, it will never be what the farmers need. But I digress, that's not the kind of quirk I want to focus on here. I want to turn the light towards speech.
The first time I heard the term "bunny hug" was when a friend of mine met someone from Saskatoon. This girl referred to her hoodie as a "bunny hug". I'm not going to lie, I laughed heartily at the term. Then I met Brad who used both "bunny hug" and "hoodie" to refer to his hooded sweatshirts.
Let me start off by saying this is one term that Saskatchewanians take a somewhat fierce pride in. When brought into question they firmly state it is, in fact, a terribly common term. When confronted with the negative results of a Canada-wide poll questioning whether other provinces had even HEARD the term before, those born and raised in Saskatchewan will stubbornly say the rest of the country is wrong, "and what kind of stupid name is 'hoodie' anyway?"
In an effort to find a level of solidarity, I offered the term "kangaroo jacket" from my childhood, (Which often only brings scorned laughter).
Imagine my surprise when, while browsing the Police Report section of the Star Phoenix (Saskatoon) I found a report describing the suspect in an armed robbery; "...18 year old, wearing a blue bandanna, ball cap and black bunny hug..." I nearly fell off my chair and immediately clipped the article to carry with me as proof of the phrase to residents of other provinces.
The term "bunny hug" however, has become endearing, and I have grown accustomed to it (though I still smile to myself when I hear it). While I haven't started using it, I've given up the fight to prove it is not in fact common.
I have a new fight as of this morning when Darwin was describing blowing on his daughters tummy, and Alexis said "Oh! You mean a Zerbert!" I will NOT accept this term. It's a raspberry. End of story. Zerbert? Seriously!

1 comment:

Darwin Gooding said...

Zerbert! Zerbert I say! A rasberry is a sports injury in baseball from sliding in shale. Always has been, always will be. Weirdo!