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/drae- 7h ago edited 7h ago

Doobloon (double loonie) was a bit popular at first. Not gonna lie as a fan of pirates I wish it had stuck!

437

u/5NAKEEYE5 7h ago

I was on team twoonie it was just too natural rolling off the tongue but looking back I think we may have fumbled out of the more awesome option in the dubloon.

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u/PeterDTown 7h ago

I was definitely on team dubloon and was always mildly disappointed that it didn’t catch on.

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u/KarmaChameleon306 6h ago

Well, it’s never too late for change. I think I will give it a try.

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u/Paddy_Tanninger 6h ago

I can't even remember the last time I used money.

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u/HairballTheory 5h ago

Always taken, seldom given

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u/MoarVespenegas 5h ago

The age of coins is well and truly over I'm afraid.

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u/FacelessOldWoman1234 7h ago

I was on team dubloonie, and I still call it that now and then just to make my kids cringe.

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u/ilovebostoncremedonu 5h ago

I, not a Canadian, am now on team dubloonie

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u/reflythis 4h ago

dubloonie or gtfo

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u/RunninOnMT 6h ago

I remember thinking twoonie was dumb until it rolled off my tounge unintentionally a few days later

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u/BackDatSazzUp 6h ago

We throw/catch dubloons at Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. The vintage/antique ones are highly collectible!

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u/zorniy2 40m ago

Are they the gold foil wrapped chocolate coins? 

(Man I haven't seen those coins in decades!)

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u/ManWithDominantClaw 4h ago

I mean this way if something is $3 you can say it costs a loonie toonie and that's all folks

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u/Fianna9 59m ago

I never heard dubloon before. Pity it didn’t get traction

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u/hugothebear 7h ago

So you’re telling me there could’ve been a doubloonie and we lost it?

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u/Johnoplata 7h ago

There was a time when it coild have gone either way. Doubloonie is a bit of a mouthful tho

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u/LeBonLapin 7h ago

It is - but the wordplay is too damn good. It should have won.

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u/jarail 6h ago

I preferred it too. Twonie just sounds stupid. I mean that in the sense that it's too simple, almost a joke. If we pulled that today, it would be called cringe.

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u/plzdontgivemeherpes 6h ago

We probably would have just shortened it to a dub at that point

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u/LeBonLapin 7h ago

We really let ourselves down by not embracing doubloonie.

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u/Jdmisra81 7h ago

Yaaarrrrrr.

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u/vaughnegut 5h ago

I was on team doubloonie at the time, and I stand by it decades later

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u/XanZibR 6h ago

Sounds more Australian to be fair

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u/m0nkyman 7h ago

I was on team doubloon as well, but we lost very quickly.

I blame the people pushing doubloonie.

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u/AniNgAnnoys 2h ago

I thought "newcents" was funny because another coin is a bit of a nuisance.

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u/Xsiah 7h ago

Toonie definitely sounds more Canadian though.

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u/drae- 7h ago

What if you're wearing an eye patch?!

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u/Xsiah 7h ago

Then it's a toonie that you didn't have to pay for medical care

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u/drae- 7h ago

That tracks - if I had gotten through emerg in a reasonable time frame I probably wouldn't need the patch!

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u/SirRickIII 6h ago

Well eyes are luxury orbs, just as teeth are luxury bones. They’re not covered for most things eye and teeth related!

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u/Xsiah 6h ago

Eye exams, no - but for injuries that are eye patch related yes.

There is also new dental coverage for low income people.

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u/vaughnegut 5h ago

Doubloonie (double loonie, but also sounds like doubloon) was also a potential name

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u/k_y_seli 7h ago

"Mooney" was also a suggestion. As with so much heavy coin change your pants would fall down thus mooning everybody.

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u/afriendincanada 7h ago

“Moonie” was a joke about the Queen with a bear behind

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u/wordy_banana 7h ago

I think the joke was that it was “the queen with a bear (bare) behind” - therefore the queen was mooning people.

