Ottawa loves a good pun, and the latest one making the rounds started with an unlikely source: Prime Minister Mark Carney. After Carney used the word "hydronym," the proper term for the name of a body of water, a London, Ont. company decided to have some fun with it. The result is a T-shirt reading "My hydronyms are Lake and Ontario," and it is catching on with word nerds and lake lovers across the province, Ottawa included.
What's a hydronym, anyway?
Most people have never heard the word "hydronym" before, let alone used it in casual conversation. But when Carney dropped it into public remarks, it stuck. A London, Ont. apparel company saw an opportunity and ran with it, printing shirts that turn the wonky vocabulary lesson into a proud declaration of Ontario pride: my hydronyms are Lake and Ontario.
It's a small, silly moment, but it taps into something bigger: Ontarians' relationship with the Great Lakes, and with Lake Ontario in particular, which borders the province from Toronto to Kingston.
The Ottawa connection
Ottawa isn't on the shores of Lake Ontario, but the capital's rivers, the Ottawa and the Rideau, both eventually feed into the same watershed system that flows toward it. Ottawa residents who paddle the Rideau Canal, fish the Ottawa River, or take summer road trips down to Kingston and the Thousand Islands have a direct stake in how that broader lake system is treated. Anyone who has driven from Ottawa to Toronto along the 401 has skirted Lake Ontario's shoreline more than once, making the lake a familiar backdrop for plenty of capital-region getaways.
Where the money goes
A portion of proceeds from the T-shirt sales goes to Swim Drink Fish Canada, a charity focused on connecting people to lakes and rivers while working to keep them safe and clean for swimming, drinking, and fishing. The organization runs water-quality testing and public reporting across Ontario waterways, work that matters just as much for the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers as it does for Lake Ontario itself.
For Ottawa residents, the campaign is a lighthearted reminder that the health of Ontario's water systems is interconnected. Whether it's the Rideau Canal in the capital's backyard or Lake Ontario a few hours down the highway, clean water advocacy groups argue the province's lakes and rivers deserve the same attention, pun-based T-shirts or not.
The shirts are being sold online, with the charitable tie-in front and centre in the marketing. It's a rare case of a political vocabulary moment turning into a genuine, if small, fundraising win for Ontario's waterways.
Source: CBC Ottawa
