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Thread: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

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    Yoggy's Avatar
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    Default Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Here's another thread that may belong in "Chit Chat", but it does apply only to Canadians, so here it is. When you spell certain words such as colour, centre, organise, or aluminium, do you generally adopt the American or British spelling? I've noticed more and more Canadians using the American spelling these days. I spell most words the British way, but words like jail/gaol, or airplane/aeroplane, I tend to spell the American way. Also, I pronounce "aluminium" the American way but spell it the British way. I just say there's a silent "i" .
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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    ♥♥♥ Tigerlily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    It depends on the word. I write neighbour, favour, flavour, savour, etc but then I go and write color.
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    LOL! What about "centre"? I also found out recently that Americans spell "cheque" as "check". That surprised me, as I had never really noticed another way to spell "cheque". Oh and my roommate (who's from Georgia) said that she's seen the word "toque" spelled "tuke" in the States
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Oh yeah! I use center for things like, "Draw a line in the center of the page" but I use centre for things like "The Sports Centre"...Weird?

    I only use cheque!

    And I didn't even know they knew what toque was!

    What about meter/metre? I use either one, depends.
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    Yoggy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    It's true, most Americans don't know what toques are. My friend saw it spelled like "tuke" in Maine or somewhere else near the border where many people use the word.
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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    Why hello! xwitchymagicx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I'm English and live in England obviously and I sometimes spell things the american way. I have to be careful as the teachers wouldn't be too happy. I guess i'm picking up on it on message boards or something.
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

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    ♥♥♥ Tigerlily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Tsk, tsk.
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    Why hello! xwitchymagicx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I'm thinking I spend way too much time on the internet!
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

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    ♥♥♥ Tigerlily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    *in an annoying, grouchy motherly voice* Get offline and go do your homework!
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    Why hello! xwitchymagicx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I'd rather go to bed i think homework is for those 3am i can't sleep times.
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    This thread is so funny!! I tend to spell things the Canadian way (colour, favour, cheque of course), but some things I am super Americanized. I took a test last week and you had to say what words were spelled incorrectly, so I said that odour was incorrect b/c of my Americanized 'odor' thinking (I feel like a bad Canadian after that one).

    And I didn't think americans knew what a toque was either, I've never met any who've known what it is!

    I feel like as I get older and am out of school longer and longer (thus not really writing anything), I become much more Americanized. Maybe I shouldn't have withdrawn from grad school last September!!

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    Yoggy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    The Canadian spelling of "Americanized" is "Americanised"

    Here's an interesting web page about some other differences in spelling. I know I spell "encyclopedia" the American way, but I didn't realise there was another way to spell "medieval"!
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    OMG, I spelled it wrong , I am sooooooo bad!!!!

    OK, I'm going to check out that link now!

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    skilful is 1 l? I thought it was skillful; and the ze, se, I'm definitely American on. OK, I got manoeuvre wrong on that english test too!!! banque? OK, that's it, I'm not reading anymore right now, I feel like a really bad Canadian.

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote Yoggy
    The Canadian spelling of "Americanized" is "Americanised"

    Here's an interesting web page about some other differences in spelling. I know I spell "encyclopedia" the American way, but I didn't realise there was another way to spell "medieval"!
    I always used "s" and my English teacher last year always marked my papers wrong.
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  16. #16
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote rach71
    OMG, I spelled it wrong , I am sooooooo bad!!!!
    Re your avatar. Shouldn't it be 'leaves,' not 'leafs'

    (I'm a saucy pedantic wretch)

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote Geoff
    (I'm a saucy pedantic wretch)
    I can guess what that means but huh?

  18. #18
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    It's a quote from John Donne, the famous Australian poet, from his poem called, I think The Sun Rising:

    Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
    Why dost thou thus,
    Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
    Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
    Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
    Late school-boys and sour prentices,

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Okay, I'm curious. What is toque or "tuke" as we American's spell it?

  20. #20
    FR
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    It seems Canadians and Europeans spell Totalling as Totaling, whereas here in the USA, I mostly see it as Totalling.

  21. #21
    ♥♥♥ Tigerlily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    In both Canada and the US, we have the grade system to rank school years. But I noticed Americans generally say "Fifth Grade" while a Canadian would usually say "Grade Five". Anyone notice that?
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    LOL Tigerlily, yes! I noticed it on TV shows a lot as a kid, and now that I live in the States, I've never heard anyone say "grade five", etc., they always say "fifth grade". I've even started doing it too, because people here look at me weird if I say it the Canadian way!
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Yeah! I ALWAYS thought it was my faulty Maritimer English dialect whenever I said "Grade Five" or something because in books and TV, they say it the American way. Then yesterday I was reading an article in a women's magazine about kids dropping out...and they said "Grade Ten", "Grade 7", etc.
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    Why hello! xwitchymagicx's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote rach71
    skilful is 1 l? I thought it was skillful
    It looks a little strange with one "l"

    I've never seen anyone spell "Bank" "banque"
    "It's not that people suddenly start breeding like rabbits; it's just that people stopped dropping like flies" - population explosion

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Yeah, me neither. Banque is bank in French.
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I ALWAYS spell thing the British way, and always pronounce the letter Z as Zed. I get teased a lot at work because of it too.....

  27. #27
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    It took me a while to stop saying "pop" instead of "soda" when I moved to Hawaii. Now it seems weird to say "pop". Same with z, I say it "zee" instead of "zed" now. I'm such a bad Canadian
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

  28. #28
    Yst
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    You get teased at work in Ottawa about pronouncing it "zed"? Here in Toronto, my experience has been the reverse, in that I know at least two American individuals living in Toronto who have adopted the "zed" pronunciation in order not to be ridiculed by those around them.

