It's not the cough that carries you off...

It's the coffin they carry you off in!

Can't recall where I heard or read that, but I think it's about time we changed the channel from Islamic extremism to something a little lighter. [Yes, we've had quite enough terrorism for one week. Ed.] So with the help of Casselman's Canadian Words, I will tell you about the Smith Brothers.

And there they are. Thanks to this label for Smith Brothers® Cough Drops, many people have joked -- or sincerely believed -- that the two bearded brothers were figments of an advertising copywriter's imagination, and were named Trade and Mark. That's what the label says, eh.

Not so, however. Their family name is indeed "Smith". On the left is William Wallace Smith. His brother Andrew is on the right. They were the sons of one James Smith, who came from his native Scotland to St. Armand, Québec in 1831. Bill was born in the auld country, and Andy in Canada. The family moved to Poughkeepsie, NY in 1847. [Whatever for? Ed.]

Perhaps it was the insalubrious climate of upstate New York that moved James (who had been a restauranteur in Québec but was in the restaurant business in the USA) to buy a cough syrup recipe from one Sly Hawkins in 1852. Legend has it that a batch sat in an unstoppered bottle for too long and hardened. Rather than lose his goods, James busted the congealed mass with a hammer, and sold the pieces as "cough drops". So now you know.

[Walt, are you sure about this? I couldn't find anything about that last bit in Mr. Casselman's book or Wikipedia. Ed.] What? You don't believe me? James Smith was a Scot, wasn't he! If you can think of a better story, tell it!

Puck off, eh, hoser!

Still (more or less) on the subject of the glories of the English language... In anticipation of a trip north of the World's Longest Undefended Border, Ed. has been trying to increase his vocabulary of Canadian English. His text is Casselman's Canadian Words, by (not surprisingly) Bill Casselman (1995, Copp Clark Ltd., Toronto).

I dipped into it while Ed. was on his break, and, in the chapter on "Sports", learned a new word. The word is "puck-off", which Casselman says "is not a lisped obscenity. Puck-off was the original and now obsolete term for a face-off in hockey, that high-adrenalin moment when the referee drops the puck into play. The name had to be changed because of frequent alteration of the first letter."

I'll bet 99% of you hosers didn't know that! For Americans and other non-speakers of Canajan English, Casselman explains "A hoser is the all-Canadian, beer-swilling, tuque-headed yokel, as popularized by Bob & Doug Mckenzie, TV characters created by SCTV stars Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas." Now you know.

Recommended reading: Canajan, Eh! and Speaking Canadian English, both by the late Mark Orkin, a cunning linguist if ever there was one. Walt has autographed copies of both.