Canadian Slang For Snowmobile (Helpful Content)

Canadians refer to snowmobiles as “sleds”, or the act of riding them as “sledding”. Sometimes, a snowmobile is a “Canadian jet-ski”. You may also call snowmobiling “ski-dooing”, although this is more commonly used among those that do not do snowmobile riding. Sled or sledding is the most common way to refer to a snowmobile.

Canada, if nothing else, is known for one thing: snow.

It is the frozen north up there, and while the country is a bed of culture and beauty just like any other, many can’t look past all the snow.

Unsurprisingly, then, they have unique terms for the snowmobile.

Let’s find out more.

What do Canadians call snowmobiles?

Canadians have a few different names for snowmobiles.

One of the most common is to simply call a snowmobile a “sled”, and to refer to the act of driving a snowmobile as “sledding”.

Of course, sledding is an entirely different thing as far as the standard meaning of that term goes.

However, of course you can see that there is some overlap between the two activities.

I’ll explain how the term came to be slang for snowmobile shortly.

Other than sled, snowmobiles are often referred to jokingly as “Canadian jet-skis”.

Canada does not really have the weather or the conditions for most of the year, but it certainly does have the conditions for snow-mobile riding year-round.

To many, the idea of going around in the freezing cold for fun and as a hobby is a bit nuts—they’d rather be jet-skiing on a tropical beach!

“Ski-doo” is a common slang term for snowmobile in Canada, just as “ski-dooing” is the slang term for the act of riding a snowmobile.

As I mentioned, for one reason or another, this tends not to be the slang of choice for snowmobile hobbyists.

It’s more often used among casual people, or those who don’t snowmobile at all.

Someone who rides a snowmobile is “ski-doo jockey”.

There are a handful of other slang terms used in Canada for snowmobiles.

Snowmachine is a very common one, particularly used among those who can’t remember its proper name!

Another one in the same vein is “snowmoboarding”, though this one is not used very often.

Similarly with terms such as “sledneck”, meaning someone who rides a snowmobile, and “ditch banging”, to refer to riding your snowmobile in a ditch or deep ravine.

Overwhelmingly the most common slang term is just sled.

So, let’s find out how this term came to take on its slang meaning.

Why do Canadians call snowmobiles “sleds”?

Some might even argue that “sled” is just an accurate description of a snowmobile, and not slang at all.

However, it plainly is slang since, while snowmobiles and sleds do share some basic principles, they are plainly very different.

Snowmobiles have what are called sled runners on the front.

These are the long, flat, snowshoe-like features which allow the snowmobile to stay on top of the snow and navigate quickly and efficiently.

Sleds are also defined by these features. The simplest sled is just a wooden plank on top of a set of sled runners.

They are called sleds because of these sled runners.

As far as we can tell, snowmobile enthusiasts began describing themselves as sledders in the 1980s, and the term just took hold.

Extreme hobbies like this tend to attract a lot of jargon and slang, and snowmobile sports is no different.

What about “ski-doo”?

Why do Canadians say “ski-doo”?

“Ski-doo” is a unique one in that, like other slang terms such as Hoover, it is derived from an existing trademark brand name.

Ski-doo is the most widespread snowmobile brand in Canada, and so this is how it came to mean a snowmobile more generally.

This also explains why it’s not preferred by those who actually know their snowmobiles.

For them, they would perhaps only call it a ski-doo if it was actually a Ski-Doo branded product. It was established by Joseph-Aramand Bombardier.

The creator of the Ski-Doo also gave it the name “ski-dog”, because the idea would be that it replaces your need for sled dogs.

In 1992, one of their brochures featured an unfortunate typo, “ski-doo”, and the name just stuck!

The brand name was derived from this, and thus it was eventually changed into a broadly used slang term for the snowmobile.

Why do Canadians say a “Canadian jet-ski”?

Interestingly, in the years since, actual snowmobiles are not the only products Bombardier’s company offered.

They also sold jet-skis for using on the water, which is a surprisingly common and popular activity on Canada’s great lakes during the summer.

But that’s a regular jet-ski. From that, and no doubt from the Bombardier association, a joke slang term for snowmobile became Canadian jet-ski.

The joke simply being that because Canada is so cold and so much of it is snowy and icy year round, there’s not much hope of jet-skiing on a warm beach like you can further south.

This one isn’t the most common slang term by any means, but is nonetheless widely used and understood.

As you can see, then, Canadians certainly have more than a few different terms for their snowmobiles.

If you ever hear a Canadian talking about a “sled,” chances are they’re not referring to a sled but a snowmobile.

Other than that, you might hear some jokey slang terms such as ski-doo and Canadian jet-ski—but they’re all referring to the snowmobile!

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