Frances Bula header image 2
← →

What makes a Vancouverite?

August 7th, 2012 · 92 Comments

Inspired by the recently celebrated B.C. Day, which came with attendant essays on what makes this province unique and worth bragging about, I’ve decided we need a Vancouver Day, with guidelines on how you can tell a true Vancouverite (whether here for five days or five generations) from a mere visitor.

Plus, we all need a chance to be silly.

Here is my kickstarter and highly idiosyncratic list about what defines someone as a Vancouver native:

– Knows the difference between West Vancouver, the West End, and the west side of Vancouver

– Never bothers to carry an umbrella in any weather. What are Gore-Tex jackets with hoods for?

– Pronounces Vancouver as “Vangcouver,” a strange but true Canadianism I’ve noticed.

– Has a strong opinion about cycling, one way or the other

– Does not think there’s anything strange or unusual about butter-chicken poutine.

– Has waited more than four hours in a ferry line-up, at some point.

– Knows where there is a decent wild blackberry patch

Additions?

Categories: Uncategorized

←  Older Comments
 →
  • Raingurl

    You know you’re a true Vancouverite when you know what I meant by my PNE comment. LOL and you also know that the PNE is cursed but you don’t care………….bring on the super dogs and mini donuts! YEEEE HAWWW!

  • Rainbaby

    The question is not “what makes a TRUE Vancouverite?”….

    Mira, Mira, Mira…….tsk, tsk…

  • Julia

    Raingurl #49 LOL, you are absolutely right about the PNE

  • Bill Lee

    re: ” Knows the difference between West Vancouver, the West End, and the west side of Vancouver”

    And knows the Southwest, Northwest, SouthEast (formerly River Road) and other Marine Drives around metro in Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore, many of the directional designations coming after the 1929 Amalgamation.

    And while his computer has a New York algorithm calculator for Aves and Streets, a Vancouverois (as Radio-Canada calls them) can calculate in their heads, despite the buzz of a few bottles of Old Style, the south of First Avenue addresses and has numerous mnemonics for the north and south street patterns, especially along Broadway (ex-9th Avenue until 1909 [ Real estate promotion again!] )

    Oh and you might notice that VPL has Elizabeth Walker’s VHS’s SNoV as a full 186 page downloadable PDF.

  • Morry

    有學問的傻瓜比無知的傻瓜更愚蠢

  • F.H.Leghorn

    @Bill Lee #53: I drove hack for Yellow in the mid-70’s. There was a dispatcher who always referred to Broadway as West (or East) 9th.

  • Glissando Remmy

    Morry #54
    Ha!
    Good one!
    I had it translated, though, gee thanks…
    It says:
    “True Vancouverite… is one who follows Glissando Remmy on Twitter!”
    🙂

  • Julia

    OK… help me. I honestly have lived here all my life and my Dad was born here. What is the numerical magic on the hundred blocks (N-S) that tells you what Avenue you are on?

  • Joseph Jones

    Add 15 to the Avenue, then 00.

  • Erica

    A true Vancouverite gets sentimental during the annual Christmas rain (thanks Len Norris)

  • Tessa

    A true Vancouverite knows that Ontario really is the centre of the universe. Ontario Street, that is.

  • boohoo

    Back from holiday to this…things never change lol…

  • Raingurl

    @rf // Aug 8, 2012 at 10:20 am

    A true Vancouverite thinks 700 sq ft is a large 1 bedroom, and at under $500,000 is cheap.

    No they don’t, that’s the new Vancouverite that thinks it’s cheap. WE know better!

  • spartikus

    I suddenly have a jonesing for a PNE burger. Fried onions and mustard…mmmm

  • Raingurl

    @64 spartikus // Aug 9, 2012 at 10:08 am

    I suddenly have a jonesing for a PNE burger. Fried onions and mustard…mmmm………….

    I can already smell and hear the PNE. I’m jonesing for some farm animals. Poop and all! LOL

  • Agustin

    I can’t take credit for this one (it was an ad for Granville Island beer):

    A true Vancouverite knows that, despite the pants, there is not a yoga class at the grocery store.

  • Andrew Browne

    @ Plangal #48

    Re: Vancouver Sun swimming lessons

    My dad enjoyed those as both a Sun carrier and lower income kid from East Van. 🙂 Strange that the pools are gone now but the retaining walls across from the PNE remain.

  • Raingurl

    A Vancouverite has already checked the Canucks schedule for the coming season. Whitecap? What is a Whitecap? But definitely knows how to ROAR with the best of them! GO LIONS!

  • David

    A Vancouverite finds something to hang on to when standing on Skytrain, having experienced several “Sudden Stops are sometimes necessary”

  • David

    Vancouverites of a certain age know what part of town had MUtual, REgent, CAstle, ALPine phone numbers. And remember what the TR, or 87 exchange name was http://goo.gl/maps/IGpNw

  • Norman

    Doesn’t know the difference between hottie and haughty.

  • Raingurl

    When the sun comes out a Vancouverite takes a sick day…….or at least DREAMS of taking a sick day and gets back to work because a Vancouverite knows how lucky we are to actually have work!

  • Raingurl

    A Vancouverite can “surf” the sky train and is a little disappointed getting on the Canada Line and finding it not as challenging andway too much underground. (what’s up with that, anyway?) So subway like. Bleck!

