simonhouse

Spelling is another interesting one.

You'd be amazed how many Canadians think Colour is spelled 'Color' in Canada. According to this site, the real spelling here is Colour - just like us Brits.

Same with the pronunciation of the letter "Z". Plenty of Canadians (usually teens) think it's pronounced 'Zee', when the real pronunciation is in fact 'Zed'. (Got my facts from the Nationmaster encyclopedia on that one!)

acer rose

I know a Martin (Brit) who became Monty in a transatlantic move. how can people say that the youngsters of today know nothing about history, Europe and the war ;-)

oceanMDX

Actually, we say "butter" not "budda"! Maybe it was an American saying that.

oceanMDX

Actually, Canadians were (and are) taught to spell color as "colour". However, the Americans spell it as "color", and adding the "u" is just an extra keystroke, so some of us (like me) have opted to use "color".

Canadians say "zed" for z. Americans say "zee". I didn't know that teenagers are starting to say "zee" in Canada. We'll have to wash their mouths out when we catch them!

Glaswegian

Actually this is not technically correct. I have been a school volunteer marking grade one spelling tests - I had no idea which was correct for colour/color. After checking with the teacher I now know that at least in our school that both are acceptable.

I have also just asked both my children separately to tell me the last letter of the alphabet. Both said 'zee'. The older one wanted to know why and when I told him I was informed that 'zed' would be English but either would do in Canada!

oceanMDX

You should understand that I am a native Canadian (i.e. born in Canada), and I was raised and educated in Canada (including a University degree). However, things may be changing for the kids regarding pronunciation. I have noted over the last few years in the Canadian print media that "xxxx". has change to "xxxx." - as the Americans do it.

Glaswegian

I do realise that you were born and educated in Canada - however I was refering to your comment that "children were and are" taught a certain thing. I did specify that my comment could only relate to the school my children attend and therefore by definition is a very small population to sample. Hence why I started by saying your comment was not "technically" correct as your comment related to all Canadian school children.

oceanMDX

Good point, and I have to admit we are slowly slipping into some American habits. However, if you were to check out a Canadian-version, English language dictionary, you would see what I mean.

Glaswegian

I think we are actually in agreement over this! In another post I have stated that our local teachers comment that our school uses "true Queen's English" is quite inaccurate. For example
zee/zed
color/colour
pants/trousers
underpants/pants
sidewalk/pavement
pavement/road
soccer/football
football/Canadian football


It can lead to quite a lot of confusion when talking to a Canadian - I still maintain we dont speak English over here just like those Quebec dont speak French.

oceanMDX

We have alway called soccer, soccer - well as far as I know anyway. But we use terms that the Americans don't know. I had a hilarious experience one time in a shopping mall in Houston, Texas. I was in a Sears store and asked a Black woman (a clerk) where the "washroom" was. She looked dumbfounded and asked if I needed to wash my clothes! So I asked for the "restroom" and she understood right away. Also, walk into any furniture store in the US and say you want to buy a "chesterfield" - they won't have a clue. They call it a sofa, we use the word sofa a lot too now, but not when I was a kid.

Glaswegian

Is a chesterfield a brand? - it was a settee where I grew up, but a sofa in England.

oceanMDX

Now that you ask:

chesterfield (chès´ter-fêld´) noun
1. A single- or double-breasted overcoat, usually with concealed buttons and a velvet collar.
2. Chiefly Northern California & Canada. A large, overstuffed sofa with upright armrests.

[After a 19th-century earl of Chesterfield.]

Regional Note: Chesterfield, a term for any type of sofa, was probably brought down from Canada, where it is common. According to Craig M. Carver in American Regional Dialects, this regionalism is "unique to northern California." The word probably comes from the name of a 19th-century earl of Chesterfield and originally referred "specifically to a couch with upright armrests at either end." It appears to have come into use in Canada around 1903 and in Northern California at about the same time.

oceanMDX

How was that for a fast and detailed answer. I feel entitled to a prize! Yes, I want a prize.

Glaswegian

Where I come from Chesterfield is a small town with a church with a very obvious crooked spire.

They say the spire will straighten if a virgin ever get married in the church - it's been crooked for as long as I've known.

simonhouse

It's always been 'Sofa' for me. Or three-piece suite when accompanied with two chairs following the same design.

But I understand Settee and Couch.

Never heard of Chesterfield before, apart from the town Glaswegian mentioned.