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 also: 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.