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Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger

It was only a matter of time before Canada had its own pop star portmanteau romance à la TomKat and Brangelina.

But it's fair to say that no one would have predicted the couple to be Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and Avril Lavigne.

So congratulations… Chavril?

The coinage quickly became a Twitter hashtag last night after Lavigne's spokesperson confirmed the news of their engagement in People magazine.

A tweet from Nickelback last night was posted with such little fanfare – "Congratulations Avril and Chad!" – that it could have almost gone unnoticed had it not also linked to the article.

Apparently, the two performers had been dating oh-so-stealthily for six months.

Kroeger, 37, has never been married, although he was previously engaged to Marianne Goriuk. Lavigne, who is ten years younger, married Canadian rocker Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 in 2006. They divorced three years later.

As a couple, Lavigne and Kroeger (which rhymes with cougar) represent two of Canada's most popular music exports. But unlike current stars Justin Bieber and Drake, they both have managed to garner as many detractors as fans.

Nickelback, in many ways, is like the McDonald's of music; people deny liking them yet they have sold over 50 million albums worldwide.

Last year, Kroeger told Billboard magazine, '"The people speak. We sell a lot of records and fill a lot of arenas, and we don't hear many complaints."'

But already, Chavril is shaping up to be a two-for-one punch line on Twitter.

From Francois Marchand who tweets under the handle @FMarchandVS: "There's only one way this #Chavril wedding can happen: Grey Cup halftime show. With pyro."

Another zinger from Mike Bell (@mrbell_23): "A positive thought: They have a child. It rebels. And becomes an actual musician. #chavril"

Heaven forbid they have a Sk8ter Boi.

The announcement comes just days after Nickelback released its new video for Trying Not to Love You, which, incongruously, features Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld fame) playing a barista in love with Brooke Burns.

All bets are on as far as how long they will last. In 2008, Kroeger did a lengthy interview with Playboy magazine. When the subject turned to his sexual exploits, he replied:

"You know anything about zodiac signs? I'm a Scorpio. A Scorpio is pretty much a walking penis. Getting that under control is difficult. Also, I was born in 1974, the year of the tiger, which means I'm a shrewd businessman and I pretty much want to take over the world. I'm a walking penis that wants to take over the world. So you can imagine."

It gets better:

Playboy: How long did the thrill of having women throw themselves at you last?

Kroeger: What, you think it's over? [laughs] That would be silly. It's like farts—when do farts stop being funny?

Oh, Chad, why'd you have to go make things so complicated?

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