6 unspoken Montreal truths that everyone in the city just accepts (according to a local)
As someone born in this city, I sometimes forget just how delightfully weird Montreal is.
We have the architecture of New York, the 5 a 7 culture of Paris, the traffic of Moscow, the creativity of San Francisco and the open-minded party vibes of Amsterdam. On top of this, we have our own developing language and a completely unique sense of street style.
Living here, it's so easy to take a lot of Montreal's awesome quirks for granted. So here's a list of unspoken truths everyone in Montreal agrees on, without ever actually discussing it.
Franglais is its own language - and it even has dialects
Anybody who says franglais isn't its own language clearly hasn't been to Montreal.
Franglais is technically called a "pidgin" — a mini-language that forms in places like Montreal where people who speak different languages live and work together closely. Montreal has mixed Canadian English and Quebecois joual together in such a way that even the language police isn't quite sure if it's against the rules.
Franglais is so well-developed in Montreal that it even has its own dialects. Everything from your accent to your word choice makes your home borough instantly recognizable to other Montrealers. And to make it even cooler, Allophones will throw in phrases in their own languages, giving different neighbourhoods and communities their own Franglais flavours.
C't'un peu mishugah for newcomers dans le coin, I'll admit. Mais c'ben cool of us to have our own language. How many other cities can say that? Franchement.
The only real rule of the road: don't hold up traffic
Between the constant road work, massive potholes, bike lanes, street terraces, erratic street parking, steep hills, black ice, and jaywalkers, driving in Montreal is a specialized skill.
If you learned to drive here as a teen, you're sort of able to navigate it all on vibes. But if you're driving in from Ontario, or learning to drive as an adult...? Oof. There are even born-and-bred Montrealers who refuse to drive downtown.
The only consistent habit I've ever seen downtown Montreal drivers uphold is a plain refusal to hold up traffic. Whether it's one extra car sneaking through an intersection or veering halfway into an empty lane to avoid a pothole (rather than slow down and drive through it), the main goal is to keep it pushing — not just for you, but for everybody behind you.
People might honk at you for an actual traffic violation, but you'll definitely be blasted with a brass section's worth of horns if you drive slower than the flow of traffic.
Osheaga has become an endurance sport with a killer playlist
Osheaga is known as one of the coolest music festivals in Eastern Canada, and rightly so. Parc Jean-Drapeau makes it possible to host a huge outdoor fest in the heart of the city, and the lineup is consistently amazing.
In 2024, festival-goers were able to see Chappell Roan, Smashing Pumpkins, Labrinth, Green Day, Renee Rapp, and T-Pain. It was wild.
But like the rest of Montreal's summer, Osheaga hasn't been spared from the effects of climate change. In recent years, music lovers have had to weather extreme heat, heavy rain, and smoky air to see their favourite acts.
Luckily, nothing will stop us Montrealers from having a good time in the summer. But it's just accepted these days that half of the pre-game planning for Osheaga with our friends will be about how we'll survive and thrive in the brutal weather.
We're all mad at the mayor, pretty much all the time
It doesn't matter who the mayor is or what they're doing, Montrealers will always be mad about it.
This is less because Montreal is full of nay-saying jerks and more because Montrealers love their city. We're invested in local politics, and we want to see our beautiful city live up to its full cultural and economic potential. And the mayor, as the face of local political power, becomes the target of a lot of that passion.
That said, there has been an ongoing problem of gender-based insults and threats thrown at female mayors, and that's absolutely disgusting and needs to stop.
The street fashion >>>
Fashion journalism is totally sleeping on Montreal streetwear. The designer collectors are admiring the French expats on the Plateau, who are taking notes from the frugal-chic artists, who are checking out the subculture baddies, who are trying not to stare as they pass the vintage lovers.
And somewhere in all those double-takes and fit checks, a distinctly "Montreal" look has emerged. Downtown is a runway of comfortable, quasi-European chic outfits with a distinct aura of rock n' roll that a significant portion of the city casually throws on to run errands.
And then we shrug off compliments, saying we didn't really think about what we put on today. And I love that for us.
It's lowkey expected that you become nocturnal
Montreal is famous for its nightlife for a reason. It's just accepted here that the best events start after a long 5 a 7 and will probably end at 3:00 a.m. in an Uber with a half-eaten Belle Pro poutine.
On top of this, many restaurants and businesses simply do not open until late in the morning, because it isn't worth opening any earlier. It's often easier to run errands after dinner than before work, which is very much not the case anywhere else.
Early birds often struggle when they first move to Montreal because so much of the best social and cultural events happen after dark. And everybody knows that parties don't really kick off until midnight.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
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