Oxford English Dictionary adds new Canadian-inspired words in recent update

The slang term has become popularized online through social media, yet no one really knows what it exactly means.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has announced its latest update – and this time it includes some new words and phrases that have been used and coined by Canadians.

Here’s a breakdown of which Canadian-inspired words made it to the dictionary:

‘Elbows up’

“Elbows up,” a phrase used by Canadians to indicate their “willingness to aggressively defend themselves” based on hockey legend Gordie Howe’s famous stance with elbows raised, has made it into the dictionary, according to a press release issued Tuesday.

The nuance is explained through a social media post quoted in the dictionary entry: “Canadians have only two moods: 1. We’re sorry, 2. You’re going to be sorry by the time we’re done with you. We usually reserve the second one for ice hockey. But back us in any corner, it’s elbows up.”

‘Cashspiel’

The next is a word that is older but was recently added to the dictionary: a “cashspiel.”

This word is inspired by another winter sport loved by Canadians – curling. A play on the word “bonspiel,” or a competitive curling tournament, “cashspiel” refers to a competition held for cash prizes.

‘Grunt’

Usually used to refer to a low, gruff sound, this word has another, pleasant usage based on a dessert consisting of fruit with a biscuit or dough topping.

“The grunt in a delicious blueberry grunt is perhaps an allusion to the sounds the fruit makes while simmering in a pan,” the dictionary’s release said.

‘Kitty-corner’

This phrase is used to describe being situated “diagonally opposite someone or something.” Despite its feline essence, the phrase has nothing to do with cats, the OED said.

“The kitty- part is most likely a punning cat joke, a humorous alteration of the synonymous cater-cornered. Cater is also unrelated to cats, but is rather a borrowing of quatre, the French word for four, used initially to refer to the number four at dice or cards,” the news release explained.

“The four spots on the dice or the four symbols on cards are believed to be the reason why cater later came to mean ‘diagonal’ or ‘diagonally.’”

‘Point form’

The phrase, described as a “chiefly Canadian noun," refers to a format in which written information is presented – as a list or series of “concise statements.”

According to an instruction quoted by the dictionary from a 2024 issue of Medicine Hat News: “On the righthand side of the paper, in point form, start writing out the steps that would be needed to see the dream realized.”

‘Kokum’

In the context of Cree culture, the word “Kokum” refers to a grandmother or any elderly woman and is also used as a form of address.

‘Land acknowledgement’

The last in the list, this phrase is used to recognize and honour the “original Indigenous inhabitants of land that was subsequently colonized.”