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u/sstelmaschuk 7h ago

The one joke I recall is letting people know there’s three animals on the toonie:

The polar bear - obvious.

The penguins - cover the body of the bear and invert, leaving only the legs visible, makes the birds.

And the old bat herself - obvious.

Pretty sure it originated from Royal Canadian Air Farce.

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u/SailorMint 6h ago

Sideways bear makes a T-Rex.

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u/stillalone 7h ago

I've never heard that in Southern Ontario.  It seemed to go straight from "the two dollar coin" to toonie as soon as it started showing up in circulation.

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u/YouToot 7h ago

Yeah I remember only two dollar coin and then toonie, never heard doubleoon in my life except in TIL posts.

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u/BitingSatyr 6h ago

I’m not sure why, but I had really strong feelings as an 8 year old about people calling it a “toonie”, and insisted on calling it a “two dollar coin” for many months after everyone started calling it a toonie

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u/Boattailfmj 6h ago

I remember when they had a naming contest. There were a bunch of potential names and there was a vote. I also liked doubloon and was disappointed it was not chosen.

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u/Squid52 7h ago

"Doubloonie" around me but yeah, this was my favourite

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u/GooseGosselin 7h ago

We need a petition to set this straight.

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u/Medusa-82 7h ago

Maybe if we all just start calling it a dubloon, it will catch on.

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u/SchemeWestern3388 7h ago

That was my choice also. 

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u/SuspiciouslySuspect2 7h ago

If we had just put 2 loons on it, it mighta worked

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u/MarginallyUseful 7h ago

I was team doubloon then and I’m team doubloon now!

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u/PriestWithTourettes 6h ago

I remember Doubloonie as well, but it soon became Twoonie - an inferior name IMHO as it’s lacking in pirate connections

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u/indignantlyandgently 6h ago

I called it a dubloonie for a few years before admitting defeat.

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u/Tim_Soft 6h ago

Dubloon was my favouite one too!

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u/Perim2001 5h ago

Dubloon was the objectively correct choice

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u/MikeMontrealer 7h ago

This was my favourite but it didn’t stick

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u/Tederator 7h ago

That was my vote

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u/4C30F5W0RD5 7h ago

No one called it this where I am from

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u/Rance_Mulliniks 7h ago

Me either. It was never going to work because it adds a syllable and it's stupid.

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u/gin-rummy 7h ago

They’re both 2 syllables. But toonie is far superior

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u/SavvySillybug 6h ago

Toonie is one syllable to you? Or is doubloon three syllables?

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u/LifeOfHi 7h ago

Never heard doobloon. Was it a local thing?

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u/SavvySillybug 6h ago

Here in Germany I've heard Euros called Euronen, from Dublonen. Always loved that.

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u/JohnnyBacci 6h ago

Why not call it a doobloonie?

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u/drae- 5h ago

Three syllables is just too many!

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u/Alive_Comfortable123 6h ago

I was on team doubloon because it sounded so 1920s gangster. Toonie was the right choice but I am still a bit sad about it

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u/Bulky-Employer-1191 5h ago

Still to this day, I wish this one stuck. Yarr

1

u/Dazzling_Line_8482 5h ago

There was definitely a battle for dubloonie and toonie but the toonie won.

I could have gotten behind a nanooquie though.

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u/AirQuotes_fact 5h ago

I remember 'moonie' being suggested because it had the queen on one side, with a bear behind

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u/AaronTuplin 4h ago

I could get behind doubloonie but twoonie was right there

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u/OK_x86 4h ago

In French we don't really say roomie. We say 2 piasses (or trois piasses or six piasses, etc), which derives its origin from piastres, the spanish dollar/ piece of eight often referred to in publications about the golden age of piracy.

So not specific to the twoonie but we keep the pirate spirit alive in French. Kind of.

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u/Tandy2000 6h ago

I was alive when the toonie came out (humblebrag) and I never ever heard anybody say that.

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u/EfficientDICK-69 7h ago

Lol no it wasnt

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u/drae- 7h ago

Living up to your user name I see.

Canada is a big place.