In this new anthology, Bill Casselman delights and startles with word stories from every province and territory of Canada. Did you know that to deke out is a Canadian verb that began as hockey slang, short for 'to decoy an opponent.' That Canada has a fish that ignites? On our Pacific coast, the oolichan or candlefish is so full of oil it can be lighted at one end and used as a candle.Did you know that the very first Skid Row or Skid Road in Canada was in Vancouver at the end of the 19th century? The term originated because out-of-work loggers drank in cheap saloons at the end of a road used to skid logs. Skids were greased logs used to slide rough timber to a waterway or railhead. The juicy lore and tangy tales of Canadian foods that founded a nation are here too: from scrunchins to rubbaboo, from bangbelly to poutine, from Winnipeg jambusters to Nanaimo bars. This is the book on Canada's words and sayings that should be in every house in the the country where people are proud to say: "That's Canadian, eh."

BILL CASSELMAN is the author of the best-sellers Canadian Sayings, Casselman’s Canadian Words, What’s In a Canadian Name? and the award-winning Canadian Food Words. He has been a writer, broadcaster, and performer for thirty-four years, including three years as a producer for CBC’s This Country in the Morning on radio. Casselman has written for The Toronto Star and The Montreal Gazette and for magazines such as Toronto Life, The Panic Button, and Canadian Geographic.

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