
Why is Canadian English unique? - kareemm
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150820-why-is-canadian-english-unique
======
scholia
One factor is publishing rights. Traditionally, English language publishers
negotiated for two main sets of rights: American (sometimes North American)
rights, and British and Commonwealth rights. The latter resulted in the same
books (with English spelling conventions) appearing in the UK, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand etc.

There have been attempts to change this. To quote from a Guardian article from
2008:

"We are all struggling to free ourselves from the proprietorial attitudes of
the US and UK that continue to dominate the publishing world," said Juliet
Rogers, chief of one of Australia's largest independent publishers Murdoch
Books, and former president of the Australian Publishers Association. "The UK
fails to grasp that the Empire is dead and that Commonwealth markets are no
longer theirs by right [and] the US views Canadian rights as an automatic
extension of their territory, even though they frequently have no intention of
responsibly exercising those rights."

"Because British or American publishers get first dibs and insist on British
Commonwealth rights, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are not getting a look
in," added Andrew Wilkins, director of Australian publisher Wilkins Farago.
This is to the disadvantage of authors, he explained, as exported copies of
books are sold at reduced royalty rates, "so in theory the author could be
making three to four times more money by having a local publisher – it makes
no sense."

[http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/17/canada-
australi...](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/17/canada-australia-
commonwealth-frankfurt-publishers)

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goodcanadian
There are some errors in the article. May two four is a distinctly Eastern
Canada slang. In western Canada, it is simply May long weekend.

Two four to refer to 24 beer is also Eastern Canada. In western Canada, you
call it a flat.

Finally, as a Canadian who has lived outside of Canada for a long time,
Canadians really do use eh a lot. It is just that it is a subconscious element
of the language that we are not aware of. For the record, Americans use huh a
lot in similar contexts and I'll bet they are similarly unaware.

~~~
johan_larson
"24 beer"

Is that usage (the plural "beer") a Canadian thing? I've heard it in Canada
but never in the States.

~~~
ironlady
As an Eastern / Atlantic Canadian, I have always herd it "24 of beer" never
"24 beer"or more common people ignore the "beer" part, for example "I'm going
to get a 24 for the weekend".

edit: added a usage example

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sdm
I'm surprised they missed one of the biggest ones that comes up in day-to-day
life dealing with Americans: the use of verb "to table" in meetings.

In American English if you say you want to table something in a meeting it
means you want to stop talking about it. Ex. Let's table this discussion for
later.

In Canadian English if you say you want to table something in a meeting it
means you want to raise it up and discuss it -- the exact opposite. Ex. I want
to table to this report, has everyone had a chance to read it?

~~~
allannienhuis
I have't heard that exact phrasing used, but the idea is that you're putting a
topic 'on the table' to be looked at by everyone and discussed. I've used and
heard the term used both ways without too much confusion just based on
context.

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ZoeZoeBee
Say what ever you want to say, but Eh is one of the best words out there. It
allows you to create a question out of a sentence without having to change
inflection.

~~~
pmelendez
> Say what ever you want to say, but Eh is one of the best words out there. It
> allows you to create a question out of a sentence without having to change
> inflection.

I agree but I would argue that "huh" and "right" do the trick too :)

~~~
ZoeZoeBee
Huh and right do too, though they lack the panache of a well placed Eh

~~~
pmelendez
I can't say I disagree :)

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loceng
I'm sorry about how Canadian this thread has become..

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sandworm101
>> Though English-speaking Canadians remain loyal to the Queen, they aren’t
truly interested in being British or sounding British; they’re just interested
in using the British connection to assert their independence from the
independent United States, which they left because they didn’t want to leave.

What horrible highschool textbook is this from? When did Canada separate from
the US? And to say english Canadians are "loyal" to the queen, and by
necessary implication that french-canadians are not, is downright silly. The
queen is a total irrelevance in Canada.

Canada does not take from Britain in some sort of protest against American
culture. American culture IS canadian. Music, television, film, comedy ...
canadians are everywhere in the US entertainment industry. But look to the UK,
to the BBC, and you won't find any.

>> ...poutine, Nanaimo bars, and butter tarts for three of Canada’s great
culinary gifts to the world if the world would but accept them

WTF? Maple syrup doesn't make the list? What other country has a strategic
syrup reserve.

[http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-look-
inside-q...](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-look-inside-
quebecs-fort-knox-of-maple-syrup/article22262093/)

~~~
pmelendez
>The queen is a total irrelevance in Canada.

Maybe, but new Canadians still have to swear loyalty to the Queen in the
citizenship ceremony.

~~~
branchless
I'm a Brit who moved to Canada and I find it _amazing_ that anyone here
supports the queen.

You moved to a new land where you were not serfs. Where you could live free
and your children could escape a suffocating class structure. To a land where
you elected your own leaders.

Do you want oppression back?

~~~
georges_sand
Many Anglo-Canadians - and probably some Francos too - look at the monarchy as
a "let's not re-write the whole Constitution" option, at least nowadays.
Something that Australia's republican movement has discovered, to the best of
my knowledge, to be quite burdening.

They call it "pragmatical monarchism" or similar wording.

That being said, I am similarly amazed - but for quite different reasons - by
Brits moving to Canada.

~~~
solidgumby
The Canadian Constitution is a huge pandora box no one wants to open.

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turar
To me, the surest sign of a Canadian is when they need to use a "washroom".

