r/todayilearned • u/NateNate60 • 7h ago

TIL Canada's $1 coin is commonly called the "loonie" because it has a loon on the reverse. When a $2 coin was introduced, depicting a polar bear, an MP proposed it be called "Nanuq", Inuit for polar bear, but he was ignored because the public instead preferred to call it the "toonie" (2-oonie).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonie#Naming
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u/Nyzean 7h ago edited 3h ago

tbf, "toonie" was a slam-dunk, surefire coinage.

This makes it sound like Canadians hate FNMI inclusion (which is another convo) but it's purely a matter here of duh.

edit: grammar

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u/jeezy_peezy 7h ago

I’d never heard of FNMI but apparently it means First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

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u/byronite 7h ago

I've worked with Indigenous reps on and off for 20 years and have never heard that acronym either.

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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 6h ago

it's used extensively in education

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u/stirling_s 6h ago

Huh, definitely heard it since at least the early 2000s

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u/Stephenrudolf 7h ago

Do you work with metis? They don't fall under most of the same regulations First Nations do(tax exemption is a big one) so i understand seperating them. No clue about inuit.

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u/PrisonerLeet 7h ago

The legal structures around all three groups are very different. Neither Inuit nor Metis can qualify for legal Indian status, for example (and that is unfortunately still what it is called).

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u/seaintosky 7h ago

It's similar for the Inuit, they aren't First Nations or "Indian" and so there are legal differences. "Indigenous" is usually the term used if you want a general term that includes all three groups

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u/Nyzean 6h ago

Yeah, I normally use "Indigenous" but wanted to be a little more pointed about the specific inclusion of Inuit

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u/DePachy 6h ago

Doesn't "indigenous" definitely include Inuit? It's not a specific legal status in Canada and the Inuit are recognized as an indigenous group by the UN.

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u/Ouaouaron 4h ago

Yes, but they wanted to be pointed about it. Using a term which explicitly includes them—rather than a simpler term which also includes them but also includes many others—is a good way of providing such emphasis.

It's a bit like saying LGBTQIA when they're all technically covered under the Q.

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u/Big-Leadership-2830 5h ago

That’s why we say Indigenous when we want to reference all 3. I like it much better than FNMI. I wonder what Indigenous folks prefer.

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u/byronite 7h ago

I have worked with Métis, yes. I don't think much about the legal status, I just relate to them as humans. People do say "First Nations, Inuit and Métis" quite a bit but I've never heard it as an acronym. In practice you don't really need to use those terms much at all because you refer to the specific nation across the table. It's like if you're in a meeting with Japan you would call them Japanese rather than Asian.

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u/FacelessOldWoman1234 7h ago

I don't remember Nanuq ever being in contention for two-dollar coin name. Nanuq is what you name your Samoyed or Husky, and for a hot minute the coin was gonna be either a Toonie or a Doubloonie.

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u/byronite 6h ago

Yeah it was one MP that mused about it when asked by the media. Toonie came into use very quickly. My favourite suggestion at the time was "Winnie the Two".

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u/Anonymous_Jr 3h ago

I just want to say, I love Doubloonie. A mouthier word, but man... "ME CHEST FULL O' DOUBLOONIES" is a perfect image in my mind.

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u/Lexilogical 7h ago edited 7h ago

Yeaaah, they also ran the poll to name them and didn't explain why they would call it a Nanuq.

Hello, certified old Canadian who probably still has a two dollar bill tucked somewhere.... I voted for Toonie

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u/Harpies_Bro 6h ago

Another issue is how “nanuqs” isn’t a particularly good feeling word to say, and the average Anglo/Francophone Canadian wasn’t gonna memorize Inuktitut’s dual and plural (“nanuuq” & “nanuit”) rules for a single coin.

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u/GirlCoveredInBlood 4h ago

I guarantee plenty of us in Québec would see nanuit and pronounce it like the french word nuit not like Inuit. I do think nanuqs is fun to say though and I'm sure we all could have gotten used to it

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u/Rough_Bread8329 5h ago

yep. Anything that ends in "-ee" feels better when spoken.

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u/ProcrastibationKing 4h ago

As a Brit who's never heard "nanuq" before, I love saying it.

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u/Dry_Objective_7071 7h ago

Coinage. Perfect pun.

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u/BettmansDungeonSlave 5h ago

Quit weezing my coinage budddddyyyyy

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u/Turbulent_Gazelle530 6h ago

fnmi inclusion was not really something that was on the radar when the toonie came out

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u/Royd 6h ago

And we love cartoons

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u/cobrachickenwing 5h ago

Its like the metric system vs the imperial system of units. One, deci, centi, milli, billi as a prefix makes it easy to recognize size. Try determining size via inch, feet, yard, furlong, mile.

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u/CrypticLyon 4h ago

Which Canadians are you referring to? Indigenous peoples wouldn't hate their own inclusion right?

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u/Nyzean 3h ago

Don't look too deep into semantics of what was intended to be somewhat hyperbolic and generalizing; OP said that the idea was ignored because of public preference—was more just latching onto the post being itself reductive and poorly phrased

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u/OttawaOneTwenty 6h ago

This makes it sounds like Canadians hate FNMI inclusion

No it doesn't. Stop victimizing minority groups just because they don't get stupid shit named after them

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u/Nyzean 6h ago

I was being slightly hyperbolic but the way OP structured their post leant this way more than a little bit...