DCHP-3

peasouper

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
pea-souper, Peasouper, Pea Souper

n. — Ethnicities, French relations, slang, derogatory, extremely offensive

a French-speaking descendant of the settlers of New France or Acadia; a Canadian of French ancestry.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — See peasoup ((1)), meaning 1a.
See also COD-2, s.v. "pea soup" (3), which is marked "Cdn", Gage-1, s.v. "peasouper" (1), which is marked "Cdn.", and OED-3, s.v. "pea-souper" (2), which is marked "N. Amer.".
See: Canuck(meaning 2a),peasoup ((1))(meaning 1a),crawfish,peasoup ((2)),square head(meaning 2)
The term is included for reasons of historical accuracy and completeness. It is not intended, as clearly indicated in the usage labels "derogatory" and "extremely offensive", as a term for current use or a term, meaning or usage that is in any way condoned.
The variant peasouper has also been used as a slur in Australian English (see AND, s.v. "peasouper"), where it refers to British immigrants because of the infamously dense London fogs, see peasoup ((2)). This development is unrelated to the sense in this entry.

Quotations

1891
"They're a darned sight better'n pea soup, anyway. No wonder they call you a peasouper. But see here Baptiste! You hurry up and sell them thar blood puddin's o' yourn, an' get that bottle o'whiskey 'at you use Sunday's in place ov holy water [...]."
1917
But Dan Howley's Montreal Royals were the victims of a double beating by the Leafs yesterday, the score being the same on each occasion, viz., 6 to 5. In the first game the Leafs had to battle from behind to win, while in the second they had to battle hard in the eighth and ninth to stand off the resolute challenge of the Pea Soupers.
1937
Corcoran selected Yvon Robert, but, after receiving the French-Canadian's confirmation of terms was advised that the "Pea-Souper" had been suspended for failing to go through with a bout in Quebec City.
1949
To cap everything, the moment the policeman spotted the rear license, he let out a roar to all and sundry to the effect: "What can you expect from a foreigner from Quebec -- a Peasouper."
1962
And then we can highstick those peasoupers.
1966
One of the first things that struck us in Toronto was the prevalence of xenophobia in general and detestation of French Canadians in particular. [...] If further proof is needed, may I point out that their waspish counterparts in Quebec always refer to "pea-soupers" or "Joes." The word "Frog" in that connection went out of fashion 50 years ago.
1976
Rene Levesque remembers the town on the Bay of Chaleurs, with the hills of the wooded peninsula rolling up gently behind it, as a “paradise for kids.” Language was rarely a source of serious trouble, between the French-speaking “pea-soupers” and the English “crawfish,” particularly for a youngster who could slang away in both.
1983
"At Brébeuf," he writes, "there was no personal animosity. At first I was occasionally called a maudit bloke (the correlative of pea souper.) But mostly it was pro forma. No one seemed to hate living, identifiable English people. But les Anglais was another matter."
2015
When Lester B. Pearson unveiled his top pick for a new Canadian flag at a Winnipeg legion hall in July 1964, he was met with boos, hisses and heckling from veterans who accused him of selling out Canada to the "pea soupers." [...] Some English-Canadians, meantime, accused French-Canadians - the aforementioned "pea soupers" - of being behind the push to cut Canada's ties to Great Britain even as one Quebec MP, Pierre Trudeau, sniffed that Quebecers didn't give a "tinker's damn" about a new flag.

References