Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ucla-cs.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!ucla-cs!wales From: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Americanisms and Canadianisms Message-ID: <8086@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Tue, 17-Dec-85 16:44:55 EST Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.8086 Posted: Tue Dec 17 16:44:55 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 20-Dec-85 01:52:57 EST References: <974@lsuc.UUCP> Reply-To: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (Rich Wales) Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Lines: 64 In article <974@lsuc.UUCP> msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) writes: >Of course, maybe Randy thinks it's unimaginable that an American would >adopt the courtesy of using another person's vocabulary. It might be instructive (even amusing) to take this chance to try and put together a list of some of the more common Americanisms/Canadianisms which are liable to confuse people from the opposite side of the border. Right off the top of my head, I can think of several words or phrases which (so I am told) are current in Canada, but which many or most Americans (oops, sorry, I mean "residents of the USA" :-}) would not understand at all. Here's a small initial contribution: Canadian usage American usage -------------- -------------- Z (pronounced "zed") Z (pronounced "zee") shone (rhymes with "gone") shone (rhymes with "bone") khaki (pronounced "car key") khaki (rhymes with "tacky") back bacon Canadian bacon eaves trough rain gutter toque (rhymes with "kook") stocking cap chesterfield sofa chesterbed sofa bed, hide-a-bed riding (legislative district) district to hose, hose over to gyp, cheat, screw over Can anyone add to this list (or make corrections if it contains errors)? Particularly interesting would be stories of actual experiences of some- one from Canada being misunderstood in the States through inadvertent use of a Canadianism (like the apocryphal story of the Canadian who went to an American department store and asked where the chesterfields were, only to be told that the store in question didn't sell tobacco!). At the risk of committing an ethnocentric gaffe, I would assume that there probably aren't nearly as many Americanisms that confuse people from Canada as the other way around -- since the U.S. mass media has (much to many people's dismay, I know) permeated the market up north for some time now. However, if anyone knows of instances where an American was misunderstood in Canada because of differences in region- alisms, please speak up. (E.g.: Has any American, while spelling a word or name containing a Z, been misunderstood because a Canadian thought he had heard a C? In this regard, it should be noted that most American ham radio operators -- myself included -- say "zed" instead of "zee" over the radio, for precisely this reason.) In addition to usage which would actually cause non-understanding or misunderstanding between people from the two countries, maybe we could also try to list words/phrases which -- though usually understood on both sides of the border -- are still perceived as unnatural when used in the other country. For instance: Canadian usage American usage -------------- -------------- in hospital in the hospital to stand for office to run for office eh? huh? I'm sure this second list can be expanded considerably. -- Rich Wales // UCLA Computer Science Department // +1 213-825-5683 3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, California 90024 // USA ARPA: wales@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU -or- wales@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA UUCP: ...!(ucbvax,ihnp4)!ucla-cs!wales