What She Wrote

We don’t all speak the same English.

3 Comments

1. As an American who has lived in Canada, and visited the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, and the Caribbean island nations, I have a few more observations about our “common language in contention.”

   To expand on your discussion of the term root, in Canada, Roots is a popular brand and store name for clothing and casual wear, while in the Caribbean, roots is a curse - used as in “I put roots on you.” (I believe this comes from the use of various plant roots in local island witchcraft.)

   You’re correct in saying that most word usage is the same for both the US and Canada. However, Canadian English generally uses the British or European spelling of a word. So it’s “centre” instead of “center", “colour” instead of “color".

   There are also some other word and product brand name differences:
   “faucet” (US) = “tap” (Canadian - although this is gradually changing to the American usage)
   “swamp” (US) = “muskeg” (-a much colder marsh in the Canadian North)
   “napkin” (US)= “serviette” (Canada)
   “Shredded Wheat” (US) = “Shreddies” (Canada)
   “Nabisco” (US) = “Christie” (Canada)
   “Charmin” (US) = “Royale” (Canada)
   “Clorox” (US) = “Javex” (Canada)

   In the past, Canadians often used the term “Chesterfield” to describe what Americans would call a couch or a sofa.

   Americans use the terms “bathroom” and “restroom” to describe a public room for relieving oneself and washing hands, whereas Canadians generally use the word “washroom” to describe such a place, and reserve the word “bathroom” for a place which actually has a bath, shower, or jacuzzi for bathing.

   After a meal, Americans will ask for the “check” and pay at the “cash register". Canadians will more typically ask for the “bill” and pay at the “till” (-or in the Maritime provinces, you’d pay at the “wicket” - although for most Canadians, wicket would be used for what Americans would call a bank teller’s counter or a ticket booth). Of course, a Canadian customer may very well pay the bill using a “cheque” (British spelling, of course).

   There are differing legal and governmental terms as well:
   “Attorney General” (US)= “Solictor General” (Canada)
   “police officer” (US = “constable” (Canada)
   “restraining order” (US)="peace bond” (Canada)
   “public administration” (US)="governance” (Canada)
   “City Councilman"(US)= “Councillor” (Canada)

   In Canada, the game of football is similar to the US game, but has some different rules and is played on a field with longer dimensions. However, this may ultimately be a dying sport, because most Canadian youths these days play soccer. Interestingly, American rules football is growing in popularity amongst club teams in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Caribbean island nations, Australia, and Zew Zealand. Since the world “football” is already used for another game, they often specify the game as “American rules/American style” or use the word “gridiron.”

   Of course, we also have certain similarities with our neighbors/neighbours to the North.
   A Canadian will usually use the American words “fall", “French fries", “potato chips", “trunk” (-the one at the back of a car), “elevator", or “garbage/trash can” rather than the English terms “autumn", “chips",
   “crisps", “boot", “lift", or “dustbin".
   Of course, that same Canadian may also choose to douse those same French fries or potato chips with vinegar or HP Sauce like a good child of Mother England, serve them with gravy and cheese as a French-Canadian poutine, or dip them in local fast-food delicacies like White Spot Triple-O sauce or or Swiss Chalet sauce. Yum, yum!

   As a former sailor and soldier, I’ve also noticed a few differences in the terminology and peculiar slang of our respective armed forces. Although many terms have become common to nearly all of the closely allied English-speaking armed forces through combined operations and standarization agreements over the years, there are some notable differences. For example, Americans pronounce the rank of lieutenant in the French manner with an “oo” sound, whereas nearly all other English-speaking forces say “left-tenant".

   Other differences in military, aviation, and nautical terms abound:
   “aircraft mechanic"/"Airframe & Powerplant Mechanic” (US) = “aircraft artificer"/"Aircraft Maintenance Engineer” (Canada, UK, Australia)

   Likewise, a member of the engineering or ship’s maintenance department is referred to as a “snipe” in the US Navy and Coast Guard, whereas the Commonwealth navies tend to call the same person a “stoker". [ Interestingly enough, the Irish Naval Service calls the senior engineer on one of their patriol vessels the “Bram” -after the famous Irishman who penned Dracula]

   “Esprit de corps” and professionalism aboard ship (US) = “boatsmanship” (Canada, UK)

   “Blackshoe Navy” (US, Australia) = “dabtoe” (Canada, UK, New Zealand) [-this is a sailor on a surface warship, who is universally called a “skimmer” or “target” by his counterparts aboard submarines]

   “Duff” in the US military is someone’s buttocks, especially when found lazily sitting down and doing nothing useful. In the Commonwealth forces, “duff” can refer to dessert, candy, a time of recreation/eating/drinking (-as in a “duff night” in the Canadian Forces), or an object that is useless or only for show (-as in “That’s just duff” in Royal Australian Navy usage). [In the US Navy, dessert or candy, …or even a snack bar/snack machine …would be called “geedunk"]

   A lazy person who shirks his/her work or disappears when they’re supposed to be on duty is said to be “skylarking” in the US military, or “sliding/sliding off” in the UK or Australia. The lazybones may be personally referred to as a “bandit” (US military - as in “took off like a bandit"), a “skate” or a “skive artist” (Canadian Forces), or a “slider” (Royal Navy).
   [Sidebar: In the US military, a “slider” refers to a hamburger pattie, with or without a bun]

   However, someone who is very diligent at a job, either to impress a superior or out of genuine professionalism may be called a “brown noser” (US), or a “keener” (Canada).

   To add to the confusion, sometimes even the same equipment is called by different names in the different countries. For example, the North American Aircraft Company trainer in which so many aviators learned to fly from the 1940s through the 1980s is variously known by the name T-6 Texan (USAAF/USAF), SNJ (US Navy), Harvard (British forces, Canada, Australia, South Africa), or Wirraway (-the Aussies used this name for some aircraft which were armed with light machine guns and bombs).

   Of course, there are countless other national or regional differences of usage - many of them quite amusing. Thankfully, we do have an ample supply of common words that we can chat about the peculiarities and enjoy the universal language of laughter.

   Comment by Paul — 15 Oct, 2002 @ 19:43

2. Wow! Thank you — for both the Canadian usage differences and the military usages worldwide.

   The US does get most of the differences in Canadian usage of words; though some leave us blank (serviette being an example, US reaction to that one is “duh", whether a Canadian or Brit uses it).

   The spelling is always fun. Is honour as honorable without the “u"? I wrote for British-owned companies in Thailand, so I have a tendency to criticise things rather than criticize. My take on the whole spelling thing is that those who practice British spelling are attempting to create an artificial shortage of the letter “s” and the letter “u".

   Thanks again for your detailed and fascinating comment.

   Comment by Kathy K — 15 Oct, 2002 @ 20:10

3. Commenting to an old old post I know but:
   Given your above knowledge of the different meanings of fanny you might perhaps understand my surprise, on arriving in San Luis Obispo, at finding a lingere store called “Fanny Wrappers".

   BTW, z or s in criticise, civilise, propagandise and all the rest. The z is allowable in English but regarded as archaic/an Americanism.

   Comment by Tim Worstall — 09 Nov, 2004 @ 14:46

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