The Canadian English Dictionary will be the first new general Canadian dictionary of English in two decades. It is being developed by a not-for-profit consortium including Editors Canada, the UBC Canadian English Lab, and the Strathy Language Unit at Queen’s University.
Did you know... Cruciverbalist is the official term for a crossword puzzle writer or creator. Or an enthusiast, but mainly people who create crossword puzzles.
Canadians don't have their own language. But we do have our own way of speaking, our own Canadianisms. (As if that were a word).
I was peeling carrots and I asked my nephew to get me a kettle to put them into. He said it was a pot. I didn't really care what he wanted to call it. Just get it so I can make dinner. I was visiting at his house, his Mother's house. But he went on about it, correcting me.
In fact, I still don't know which is perfectly correct and I don't very much care. I will still, likely, say pot or kettle and mean the same thing. The word is trivial, the meaning was pretty clear.
But he was hung up on the nuance of pot versus kettle. He was not helping me peel carrots, potatoes or get dinner cooking. Which mattered more? I think he would have figured out the lack of importance in the nuance if he had no dinner.
But, a lot of people seem to get hung up on trivial things, like nuances these days.
I do think the word matters and getting it correct matters, but it depends on the circumstances. There are times when communication needs to be clear, when communication is very important and there are times when you just want something to boil the carrots in.
I get annoyed about US spelling being taught or expected/ insisted upon, in Canadian schools. When I was in college, years ago, we were told to spell the US way. I went to Centennial College, the Warden Woods campus which is gone now. My nieces attend school in Newmarket and are taught US spelling. If they (or myself in college) don’t spell the US way our words are marked wrong. In college I had to write very well in order not o have a failing grade – because I refused to spell the US way in Canada. I still refuse.
This site is going to be about Canadian spelling and Canadian things in general. I love being Canadian. I was born here, though I have travelled, I still like Canada the best.