When I started out in this business, back in the 1970s, I would often leave Toronto and travel to the “hinterland” to make economic presentations before somewhat sceptical audiences. Many times, I was told the old joke, what’s the definition of an expert? An expert is some son-of-a-gun from Toronto with slides. I’ve cleaned up the language a bit.

Now, all manner of growth in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver makes Toronto look like it is standing still. However, I can still get a laugh when I refer to Toronto as “the centre of the universe”.

But to take the edge off city rivalries, I often turn to the meaning of words. After not much research, I’ve discovered that many places in Canada still bear the names assigned to them by the original peoples who occupied the land. They knew what they were doing when they named some of our major cities.

For example, Toronto is a Native-Canadian word meaning “parking lot”. You know the truth of this when you’re sitting in your car on the Don Valley Parkway.

Our federal capital, Ottawa, means “hand in your pocket”. That’s obvious.

Calgary is Native-Canadian shorthand for “It’s pay-back time, Toronto!”. I don’t know how they got all that in there, but they did.

Finally, Canada means “too many meetings”. I’ll have to end here because a meeting notice just popped up on my screen.

Disclaimer: Little of the foregoing is true. No animals or children were hurt or put at risk in the making of this blog entry. No slights were intended or implied with respect to any individuals, places or events. If I have caused injury, please consider this an apology.

Alex Carrick

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