Strange things we are known for
The recent news about Donald Trump “acing” the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (pdf) has brought the city’s name into a kind of unearned prominence in world news. The test, devised here by Dr Ziad Nasreddine, is designed to reveal various cognitive deficits quickly.
This reminded me of two other things which crop up but don’t have a lot to do with life here:
The Montreal Protocol, the most successful international agreement to date on an environmental issue – any issue at all, really – has meant that substances responsible for ozone depletion have been phased out. A not displeasing thing to have the city’s name attached to. (Wikipedia’s disambiguation page reminds me that there are other pacts associated with the city, including another protocol meant to protect civil aviation from unlawful acts.)
And then there’s Montreal steak seasoning. People who know nothing else about the city turn out to know about this. Wikipedia says it includes garlic, coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dill seed and salt.
Any other well-known things named for the city in this way?
j 17:17 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
There’s a Montreal melon
Kate 17:19 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
There was. The melon is a whole saga, and I’ve yet to see the soi-disant revived version for sale, or tasted one.
MarcG 17:34 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Not well-known at all, but some people in my homebrew beer club who come from abroad have dubbed a “Montreal short pour” for the ungenerous amounts bartenders here put into glassware.
Matthew H 17:39 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Wikipedia search helpfully suggests the Montreal Screwjob, “an infamous and controversial unscripted professional wrestling incident.”
ProposMontreal-Martin 17:50 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
I’m not a fan of wrestling, but I was going to say like Matthew, the Montreal Screwjob.
You also have the Montreal procedure, developed in the 50’s by Dr. Wilder Penfield. it is a method of surgery involves keeping the patient awake to pinpoint the source of epilepsy.
Charles Lanteigne 17:52 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Montreal bagels, of course—as opposed to New York style.
Blork 17:58 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Nodding at MarcG’s “Montreal short pour.” You don’t see that so much at pubs but restaurants are notorious for it.
Ian 17:59 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Indeed. Also worth noting, “Montreal smoked meat” is a thing, mostly in the ROC as in the US it tends toward pastrami and in the UK, corned beef.
Alex 19:59 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
Regarding the short pour, in the UK and Europe if you get shorted on your pint you are well within your rights to ask for a top up. If you went to the gas station and paid for a litre of gas and you got 800ml I am sure the law would be on your side, it should be the same for beer I would have thought
Kevin 20:01 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
J
I have tried and failed to grow that.
Blork 21:21 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
@Alex, any decent pub in Montreal will abide by that, but restaurants are a whole different animal. The idea of a fair pour is very instilled in pub culture, but most restaurants — and people who work at restaurants — just have no clue. So if you complain, you are immediately pegged as a “problem client” such as someone who complains that they didn’t get enough fries with their dinner or people who send the plate back for completely stupid reasons.
CE 22:24 on 2020-07-23 Permalink
I’ve heard (but have not been able to confirm with a quick Google search) that the strain of marijuana called M-39 is named for having been developed in Montreal (M) and for taking only 39 days to flower (39). It’s universally not considered to be very good but it’s always cheap.
mare 00:59 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
We’re also famous for the band “Of Montreal”.
(Several of my international friends have asked if I knew them; they’re from Athens, Georgia.)
ant6n 04:40 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Apprarently theres the Alfa Romeo Montreal, a Sports car whose prototype was exposed at Expo 67, where the public started calling it “the Montreal”.
Chris 09:32 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
I’ve grown Montreal Melon every year since I finally got seed, maybe 5 years ago. Alas between the squirrels and powdery mildew, I’ve only ever got 2 fruits, and neither was fully developed. Maybe this year.
Kate 09:38 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Some good ones here! I’m discounting bagels and smoked meat, since they really are a thing we legitimately do. But the Screwjob, which is seriously a thing even though not perpetrated by a Montrealer, the Alfa Romeo model which wasn’t designed or built here, and the band Of Montreal, which isn’t from here, are on this list, as “things which make the city known even though not connected in any material way.”
DCMontreal 11:00 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Good plug on CJAD today! Bravo. I’m not sure if this counts as a ‘famous’ thing, but there was the ‘Alfa Romeo Montreal’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_Montreal
Kate 11:26 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Plug on CJAD?
Dominic 12:21 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
More of a pop-culture reference, but the episode of The Simpsons where Marge drinks her most international coffee: Montreal Morn.
Kate 12:35 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Can someone explain the short pour? My experience with upscale restaurants, especially ones with tasting menus and paired wines – which isn’t extensive – suggests that for the paired wine you often get no more than about 1/3 glass. Basically just a slightly extended splash. It never crossed my mind that it would be reasonable to ask for a bit more.
But do restaurants normally list formal pints and so on for beer, the way bars do?
Meezly 13:39 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
I thought the “short pour” phenomena is generally a Canadian thing, our bars being more stingy compared to the more generous pours of American counterparts. Likely due to many, if not all, provinces having more regulated taxes and higher duties on alcohol.
Kevin 13:51 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
The short pour applies to beer, not wine.
A pint is 20 oz. An American pint is 16 oz. (570 ml vs. 470 ml.)
Servers in Montreal will hand you a glass that holds slightly more than a bottle of beer (330 ml) and declare it a pint.
I’ve had staff tell me “our pints are 12 oz.” which makes about as much sense as a florist giving me ten flowers and calling it a dozen.
These are the establishments I don’t return to.
Matthew H 14:02 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Apparently there’s also the “Montreal effect”, which comes up in discussions about independence referendums in Scotland and Catalonia.
dwgs 15:25 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
“Montreal typical” has become a minor meme in NHL fan circles after an opposing coach felt his team was jobbed by the ref favouring the hometown boys.
CE 15:32 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
The Montreal Process, also known by its catchy official name “Montreal Process Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests”
According to Wikipedia, hotdogs, as served in Montreal, are called Montreal hot dogs
Kate 15:56 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
There even used to be a Wikipedia page about Montreal shish taouk, but it’s gone away. (Short version: what everyone else calls a chicken shawarma, we call a shish taouk, because of a decision or mistake made by the founder of Basha’s. Properly, a shish taouk is a brochette of pieces of chicken, not chicken sliced off a rotating spit.)
ant6n 17:32 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
Interesting! I always thought that in Berlin they somehow got it the wrong way around, because here the focus is more on Doners by Turkish people, so whoever does shawarma must be doing it wrong.
Dhomas 19:04 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
The article still exists on French Wikipedia:
https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shish_taouk
David tighe 21:41 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
I had a Honda in 1989 which was Montreal blue
David tighe 21:48 on 2020-07-24 Permalink
I should add, to add a bit of stupifying boredom to the subject that it was in Geneva and it was a kind of frosty cold blue
Kate 14:12 on 2020-09-05 Permalink
Came back later to add, for future listing purposes, the Dutch band Miss Montreal, which has occasionally turned up in my searches.