# Do me a favour, is it flavor or flavour..lol!



## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Hi Guys 
I've noticed that Americans spell certain words differently to South Africans.
Like we say flavour, colour, favour, savoury and favourite. Where you say flavor, color, favor, savory and favorite? Anyone know why this is? Is American English different to other countries?


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

We say flavour, colour, favour, savoury and favourite, too...
We just _spell_ it differently 
Canadians use the ou. And for some odd reason, I've seen some folks in the US adopt that spelling, though I have no idea why. Maybe it looks cool


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## CWS4322 (Jul 13, 2011)

American Standard English drops the "u."
Canadian Standard English sometimes drops the "u."
British Standard English doesn't drop the "u."

The different Style Guides are a pain. I'm forever having to verify usage issues with punctuation and spelling conventions. And, Canadian spelling conventions and punctuation conventions are a hybrid of US and British. Go figure.


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## Zhizara (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> We say flavour, colour, favour, savoury and favourite, too...
> We just _spell_ it differently
> Canadians use the ou. And for some odd reason, I've seen some folks in the US adopt that spelling, though I have no idea why. Maybe it looks cool



They _think_ it makes them look cool.

I'm all for gradually eliminating excess letters in words.  

Also, punctuating and writing the way we actually talk.  We end sentences with prepositions all the time.  It's just easier to say.  So drop the silly "rule".

Quotation marks.  I feel that if the ending quotation mark encloses a sentence, then the period belongs inside.  If not, like "word", then leave the ending punctuation outside the quote mark since it applies to the whole sentence.  I choose to punctuate that way.   It just feels better, because it makes sense.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

That's how I tend to punctuate, too, Z.
For instance, tell me in the Queen's English how you pronouce "colour"?
lol


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> We say flavour, colour, favour, savoury and favourite, too...
> We just _spell_ it differently
> Canadians use the ou. And for some odd reason, I've seen some folks in the US adopt that spelling, though I have no idea why. Maybe it looks cool



Lol! You know what I meant :P maybe it's just to be "cool" as you said.


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## CWS4322 (Jul 13, 2011)

Zhizara said:


> They _think_ it makes them look cool.
> 
> I'm all for gradually eliminating excess letters in words.
> 
> ...


I disagree. I earn my living as an editor and writer (and, I make a good living when I work [I don't work every day--but I do work from home, and have for 25 years--how much better is that?]--my hourly/per diem rate is more than a university professor makes and close to that MDs make). I work with non-English speakers most of the time. A misplaced comma in a contract can cost a company millions, if not billions, of dollars. Drug inserts that are poorly written can cost peoples' lives and pharmaceutical companies billions. Grammar and punctuation are important. To disregard the same devalues the skills of those who work in the field (I have an M.A. in languages--I paid a lot for that degree and I also spent a lot of time earning that degree. Not only am I proud of my degree, I am confident that when I explain a grammar rule, I know it inside and out). Saying that grammar and punctuation are unimportant devalues the skills that writers and editors have earned and worked hard to earn. That's like saying that now that people can access medical information on the Internet, medical expertise is not valued. Or that civil engineers are no longer needed.

Yes, spoken English is different (more casual) than written, but knowing the rules is still important.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> That's how I tend to punctuate, too, Z.
> For instance, tell me in the Queen's English how you pronouce "colour"?
> lol



Oh bugger I don't know, colore! I've not met the queen dear :p
Besides we don't mention colour is SA anymore...lol!
Like for eg. African people to apply for this job only would be "affirmative action"
But that's a whole other thread!


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## Claire (Jul 13, 2011)

This is funny.  In one of my previous lives I was a typist at the Pentagon.  I was favored (or favoured if you prefer) because, although I'm born and raised U.S. citizen, I love to read and could automatically turn my mind to British English (as opposed to American English).  NATO documents, at least at that time, had to be in British.  I was the only one in the organization who could flip a switch in my brain and change the spelling.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

I think leaving things as is would be better, why turn our beautiful language into something it's not? That is just how I feel, I think it makes our children lazy. They no longer need to think either with computers and "spell check" etc.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

If it remained the same over here, Snip, we'd still be talking like the Puritans.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> If it remained the same over here, Snip, we'd still be talking like the Puritans.



