If you live in Canada, you may have heard of a donut shop called Tim Hortons. In most Canadian cities, there are several Tim Hortons because a lot of Canadians are addicted to Tim Hortons.

For the last few years something has been going on whenever I walk by my local Tim Hortons. This has given me the opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do; coin a phrase.

When a phrase is coined, there are people, usually history buffs, who can go back in time to find out where that phrase was first used.

My purpose for writing this article today is only to show that it was first used here, by me.

What is a TImmy Left Looker?

So now you may be wondering to yourself, “What is a Timmy Left Looker?”

To understand this phrase, let’s look at "Timmy," "Left," and "Looker."

You’ve probably already guessed that the Timmy has something to do with Tim Hortons. That part was easy.

In case you’re not from Canada, I’ll quickly use the opportunity to teach you a quick Canadian phrase, “Timmy Run.”

A Timmy run is when you run out and quickly grab some Tim Hortons and bring it back for every body at your house or office.

In my town, it is common to see 8 and 10 year old children trying to run across the street during rush hour. It is obvious that their parents sent them out for a quick Timmy run. To get home quickly, they are risking their lives by crossing the street in front of Tim Horton’s instead of using the traffic light.

But that child endangerment phenomenon may be another article for another day.

I was just trying to explain what a Timmy Run was, and accidentally remembered the terrified looking children trying to cross the street.

So, what do Timmy Runs have to do with Timmy Left Lookers?

The millions of Canadian "Timmy Runs" done over the years inspired the “Timmy” in Timmy Left Looker.

Thankfully, most of these have been done by adults.

The left in Timmy Left looker is a driver who is pulling out of the Tim Horton’s parking lot and making a left turn.

The looker in Timmy left Looker indicates what they are doing.

The left also has a second meaning. It tells you the direction they are looking in. By that, I mean the only direction they are looking in.

Quite often, as I come walking towards the local Tim Horton’s, I see a Timmy Left Looker pulling out. They are carefully looking left to see if any cars are coming.

Not once, does it occur to them to look right to see if a pedestrian is coming.

So here is the full definition for you:

A Timmy Left Looker is a driver who can only look left when leaving Tim Horton’s.

What causes a person to become a Timmy Left Looker?

I have two theories about why people become Timmy Left Lookers.

Theory #1:  Prior to starting up the car, the person out for a Timmy Run decides to taste one of the donuts. The sugar rush immediately causes them to forget everything in the driver’s handbook and everything they learned in Driver’s Education. It also causes a temporary neck reaction that prevents the neck from turning right. Due to this combination of physiological activity, the Timmy Left Looker is actually temporarily incapable of looking right. They continue looking left, go home and never know to this day that you were standing there.

Theory #2: The Timmy Left Looker knows that Tim Horton’s donuts bring joy and happiness. They are eager to get home with the delightful concoction of Tim Bits or other pastries they bought. They know that a lot of Canadians have outsourced their happiness to Tim Horton’s for years. So they’re eager to bring a little joy into the world. This desire to bring joy makes them look eagerly in the direction of their house, which happens to be left. Temporarily, they forget that when you are turning left out of a parking lot, you should also look right. So they pull out on to the street and head on home with their joy package; oblivious to you standing there.

These are my two theories about why Timmy Left Lookers only look left.

There may be many other reasons that I haven’t discovered.

In either case, I have just accomplished my life-long goal of coining a phrase. I hope.

I also can’t pass up another good opportunity right now.

If you just realized that you are a Timmy Left looker, congratulations! Admitting it is the first step.

The next step is looking both right and left, when you are pulling out of Tim Horton’s.

A pedestrian may be coming.

A terrified pedestrian who is horrified that they’ve been standing there for a while, and not once have you looked right.

I know you love sweet treats, and can’t wait to get home with them.

But please, look right.