Canuck

For other uses, see Canuck (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Kanak people.
An editorial cartoon, c. 1910, portraying Johnny Canuck

Canuck /kəˈnʌk/ is a slang term for a Canadian, though its semantic nuances are manifold.[1] Older sources often claimed the origins of the word as uncertain,[2] or related to the Iroquoian word for village (kanata), or other folk linguistic etymologies. Historical linguists consider it as "highly plausible" today that Canuck derives from the influx of Hawaiian migrants in the late 18th and early 19th centuries,[1] the Polynesian Kanaka people (Kanaka Maoli), in what would as of 1858 become British Columbia.[3] The term Kanuck is first recorded in 1835 as an Americanism, originally referring to Dutch Canadians (which included German Canadians) or French Canadians.[2][4] By the 1850s, the spelling with a "C" became predominant.[2] Today, many Canadians and others use Canuck as a mostly affectionate term for any Canadian.[2][5]

Johnny Canuck is a folklore hero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented as a Second World War action hero in 1942.[6] The Vancouver Canucks, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) has used a version of "Johnny Canuck" as their team logos.[7]

The Canadian military has used the term colloquially for several projects: Operation Canuck, the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck and the Fleet 80 Canuck.

Captain Canuck is a Canadian comic book superhero who first appeared in Captain Canuck #1 (July 1975).[8] The series was the first successful Canadian comic book since the collapse of the nation's comic book industry following World War II.[9]

  1. ^ a b "Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, Third Edition, s.v. "Canuck", def. (1a)". dchp.arts.ubc.ca. 2017. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  2. ^ a b c d Orkin, Mark M. (1970). Speaking Canadian English: An Informal Account of the English Language in Canada. Taylor & Francis. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-317-43632-4.
  3. ^ "Canuck". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2019.
  4. ^ Dollinger, Stefan. 2006. Towards a fully revised and extended edition of the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-2): background, challenges, prospects. HSL/SHL Vol. 6.
  5. ^ The Mavens' Word of the Day, archived from the original on 17 April 2001
  6. ^ Bachle, L.; Kulbach, A.; Dak, P. (2015). Johnny Canuck. Comic Syrup Press. pp. 17–21. ISBN 978-0-9940547-0-8. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  7. ^ "Canuck". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  8. ^ Markstein, Don. "Captain Canuck". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  9. ^ Edwardson, Ryan (November 2003). "The Many Lives of Captain Canuck: Nationalism, Culture, and the creation of a Canadian Comic Book Superhero". The Journal of Popular Culture. 37 (2): 184–201. doi:10.1111/1540-5931.00063.