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: Re: Americanisms and Canadianisms Message-ID: <8132@ucla-cs.ARPA> Date: Fri, 20-Dec-85 20:30:16 EST Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.8132 Posted: Fri Dec 20 20:30:16 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 22-Dec-85 01:15:54 EST Reply-To: wales@ucla-cs.UUCP (Rich Wales) Distribution: net Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department Lines: 69 A few more Canadianisms which would probably confuse us "Yanks" :-}, and which I forgot to include in my first list: ==> to "table" a motion (in legislative procedure): In Canada, this means to put a proposal forth for consideration. In the U.S., it means to postpone consideration indefinitely (a nice way to kill a measure without explicitly voting it down). I remember reading somewhere about some international treaty or armistice commission in which U.S. and Canadian delegates were discussing some idea both groups favored (actually, the Canadian group probably favoured the idea -- but the Americans heard them wrong and thought they said they favored it :-}). Anyway, the U.S. delegation couldn't understand why the Canadians wanted to *table* the proposal in question if they thought it was such a good idea! ==> "hydro": Electric power provided by a utility company (e.g., "the hydro was out for three hours after the big storm the other night"). I assume the word arose because most of the electric power in Canada comes (or, at one time, came) from hydroelectric plants. This term isn't used in the States at all; most Americans would probably misinterpret it as referring to the water supply. ==> to "hork" (spelling uncertain): Apparently a slang expression meaning "to steal" -- though I would prefer to get a confirmation of this from a Canadian before adding it to my data. In the movie "Strange Brew", which I saw last night, Bob and Doug McKenzie used this word after playing a hockey match with inmates of an insane asylum, only to find later on that their clothes were gone when they returned to their lockers. (Some- thing like, "Hey! Those hosers horked our clothes, eh?") I tried looking this one up in the Gage Canadian Dictionary (which I picked up while at the Toronto USENIX conference in 1983), but couldn't find it. Maybe I heard it wrong; then again, this particular dictionary isn't very strong on obscure technical or slang expressions. Can anyone out there shed more light? A friend mentioned to me the other day about how he had heard a UNIX hacker from Canada talk about a "struct proke" (rhymes with "broke") in the kernel. Turns out he was talking about the good ol' "struct proc" (which, in the American mouth, rhymes with "crock" -- no value judgment implied :-}). "Proke" is an eminently reasonable verbal abbreviation for "process", *if* you pronounce this latter word as "proh-cess" (as do many Canadians, but virtually no Americans). My friend also said that his Canadian UNIX hacker acquaintance seems to have adopted the American pronunciation for "proc" now -- no doubt because no one had any idea *what* in the world a "proke" was. And, of course, my list of Canadian/American differences should have included the entry that started this whole discussion: Canadian usage American usage -------------- -------------- the U.S., the States America -- 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