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Mountie
DCHP-2 (Nov 2016)
Spelling variants:mountie
1n. — originally informal, now common core
a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer.
Type: 1. Origin — Mountie is a short form clipped from Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. The North West Mounted Police (founded in 1873) and the Royal North-west Mounted Police (1904) preceded the RCMP (1920). The first quotation here (dating between 1873 and 1883) is from a poem by a member of the NWMP, Francis Henry Galt Carruthers (1853-1883). Carruthers was an early recruit; his regimental number indicates he was the 282nd Mountie appointed to the service.
Carruthers' quotation portrays Mounties as "always getting their man." The depiction of a strong, but gentlemanly, rather than "hard-boiled" hero, was a typical portrayal at the time. Dawson (1998: 35) notes "[b]etween 1890 and 1940, authors produced well over one hundred and fifty Mountie novels", and "representations of the Mountie in these books varied so little [that] readers in Vancouver, B.C., Hamilton, Ont., or Lower Sackville, N.S. all shared roughly the same image of the Mountie", which created a culturally significant trope for the entire country. This image also prevailed in movies around the same period, and later in television shows and comics. The Mountie has since become a universally recognized national symbol of Canada (see Image 1).
See Gage-1, s.v. "Mountie", which labels the term "Cdn. Informal", COD-2 & ITP Nelson, s.v. "Mountie", which mark it as "informal" but not as Canadian.
Carruthers' quotation portrays Mounties as "always getting their man." The depiction of a strong, but gentlemanly, rather than "hard-boiled" hero, was a typical portrayal at the time. Dawson (1998: 35) notes "[b]etween 1890 and 1940, authors produced well over one hundred and fifty Mountie novels", and "representations of the Mountie in these books varied so little [that] readers in Vancouver, B.C., Hamilton, Ont., or Lower Sackville, N.S. all shared roughly the same image of the Mountie", which created a culturally significant trope for the entire country. This image also prevailed in movies around the same period, and later in television shows and comics. The Mountie has since become a universally recognized national symbol of Canada (see Image 1).
See Gage-1, s.v. "Mountie", which labels the term "Cdn. Informal", COD-2 & ITP Nelson, s.v. "Mountie", which mark it as "informal" but not as Canadian.
The label informal, found in previous dictionaries, is no longer substantiated, as the term is used in all but the most traditional and formal settings. In all but the most formal settings would be the appropriate label today.
Quotations
1873-1883
Say, tenderfoot, you have seen us Mounties,
We're a tough and hardboiled set.
We're a terror to all evil doers.
For we grab them quick--you bet.
We're a tough and hardboiled set.
We're a terror to all evil doers.
For we grab them quick--you bet.
1914
Ketchen, the Mountie, not having had to saw his own wood, was easily placated.
1919
In consequence of the threats of another parade, R. N. W. M. P. and soldiers with rifles appeared on Main street Monday about one o'clock. They were accompanied by motor trucks, armed with machine-guns. As no parade was attempted the "Mounties" and military returned to barracks.
1920
The musical ride is one number of which the audiences never tire. It always provides a thrill, and the performance given by the "mounties" left little to be desired.
1936
There is some talk of the mounties stopping all the stiffs from riding the freights.
1953
It was good ranching land in the early days on the arrival of the mounties [...] and the pioneer rancher of the Cypress Hills [...].
1958
O'Brien French had been a Mountie in Canada in his youth, returned to his home in England and came back to Banff to stake claim to the only freehold property within the national park, just before the last war.
1962
The exhibition should give them a better idea of what besides beavers, Mounties and snowfields makes up Ca-na-da.
1964
There's some talk of putting the Mounties on the case.
1966
They are not allowed to take it back on the reservation and if they do go into the woods, the mounties charge them for drinking in a public place.
1981
An affidavit signed by Solicitor-General Robert Kaplan was presented to Sessions Court yesterday to prevent 17 Mounties charged with illegal activities from producing or discussing 33 federal documents.
Federal Government representative Joseph Nuss, who presented the affidavit, said 26 of the documents cannot be released because they "relate to confidences of the Privy Council," and the other seven deal with issues the Government feels would be injurious to international relations if made public, or concern matters of national security.
In Ottawa, Mr. Kaplan said later yesterday that the 33 documents are being withheld on the advice of the McDonald commission.
1984
A robot, wearing a Mountie hat, made life a little more enjoyable for patients on a visit to Hospital for Sick Children.
1999
When the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) was first conceived in 1873 as forerunners to the modern-day mountie, there was no Canadian army and the militia wore a hodgepodge of uniforms. So the red serge was adopted following the tradition of the British military uniform - - familiar to those first organizing the force.
2010
What a shame, then, that the closing ceremonies were such an embarrassing failure.
They needlessly regressed to every cornball Canadiana cliche going, from bopping beavers to vigorous voyageurs. Sure, it was an attempt to poke fun at our national symbols, but it didn't work. And the sequence featuring mini-skirted Mounties came off like a sorry parody of a Busby Berkeley spectacular.
References
- Dawson (1998)
- COD-2
Images
