Canadians and English

Zardon

Well I learned something new today, from Mac daddy on messenger, I was chatting away to him and I suddenly realised that Canadians dont spell

colour -----> color
rumour ----> rumor

etc etc, and they dont use z's instead of s's


Not maybe that interesting to many of you who already know this, and ive been to the states and stayed there for quite a while and for some reason I always thought that canada and USA had the same spelling.

so there you go !

Dom

I think I deserve some credit too...I am your American connection.

toddsmack2k

HA!

Mac Daddy

And I have never heard of a band called "Zed" Zed" Top

Dom

Center and centre.

Midnight Blue

I think the UK english is better, after all didnt it come from "england"?

Jeff

Yes, I am however forced into spelling colour as color, when working on the web. Let's also not forget favourite.

LeanWolf

yeah most of the europeans i've met were pretty surprised when they figured this out.

eyeguy616

Sorry my Canadian friends, I couldn't resist!

Differences in English in America, UK, Canada, Australia are mainly do to misusages, mispellings, and overall screwing of the language hundreds of years ago. Why couldn't English use phonetic spellings instead of rules with tons of broken usages? That's what makes it so hard to learn for foreigners. And on top of that the slightly different spellings/pronunciations between English speaking countries (and States )!

Oh, English is actually Germanic in origin.
~eyeguy616

Zardon

well the funny thing is I always thought for some reason the Canadians would be the same as the americans....... ive lived in the states for a while and never thought much about it, but im seeing the two countries are vastly different on many levels.

Dom

Eng·lish (ing`glish) adjective

1.Of, relating to, or characteristic of England or its people or culture.
2.Of or relating to the English language.

noun
Abbr. E, E., Eng.

1.The people of England.
2.a. The West Germanic language of England, the United States, and other countries that are or have been under English influence or control. b. The English language of a particular time, region, person, or group of persons: American English.
3.A translation into or an equivalent in the English language.
4.A course or individual class in the study of English language, literature, or composition.
5.Often english Sports & Games. The spin given to a ball by striking it on one side or releasing it with a sharp twist.

verb, transitive
Eng·lished, Eng·lish·ing, Eng·lish·es

1.To translate into English.
2.To adapt into English; Anglicize.


[Middle English, from Old English Englisc, from Engle, the Angles.]

— Eng`lish·ness noun

Zardon

damn, nice post dom

Mac Daddy

But keep in mind Zar ..
Canada remained an English colony years after the American Civil War.

In fact in some respects we still are.
The Queen of England and the Royal family are still part of our culture.
We became an independent nation without resorting to war.

Our ties with the UK will always remain strong.
As with our American friends.

Our country is unique. As I see it anyway

brc64

I don't speak English, I speak American.

I probably know more Canadian people from the Internet than I do Europeans, so I've been used to the whole spelling differences thing for a long time. The ou/o thing doesn't bother me, but for some reason the s/z thing gets to me. Dunno why.

- Me

Mac Daddy

Z pronounced "Zed"
Z pronounced "Zee"

In a sentence or two:

I drove my Camaro Z28 to the ZZTop concert.
We only saw one Zebra on the way
The only thing we could get on the radio was Zappa.
Thanks to Zardon for starting this thread.
I think this thread is becoming a little Zen ...

brc64 ... as an American how may "Zeds" did you say ???

Falstaff

I know more than I did a minute ago. lol...

UberLord

"If you learn just one thing then it's never a wasted day" - my Dad

scobywhru

"Who's bike is this?"
"It's not a bike its a chopper"
"Who's Chopper is this?"
"Zed's"
"Who's Zed?"
"Zed's dead"

Some places in the US, specifically near the canadian border, midwest, take up certain nuances of canadian english and if you move around alot it gets confusing.

brc64

None. "Zed" is the French pronunciation for the letter Z.

if I remember correctly...

A - ah
B - bay
C - say
D - day
E - uh
F
G - jay
H - osh
I - ee
J - gee
K - kah
L
M
N
O
P - pay
Q
R - air
S
T - tay
U - oo
V - vay
W - dooble-vay
X - eeks
Y - ee-grek
Z - zed

(letters without pronunciations by them are pronounced the same)

- Me

Mac Daddy

Really .... so you have many Camaro ZEE28's driving around down there ???

Language is a subject with many variables and preferences ...
"Zed" french ??? ......... I think not .. although I might be wrong

brc64

Umm.. yeah.. that's what we call them here. Is that unusual to you?

I do know that "Zed" is the French pronunciation of the letter "Z", but I don't know that it is limited only to French. I know that French, Spanish, and Italian are all very similar, as they were all derived from Latin (I think?). Perhaps they call it "zed" as well?

From what I know of Canada, there is a heavy French influence in many (if not most) parts of the country, so I wouldn't be surprised if "zed" is more common than "zee" up there.

Vampyromaniac

In Spanish, 'Z' is called "zeta", with the 'z' pronounced as an 's'

Jeff

Z is pronounced differently in different words, and this differs from person to person, even in Canada. I call it a Zed-28, and the band is Zee-Zee-Top. I know people who are Canadian who call it a Zee-28, either way. I think the way it sounds best in a specific sentence is what makes me say it a certain way.

ToshiroOC

Yes, we do. Why, do you have Zed-28s up there?

Stormy

In my opinion, as a proud Canadian, this thread is getting ZANY!