How Canadian English Straddles British English and American English

Canadian English aligns with British English in some areas and with American English in some other aspects. In some instances, it merges elements from each of them. Azuka Onwuka dissects this in an engaging storytelling format, citing various examples for the benefit of those who write for the Canadian audience

Football or soccer

One of the biggest sources of confusion in the English language is the word “football.” If you live in Europe, Africa or Asia, you may not feel the impact of that confusion much. But if you spend some time in the North American countries of Canada or the United States, you will feel it fully almost every day. Whenever you mention “football,” your audience will be thinking of what you know as American football, while you are thinking of soccer.

Although many assume that “soccer” was coined by the Americans as one of their ways of asserting the distinctiveness of their English from that of the British, “soccer” was actually coined by the British from the expression “association football” (assoc + -er), which was the initial name of the game. Eventually, Americans invented their own sport from soccer and rugby and named it “football.” The British continued to call theirs “association football” and “soccer,” while the North Americans called it “soccer.” The British eventually jettisoned the name soccer for football. But the US and Canada stuck with soccer. And the confusion peaked.

How dare you like my underwear?

The other word soaked in confusion is pants. Any time “pants” is mentioned, the private area comes to mind. Imagine you being in a shopping mall in Canada and someone of the opposite sex telling you: “I like your pants!” Your heart skips a bit as you instinctively pull up your trousers, thinking that your underwear is in public view. Then you remember that the person is referring to your trousers and not your underwear. Your heart returns to its normal beat as you smile and acknowledge the compliment. The same term “pants” is also used in the US to mean trousers.

Restroom vs washroom: Who rests or washes there?

Then you visit an office for a meeting. You decide to empty your bladder before the meeting. You approach the receptionist or assistant and ask: “Excuse me. Please where is your restroom?” She draws blank. It immediately strikes you that “restroom” is vague. By the way, who rests in a toilet during office hours? You change it to: “I mean, your convenience.” Your message is still not clear.

“Where can I ease myself please?” Your message still does not register.

By now, you are getting embarrassed and wondering what else to call it that will sound polite without mentioning the real name.

Finally, you blurt it out: “I mean, your toilet.”

“Oh, the washroom!” she exclaims, and then directs you to the toilet.

You walk to the place wondering what is washed in the washroom. Is it a laundry room? Well, if some people can name the toilet “restroom,” then others can also name it “washroom.” Let the niceties and euphemisms continue!

9/11 or 11/9?

From there you enter a shopping mall to buy some groceries. You check the expiry date on a product and notice that it has the format: YYYY-MM–DD. Even though that is the opposite of the format you are conversant with (DD–MM–YY), you find it sequential, logical and clear. While the Canadian date format starts from the year and decreases to the day (highest to lowest), that of the British starts from the lowest and increases to the highest. But the American format starts from the month, drops to the day, and then rises to the year. If letters of the month are used (like Feb. or Nov.), that may not be confusing, but when a date is written as 06/02/23 in the US, it is understood as June 2, 2023, but many people from other backgrounds will read it as February 6, 2023.

Between gas and petrol

On your way home, you decide to top up your tank. You remember that it is gas and not petrol. You also need to look for a gas station and not a filling station. You’re used to diesel being called gas, while the gas used for cooking is called cooking gas. So somehow, you feel a bit uncomfortable pouring “gas” into your car tank, with that uncanny feeling that the gas could explode in your tank. But somehow you get used to calling it gas. And as you drive off, you remember that to accelerate the car, you step on the gas pedal instead of the accelerator you are used to.

Then you notice that the 20 litres you bought filled your tank. You smile because you remember that the guy close to you at the gas station also bought “twendy” litres of gas, because he was complaining about the cost of gas while talking about the cost of crude oil in the “inernational” market and how even “warer” was so expensive. You wonder why Canadians and Americans usually turn the “t” that doesn’t start or end a word into a “d”, “r” or some other sound. If water is pronounced warer and twenty is twendy, how do they differentiate between whiter and wider or bitter and bidder?

Driving licence vs driver's license vs driver's licence

While still using your driving licence, you decide to register to get a local licence. You see that Canadians call it driver’s licence, while Americans call it driver’s license. You notice not only the difference in “driving” and “driver’s”, but also in “licence” and “license.” While Canada aligns with the US in using “driver’s” instead of “driving,” it aligns with the UK in the use of “licence” instead of the American “license,” thereby effectively standing between British English and American English. The same thing applies to similar nouns like “defence vs. defense, offence vs. offense,” etc. But for the verbs, Canada uses “s” like the British: “My licence is out; so I have been licensed to drive.”

While studying for your online driving test, you see a question that talks about “backing up.” You are confused. You hear of backing up your files in a computer so that they don’t get lost. Why does a driver need to back up? You check for the meaning of backing up in driving and find out that it means to reverse. You exclaim and laugh heartily.

As summer ends, everybody is talking about fall. You had always assumed that fall is an informal synonym for autumn, the way dude is for man. But in Canada or the US, it is rare to hear anybody call it autumn. It’s fall all the way. Anyone using “autumn” sounds different.

Is it per cent or percent?

Soon you have a need to discuss figures. The term “per cent” comes up. The British spell it as two words. The Americans spell it as one word: percent. Canadians insist that it is two words: per cent. And when it comes to pronouncing some numbers with four digits, Americans and Canadians come up with a strange way of counting. For example, 1,500 is fifteen hundred while 3,700 is thirty-seven hundred. But curiously, 1,570 is one thousand, five hundred and seventy.

Also, the British use “ou” and “re” in words like colour, favour, honour, centre, theatre, metre. Americans use “o” and “er” to get color, favor, honor, center, theater, meter. Canadian English aligns more with British English on this.

When it comes to banking, Canadians align with the British in using “cheque” instead of “check” preferred by Americans. They also prefer “chequing account” and not “checking account” which Americans use.  But when it comes to words that end in -ise in British English, Canadian English flows with the American version of usage of “-ize.” Therefore, while the British will write “organise” and “organisation,” Canadians will write “organize” and “organization.”

Labelled or labeled?

Similarly, for words whose last consonant usually double to form the past or progressive verbs, Canadian English sticks with the British. Label becomes labelling and labelled in Canadian and British English, while the Americans use labeling and labeled.

When you see the word “aluminum” in Canada or the US without the second “i”, you may think it is an omission. But that is how aluminium is spelt. Remember too that in Canada and the US, “spelled” is preferred as the past tense of spell, while learned is preferred as the past tense of learn. Similarly, car tyre is tire in the US and Canada, while the colour grey is gray mainly in the US.

While it is primary school in the UK, it is elementary school in Canada and the US. And while it is secondary school for the UK, it is high school for Canada and the US.

Therefore, when you wish to write or edit for the Canadian audience, don’t assume that you know the right word or expression. Always crosscheck; always verify.