    As far as my own linguistic traditionalism goes, only some of which is grounded in Commonwealth usage, I insist on...

    Differentiating -ice nominal endings from -ise verbal endings:
    - Practice: a noun
    - Practise: a verb

    Uniformly using -ise verbal endings rather than -ize verbal endings where they are well-attested in Commonwealth English:
    - Realise
    - Satirise
    - etc.

    Retaining -ue nominal endings in cases where their deletion was merely a 19th century American invention:
    - Dialogue
    - Catalogue
    - etc.

    Prefering a plural form original to the language from which a word is derived if it is well-attested in English and recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary:
    - Mythos (s), Mythoi (pl)
    - Schema (s), Schemata (pl)
    - Phalanx (s), Phalanges (pl)
    - etc.

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote Yoggy
    It took me a while to stop saying "pop" instead of "soda" when I moved to Hawaii. Now it seems weird to say "pop". Same with z, I say it "zee" instead of "zed" now. I'm such a bad Canadian
    I know what you mean about say "soda" instead of "pop". As a kid we went to NY on vacation and I asked for a "pop". The guy looked at me like I was from Mars or something. It is kinda cool the differences between our two countries.

    I'm rather jealous that you moved to Hawaii and managed to escape winter!

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    After reading through this thread again, I don't even know what's American and Canadian half the time, except of course for the obvious cultural ones like toque and zed .

    Although, I've heard lots of Americans pronounce roof as ruff. The first time this happened I was having a conversation with someone who was talking about redoing their 'ruff' I was like, your what? and they said ruff. what? ruff... finally after about 5 minutes I realized he was saying roof. It was ridiculous!

  31. #31
    FR
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Americans pronounce British as BriTish. Brits pronounce it as Bri ish, no T, hahaha. I'm dead now.

  32. #32
    saucyvegan
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    FR I can see im going to have to keep my eye on u today. What u having for lunch? Falafels?

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    We pronounce it as British too! I loooooove British accents though, gotta marry a Brit so I can listen to the accent all day long

  34. #34
    FR
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote rach71
    I loooooove British accents though, gotta marry a Brit so I can listen to the accent all day long
    Yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

  35. #35
    FR
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote saucyvegan
    FR I can see im going to have to keep my eye on u today. What u having for lunch? Falafels?
    Actually, I have a stir fry mixture containing, brown rice, some veggies, spike seasoning, Bragg Liquid Aminos, and black beans.

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    My roommates still make fun of me for pronouncing "been" like "bean" instead of "bin". I usually pronounce it like "bin" in the middle of a sentence, but at the end of a sentence it always sounds like "bean".
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

  37. #37
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote FR
    Americans pronounce British as BriTish. Brits pronounce it as Bri ish, no T, hahaha. I'm dead now.
    Only the lower orders pronounce British wivaht the 't'. People from Harrow, such as I, pronounce it properly.
    I speak excellent English and am currently available.

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    ♥♥♥ Tigerlily's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote Yoggy
    My roommates still make fun of me for pronouncing "been" like "bean" instead of "bin". I usually pronounce it like "bin" in the middle of a sentence, but at the end of a sentence it always sounds like "bean".
    You know what? I never ever noticed! I say that too. What part of Canada did you grow up in?
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    You say bin or been? I've never even heard of 'bin' pronouncing before!!

  40. #40
    Yoggy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I usually say it like "bin" in the middle of a sentence, as in "Yeah, I've bin there before". But at the end of a sentence it's always "bean", as in "Where have you been?" Basically whenever the emphasis is on "been", I pronounce it the second way. But my roommate (who's from Georgia) always pronounces it as "bin". She also pronounces "pin" and "pen" exactly the same!

    Tigerlily, I never noticed the been/bin thing either until I started living with Americans! I grew up in Southern Ontario. We easterners pronounce a lot of things differently than in the west, I've noticed during my time in Victoria.
    "Man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills" - Arthur Schopenhauer

  41. #41
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    You should try listening to a Kiwi. They pronounce 'ten' as 'tin' and 'sex as 'sucks' (which could lead to all sorts of misunderstandings)

  42. #42
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    I onced watched a movie from New Zealand--they even had subtitles! The two main characters were kids too (it was a serious adult movie, though) and I'm sure they spoke in a lot of slang terms.
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  43. #43
    Geoff
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    They even subtitle some ENGLISH films for the US market 'cos they can't understand anything that not 'mericun.

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote Geoff
    They even subtitle some ENGLISH films for the US market 'cos they can't understand anything that not 'mericun.

  45. #45
    veggiesosage
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote rach71
    We pronounce it as British too! I loooooove British accents though, gotta marry a Brit so I can listen to the accent all day long
    I have a perfect BriTish accent, don't you know, by George

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Quote veggiesosage
    I have a perfect BriTish accent, don't you know, by George


    I swear one day I'll just get on a plane and move there (I actually almost did once-I was in London and almost didn't leave!!), that way I guess everyone will have an accent

    My British passport is my only valid one anyways now, so I guess on paper I'm more Brit than Canadian right now!

  47. #47
    veggiesosage
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Rach, you got dual nationality then?

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Yep, it's the best. Whenever I go to Europe you just wave your passport-no lines. I'm the only Canadian in my family. The rest are British and German (Grandparents and up are mostly German, few Brits). My mum was born and raised in London. But I don't know anyone in Europe, my entire family is dead (to be blunt) except my mum and I.

  49. #49

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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Well my mum and late grandmother became Canadian after being here for a long time, but I"m the only one to be born and raised here.

  50. #50
    veggiesosage
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    Default Re: Canadians: do you spell things the American or British way?

    Cool for you. A way into 'fortress Europe' when you want!

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