How to Write Like a Canadian, eh?
Not everyone who reads my other blogs and sites realizes that it’s a Canadian doing all that writing. After all, I use American, not Canadian, spellings in most of my writing.This is a deliberate decision I made long ago (25 years now!) when I started writing articles for computer magazines, since the vast majority of my audience (and the publications themselves) consisted of American readers. And I’ve done this in my books, too, since they’re published by American publishers. Look, if the paycheque (er, sorry, I guess that would be paycheck) is denominated in US dollars, I guess it makes sense for me to write for American sensibilities.
But in this blog I’ve decided to expose my Canadian roots. You can tell so from the first post, which is in the Humour category and not the Humor category.
Now those of you without any Canadian friends might be wondering what makes Canadian English different from American English? If you think Canadian English is the same as British English, you’re wrong. Neither is it the same as American English. It borrows from both variants and introduces its own unique Canadianisms as well.
Rather than try to list the differences here, I’ll just refer you to Cornerstone’s Canadian English Page, a wonderful article that explains how Canadian English is different.
So when you see me use words like colour and cheque, please don’t write to tell me I’ve misspelled them. At least not on this blog, eh?
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