  • Raingurl

    A Vancouverite packs everything up (including the kitchen sink) and heads off for a great weekend on the Harrison River, visits the Hot Springs, has an uber huge campfire and eats freshly caught Sockeye Salmon (for only $10!)from a local Native fisherman and comes to work Monday with shooting stars (from the meteor shower) still fresh in her head. A TRUE Vancouverite knows how lucky she is to be able to LEAVE Vancouver (with the kitchen sink) and actually SEE STARS on a warm Saturday evening.

  • matt

    Raingurl: “Whitecap? What is a Whitecap? But definitely knows how to ROAR with the best of them! GO LIONS!”

    something tells me you’re not from Vancouver, and perhaps arrive in Vancouver on the skytrain…

  • Raingurl

    Nope! No skytrains for me……….Used to ride it when I was a teenager and worked at Expo ’86. We all thought it was cool back then but now I avoid it like downtown during a Stanley Cup playoff game………..Sorry, hope I didn’t offend you with my Whitecap comment. I grew up in an ice rink but also have a soft spot for those cute lions. Soccer was not something I was interested in. You shouldn’t take it so personally and put other people down just because we don’t agree on something.

  • Raingurl

    Most Vancouverites don’t like Soccer. Something tells me you’re not from here.

  • Frank Ducote

    With national hero and Olympic flag bearer Christine Sinclair hailing from Burnaby, I hope that even more kids take up this amazing and truly international sport, even gurls. It’s about time.

  • Raingurl

    Frank Ducote // Aug 13, 2012 at 4:15 pm 78

    You’re right. It’s about time we Natives of North America stopped living in our sports bubble and call that game what it is……….FOOTBALL. LOL. It can be a very interesting game but to be quite honest, if there’s a hockey game on, any game, anywhere, anytime, it’s what most of us are gonna watch…………….who else is hoping for an end to the most recent NHL dispute? We need our hockey, We’re Canucks, this is what we live for. On another note, do hockey players actually walk a picket line? LOL

  • Frank Ducote

    A little known fact – here in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, many, many more kids play football/soccer than hockey. For me at least that is a refreshing trend.

    It is cheap (in comparison) and played all over the world, making it the most egalitarian sport out there. In addition, almost every game means something (at the higher levels) than, say, baseball (162 game season, then up to 21 games in playoffs), basketball or … hockey (80+ game season plus playoffs), where the seasons are interminably long and only vaguely interesting much of the time. Even then, 50% of the teams move on to the next round … of 7 games!

    One more time – three cheers for Christine Sinclair! I hope a new generation of young folks are paying attention to the athleticism and compelling interest of “the beautiful game,” as well as the funding bodies and media networks that control so much of what is on offer.

  • Raingurl

    Plus, a soccer ball hurts way less than a hockey puck when you get it between the eyes. 😉

    Yes, way to go TEAM CANADA and all our hometown heroes. Including Port Mcneill’s Willie Mitchell for winning Lord Stanley’s cup with the (gasp, choke, cough, cough) LA Kings. 😛

  • Bill Lee

    @Frank Ducote #80

    and there are other quiet sports proliferating.
    In a nearby city http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2012/08/07/calgary-cricket-field-access.html

    Here, the oddest parks are cricket pitches (General Brock) for the pick-up and informal leagues.

  • Julia

    I have a dear friend living in a 3rd world country that use to make a soccer ball out of plastic bags bound by string… and for ball handling skills… he would play cat an mouse with street rodents.

    ANYONE can play football/soccer – call it what you want.

    Bring it on – for everyone.

  • MVWHealth

    I never really noticed, but we do say Vancouver as “vangcouver” lol

    you could also say, you know when you’re a Vancouverite when you cruise in the left lane and pass cars on the right…the I-5 shows a lot of us in the left lane *sigh*

  • Raingurl

    What makes a Vancouverite? Anyone who has the sense to leave their yoga pants in their locker. LOL. Yaletown and Coal Harbour are full of yoga pants. Those gals aren’t really from here……….

  • Norm

    A Vancouverite will not talk to you unless they’ve been introduced to you.

  • JM

    Someone who doesn’t confuse the existing place names of Eastside neighbourhoods with those from larger American cities (mostly New York) despite what business improvement associations might tell them.
    The DTES/East End is not the Lower Eastside
    Hastings Sunrise is not the East Village
    Mt Pleasant is not SOMA
    Etc. etc.

  • MichaelT

    “Knows at least three stains of Kush”

  • Vancouver

    Vancourites stop bragging to eaterners about the weather in April

    Vancouverites hate to travel outside bc in July and August, because it is so nice here.

    Vancouverites associate with Washington and Oregon more than all of the other states.

    Vancouverites are proud of their multiculturalism

    Vancouverites thought about moving back east in June 2012 because the weather was so bad

  • Jean

    A true Vancouverite knows Vancouver isn’t as cosmopolitan as…Toronto: come on there’s less Afro-Canadians in Vancouver.

    A true Vancouverite knows its racial, multicultural diversity is actually Pacific Rim country/Asian/South Asian oriented with some Middle East.

  • desertsolitaire

    Vancouverites (among others) keep saying that Vancouver has the best water in the world without knowing what the word propaganda means.
    Too late for them. No excuse and no hope for recovery.

  • desertsolitaire

    A true Vancouverite keeps trying to convince himself that he lives in the best city in the world even if doesnt know much about the cities in the world. He just repeat stupidly what propaganda says.

←  Older Comments
 →