Slang dictionary
Old King Clancy
[ohld king klan-see]
What does Old King Clancy mean?
You say you have a Canadian girlfriend? Oh yeah? Did she give you an Old King Clancy?
Well, we don’t believe you, because the Old King Clancy is a suggestive, Canadian-inflected but otherwise unspecified sex act made up by the TV show How I Met Your Mother.
Where does Old King Clancy come from?
The Old King Clancy was first referenced in a 2009 episode, itself called “Old King Clancy,” of the sitcom How I Met Your Mother. In it, the character Robin (Cobie Smulders) reveals that she was propositioned to perform an unusual sex act by a Canadian celebrity who had a weird collection of collectibles.
Throughout the rest of the episode, the other characters try to guess the celebrity, sex-act, and collectible. In the end, they are revealed to be a fictional wrestler named the Frozen Snowshoe, a humorous sex act called the Old King Clancy (it somehow involves maple syrup), and trays from the Canadian fast-food chain Harvey’s. A flashback reveals that Robin actually propositioned the Frozen Snowshoe while pulling a bottle of maple syrup out of her purse.
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During the episode, the characters consult a website, www.canadiansexacts.org. The creators of How I Met Your Mother actually made that website, dedicated to describing their uniquely and completely made-up Canadian sex acts, like the Northwest Passage (not to be confused with the Alaskan pipeline), Full Mountie, Frosty Mitten Job, and of course, the Old King Clancy. If you click any of the links, though, all you get is an error message and a photo of (fully dressed) Canadian actor Alan Thicke of Growing Pains fame. Bummer?
That didn’t stop the dedicated users of Urban Dictionary from making their own highly explicit guesses at what comprises an Old King Clancy, of course. Four different definitions were posted to the site on March 23, 2009, the same day the episode aired.
Canada Day makes me think of Robin from HIMYM #oldkingclancy
— Maddie Rastall (@MaddieRastall) July 1, 2013
The How I Met Your Mother writers really did their Canadian homework, though. Francis “King” Clancy, it turns out, is the name of a very real hockey player who played for the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1920–1930s. The NHL awards the King Clancy trophy to a player who has done significant humanitarian work each year. Having such an award named after you must be almost as big an honor as being the inspiration for a fictional sex act on a TV sitcom, eh?
Examples of Old King Clancy
Who uses Old King Clancy?
As much as people like to talk about the Old King Clancy, it’s not entirely clear that anyone out there is actually utilizing maple syrup in the bedroom, but then again, who knows? It’s a sticky situation.
Old King Clancy, it's the same as a Sacramento Turtleneck but with Maple Syrup.
— ☠️ (@BruChristopher) January 3, 2013
GIMMIE SOME TACOBELL AND I'LL PERFORM SEXUAL FAVORS IDC I'LL DIRTY SANCHEZ, ALASKAN PIPELINE, OLD KING CLANCY, CLEVELAND STEAMER YOU NAME IT
— left-wing Hades (@lumbertrash) September 25, 2014
More often than not, the Old King Clancy comes up as a joke poking fun at Canadians, and, of course, as an inside joke among How I Met Your Mother fans.
Listening to canadian radio, disappointed at the lack of mentions of old king clancy.
— Traci Koller Mazurek (@heytrace) July 29, 2009
I'd love to expose you to some Canadian heritage.
Such as an Old King Clancy.— Dictator Twatty (@Arrogant_Twat) July 26, 2015
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Old King Clancy like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Old King Clancy that will help our users expand their word mastery.