DCHP-2

south of 60 south of sixty DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• n. — Geography

  the area south of the sixtieth parallel north, which separates the Canadian territories from the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The sixtieth parallel serves as the border between the Canadian provinces and Canada's territories. In the light of Canada's status as an Arctic nation, this boundary has acquired important cultural salience (see also Chart 1). See, for instance, the 19 compound nouns beginning with Arctic in DCHP-1, of which Arctic prairies is linked below, or Sherrill Grace's (2007) account of the importance of the North, and, by inversion, the South, in the Canadian imagination. South of 60 was formed in analogy to the culturally more significant and older expression north of 60, which designates the more remote areas that have come to be associated with the nation.
  Other locations use the term in reference to Antarctica, which is south of the sixtieth parallel south.
  See also COD-2, s.v. "south of 60", which is marked "Cdn".

  See also: Arctic prairies  north of 60  nordicity  49th parallel  

  • South of 60 is a comparatively recent creation, with the oldest attestations being roughly 150 years younger than those of north of 60.