Canadian ridings

[Deleted]

Frankly, I thought that I was well versed in the dominant Canadian language, but I guess I must have been reading most electoral articles in French, because I had never heard of 'ridings' before today when I was trying to get some information on the legislative elections. I take it that 'ridings' are what most of us non Canadians would call 'electoral districts'?

What is the origin of this word? My first wild guess would have to do with the amount of ground that a person can cover on horseback in one day. You wouldn't want anybody representing you who is more than a day away, would you?

Do you have any other secret words that I should know about?

[patricklondon]

Interestingly, "riding" is used for the subdivisions of the county of Yorkshire in England, and in the Scottish borders they use the word to mean a ceremony of riding round the boundaries of certain towns, combined with various local celebrations.

[Deleted]

Do you have any other secret words that I should know about?

A few, but they are not for public consumption