2. The May Two-Four which is the May long weekend celebrated on the 4th Monday of May - near May 24th (Victoria Day) in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
Especially in Ontario, the capacity of the cardboard case purchased from an Ontario Beer Store; there are TWENTY-FOUR bottles (not cans) in the case.
Doug: hey Bob, it's your turn to go to the Beer Store, to buy a Canadian two-four -- while you're up, get me a L.I.P. grant and some Canadian, of course bacon.
Queen Victoria's birth day, May 24th, is a statutory holiday in Canada and the first long weekend since Easter. It is the traditional weekend during which one opens 'the camp' (cottage), and signifies the start of summer (and Blackfly season) in Canada. The reference to 'two-four' rather than 'twenty-fourth' is a Canadian inside joke refering to the obligatory case(s) of 24 bottles of beer, or 'two-fours' required to celebrate the opening of the camp and to steel one's courage against the blackflies and the mice that will have settled into the camp since it was closed in the fall.
"Did ya go to the Beer Store and get a couple of two-fours for camp? It's May two-four, eh, and there'll be a lineup!"
(Noun) A case of beer consisting of 24 bottles. Usually enough for one or two Canadians. "Case" or "Box" are seldom used in lieu of two-four. Popularly consumed with a candle light dinner.
Wife: "How's the Kraft Dinner, eh?"
Husband: "Good there. Would ya mind gettin us a couple more Moosehead outta the two-four? It's in the snowbank on the left, eh?"