Am I speaking a different language?

I mean I know I can speak French, though these days it's bloody rusty. I miss the "Frenchies" who had populated my old grad department. They helped me keep my French in practice and kept it from developing too much rust. Down here, well let's just say that my father has better pronunciation then the French teacher instructing my girlfriends brother.

That being said there certainly are a few terms that I have used that have managed to gain the attention of Amercians listening to me, here are a few of them:

• Z (pronounced zed) - What can I say, it's classic Canadian, it's not going to change. But the optometrist really threw me for a loop when I had to read a line "backwards but this time without zed". Well, I showed his smart ass, I walked out without paying...ok, I actually forgot to pay, I'm sure my insurance will bill me for that.
• Cougar - It's best you not ask how this topic came up, but it has, several times in fact. I think I will be able to get this one to catch on, because unlike 'Z' Americans just don't have a term for it. Oh, if you don't know what a cougar is here are a few definitions...now you know, aren't you happy?
• Garborator - Ok, I was almost beginning to think I made this one up, but by god if NationalPlumbing.com will use the term it's good enough for me.
• Canadian bacon - I'm seriously going to make an effort to avoid Americans from now on if there is Hawaiian pizza around. Because if I have to explain that "No we don't use the term Canadian bacon in Canada." one more time I might just snap...wait I think I just did, I'm contemplating why Canadian bacon is on a Hawaiian pizza?????
• Tuque - Ok, I could understand if you were from Texas and didn't know what this was, but how can Minnesotans not know what a tuque is? And how can such a proud and noble piece of clothing be lumped in with all the other "hats"? It's shameful really.
• Jujube - Maybe I'm just mispronouncing it by saying it as the name of the fruit, rather than "jujubee" but if that were the case would it cause fits of laughter from my girlfriend and her siblings?
• Washroom - Seriously, I never thought this one would be a question, but after I made the comment that I was going to the washroom a friend of my girlfriend turned to her and jokingly said "What's he going to wash?". So let me get this straight; washroom is wrong, even though there is a sink to wash your hands in, but bathroom, even though there is no bath, would be correct? This one has come up a lot it seems. I guess it's a good think I don't use the term water closet, I'm sure that they would piss themselves over that one.

I'm sure that there are a few others that I've missed. I know I don't need to go into the whole aboot issue. It's just funny to find the little differences that help make Canadians and Americans different...other than social policy (zing!).