So here I am. Fresh out of a battle to customize one of these darned Blogger templates to my liking. I suppose that I am a sucker for punishment. What better way to unwind after a day of battling the evils of modern technology than to not only start a blog, but make it look exactly the way that I want it to? Alas, never before has it been so difficult to be so minimalistic.
What better topic to take on in a first post, but that of Canadian spelling. I like to consider myself in possession of a strong mastery of the English language. Perhaps not to be ranked among the top of the chart, but somewhere above your average joe. One of the irksome things that I have to deal with on a fairly regular basis are silly people pointing out that I "misspell" words like colour, valour, centre, lieftenant, and so on. Of course, most of the time these comments are coming from friends, co-workers, and acquaintances of an American origin. Most of the time, they simply do not realize that for Canadians, these words are spelled quite correctly. I strive to hang on to my extra U in colour, it pleases me to use the traditional lieftenant, and brings me great joy to throw in a rumour or two ;) I suppose it would be easier to simply adopt the "mainstream" spelling of such words, but I rather enjoy this little bit of Canadiana, and plan to preserve it for as long as I grace paper, or digital media, with my words.
Turns out that somewhere along the line, however some British spellings have slipped into my written word. Thanks to Dave VE7CNV's Truly Canadian Dictionary of Canadian Spelling I've recently (very recently) come to see that realize isn't spelled with an "s" nor is customize. I'm not sure exactly when I slipped over to the British spelling of these words. Perhaps my UK-born English teacher in primary school is to blame, or maybe somewhere between my schooling and the present day, the accepted Canadian spelling was changed. A since-changed remainder of the days when Canada was a British colony? wouldn't surprise me at all. Regardless, I have now corrected the error in my ways and hopefully will continue to do so thanks to good ol' Dave.
So much of our current Canuck culture comes from our neighbors to the south. Love them as I may, our Canadian spelling is one little bit of uniqueness that I strive to conserve.
Whozzat?
7 comments:
Uhh...
You misspelled a couple wourds in your post. ;-)
Nice to see you don't drop your "u"s... ;-)
And yes, I know exactly what you mean about getting your blog looking the way you want it to. I'm still not happy with mine.
Oooh! A blog! You are a sucker! :D
I have always tended to spell words the UK way, even though I'm an American. I think it is because I read so much growing up, and much of what I read were books by UK authors.
Oddly enough, I never got marks off in school for mis-spellings. My teachers all seemed willing to accept words like "colour" and "favourite" as alternate correct spellings.
That's because deep down in the core of your being, you were always a Canadian MadCarlotta. You just didn't know it yet ;-)
Aha! I found your blog! I hope you're going to update it more often than some people I could name...
Do you include yourself in that list, Mouse? ;P
Yay, another blog!
Woo!
And using an 's' in realise and customise is perfectly acceptable to me! We convicts know good spelling when we see it!
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