It's a Toque, Not a Beanie Tee
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Canada, the stereotypes we're proud of
Every country has its clichés. Ours just happen to be delicious, polite or freezing. Poutine, toques, bagged milk, butter tarts, saying sorry, swimming when it's way too cold: Classic Canadiana is a collection of shirts about the little things that make Canada, Canada.
These aren't the usual souvenir shirts with a big maple leaf and not much else. They're inside jokes that Canadians get right away, and that visitors will have to ask about.
The food
Poutine started in rural Quebec in the 1950s and is now on menus from St. John's to Victoria. Fries, squeaky cheese curds, hot gravy. For some of us it's less a meal and more a support system, which is where Emotional Support Poutine comes from. If you'd rather be scientific about it, Poutinium adds it to the periodic table as element 1867.
Then there's the butter tart: flaky pastry, gooey filling, and the great raisins debate that splits families. The Butter Tart Mafia doesn't take sides. Raisins are a personal choice.
The weather
Canadians have a complicated relationship with the cold. The first sunny day above zero, someone is wearing shorts, and we all know it. That's Shorts Weather 4°C: above zero, it counts.
And then there's the water. Lake Ontario is chilly even in summer, and in January it's a hard no, even for a polar bear. Even the Polar Bear Said No is for anyone who's ever done a New Year's dip and lived to tell about it.
The way we talk (and measure)
A toque is a toque. Not a beanie, not a winter hat. It's a Toque, Not a Beanie settles it.
Canada went metric in the 1970s, but nobody told our bathroom scales. We give our height in feet, our weight in pounds, distances in kilometres, the weather in Celsius and the oven in Fahrenheit. The Canadian Measurement System lays it all out. It makes perfect sense, if you grew up here.
And yes, we say sorry a lot. In Ontario the Apology Act, 2009 even says an apology isn't an admission of fault, which is the joke behind Sorry*.
Bagged milk and canoe trips
In Ontario and a few other provinces, milk comes in bags: three of them in a bigger bag, a plastic pitcher, and a snip of the corner. Visitors find it strange. We find it normal. Milk Comes in Bags. Fight me (politely).
Canada has more lakes than anywhere else on Earth, and a lot of them are joined by trails where you carry the canoe on your head. That's a portage, or as the shirt puts it, hiking, but with a boat.
Designed in Canada, printed in Ontario
Every design is made in Canada and printed when you order it in Thornhill, Ontario, then shipped from Canada. Each one comes as a tee and a hoodie, in 8 colours, sizes S to 3XL. Delivery times are on Shipping & Returns, and there's more about us on the About page. For more laughs, see Funny Shirts and Lake Ontario.
Questions people ask
Where does poutine come from?
Rural Quebec, in the 1950s. Fries, fresh cheese curds and hot gravy. Several towns claim to have invented it.
Does milk really come in bags in Canada?
In parts of Canada, yes, mostly Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. You put the bag in a pitcher and snip a corner.
Is "sorry" really not an admission of fault in Ontario?
Ontario's Apology Act, 2009 says an apology doesn't count as an admission of fault or liability in a civil case. So you can say sorry with confidence. (We're not lawyers, though.)
Why do Canadians mix metric and imperial?
Canada switched to metric in the 1970s, but a lot of everyday things, like height, weight, cooking and building materials, still use imperial, partly because of trade with the US.
Where are these shirts printed?
In Thornhill, Ontario. They're designed in Canada, printed when you order and shipped from Canada.