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Who knit ya?

“Who knit ya?”

A Newfoundland way of asking about someone's family and ancestry — literally "who made you" — often used to place a stranger by their family lineage.

— Traditional Canada Wisdom, Canada

Source: Traditional Newfoundland and Labrador English expression, documented in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (Kirwin, Story & Widdowson, 1990).

More about Traditional Canada Wisdom →·More Proverbs from Canada →

More Proverbs from Canada

Keep your stick on the ice.

“Keep your stick on the ice.”

Stay alert, stay ready, and keep doing the right thing even when nothing is happening.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Modern Canadian idiom popularized by the Canadian TV comedy 'The Red Green Show' (CBC, 1991–2006); now a common everyday Canadian saying.

Attache ta tuque!

“Tie up your toque!”

Brace yourself — things are about to get intense or exciting.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Traditional Québécois (French-Canadian) expression, oral tradition.

Parler à travers son chapeau.

“To speak through one's hat.”

To talk about something you know nothing about, or to speak nonsense.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Traditional Québécois (French-Canadian) expression, oral tradition.

Se faire passer un sapin.

“To have a fir tree slipped to you.”

To be cheated or swindled in a deal.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Traditional Québécois (French-Canadian) expression, oral tradition.

Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last river poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.

“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, and the last river poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

Material wealth is worthless if we destroy the natural world that sustains us.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Commonly attributed to Cree (First Nations) oral tradition; exact origin and attribution are debated among scholars.

Il fait frette.

“It's cold out.”

An emphatic Québécois way of saying it is bitterly, painfully cold.

Traditional Canada Wisdom

Source: Traditional Québécois (French-Canadian) colloquial expression, oral tradition.

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