I am happy to hear that


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Thank you for the information all. I was a bit concerned that people might think I do not how to spell! When I type spell check keeps correcting me! I thought I was going crazy..lol!


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## Andy M. (Jul 13, 2011)

CWS4322, I understand your point but don't agree with all of it.  I've always taken the approach that, regardless of the medium of written communication, the rules are the same.  I don't use a lot of acronyms or texting abbreviations.  I try to use properly constructed complete sentences and good grammar to the extent I know how.

However, we know our language is a living thing and changes over time whether we like it or not.  Proper grammar and punctuation are not taught as thoroughly as they used to be.  That makes it happen faster.

Zhizara's comments about extra letters and arcane rules may not be music to your ears but will most likely happen over time.  Given the proliferation of texting, I see this accelerating.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> CWS4322, I understand your point but don't agree with all of it. I've always taken the approach that, regardless of the medium of written communication, the rules are the same. I don't use a lot of acronyms or texting abbreviations. I try to use properly constructed complete sentences and good grammar to the extent I know how.
> 
> However, we know our language is a living thing and changes over time whether we like it or not. Proper grammar and punctuation are not taught as thoroughly as they used to be. That makes it happen faster.
> 
> Zhizara's comments about extra letters and arcane rules may not be music to your ears but will most likely happen over time. Given the proliferation of texting, I see this accelerating.


 
+1


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> +1



I know change is inevitable but I am hoping it will not all happen in my time!
It is just really sad to see what the world is becoming. I would have been very happy if I was born 50 years earlier..lol! Not all changes are for the better.


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## buckytom (Jul 13, 2011)

i was taught to spell both ways. the american way in school, and the british way by my dad.

a few years ago, i wrote a fairly long note to my dad in a birthday card, and he mentioned that he had noticed i used the american way. i'm not sure if he was disappointed or not, but after that i decided i would spell things the way he taught me, out of respect. 

coolness has nothing to do with it, unless you happen to think it looks cool.  then i'm all for it.


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## ChefJune (Jul 13, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> I disagree. I earn my living as an editor and writer (and, I make a good living when I work [I don't work every day--but I do work from home, and have for 25 years--how much better is that?]--my hourly/per diem rate is more than a university professor makes and close to that MDs make). I work with non-English speakers most of the time. A misplaced comma in a contract can cost a company millions, if not billions, of dollars. Drug inserts that are poorly written can cost peoples' lives and pharmaceutical companies billions. Grammar and punctuation are important. To disregard the same devalues the skills of those who work in the field (I have an M.A. in languages--I paid a lot for that degree and I also spent a lot of time earning that degree. Not only am I proud of my degree, I am confident that when I explain a grammar rule, I know it inside and out). Saying that grammar and punctuation are unimportant devalues the skills that writers and editors have earned and worked hard to earn. That's like saying that now that people can access medical information on the Internet, medical expertise is not valued. Or that civil engineers are no longer needed.
> 
> Yes, spoken English is different (more casual) than written, but knowing the rules is still important.


 
Oh boy, do I agree with you!  Sadly many folks in school systems (I hesitate to call them "educators") don't. and they are advocating eliminating the teaching of handwriting, elementary mathematics (just use a calculator ) and untold other essential (imho) skills for a well educated person.


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## tinlizzie (Jul 13, 2011)

This very morning I saw a large printed sign on a storefront, warning of its coming closing.  It read in part, "Do to the closing..."    Sigh.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

tinlizzie said:


> This very morning I saw a large printed sign on a storefront, warning of its coming closing. It read in part, "Do to the closing..." Sigh.


 
I hate when I sea stuff like that.


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## buckytom (Jul 13, 2011)

lol, pac. you've got humour.


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## dcSaute (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> I hate when I sea stuff like that.



one of my favs from the register:
"No Credit Cards Excepted"
I think they really blue that one . . . 

on the absence of u's in Ami English...  
when I was a young lad, Benjamin Franklin explained the colonists were so busy filling the English with lead they left out the u's to save materials on type setting.


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## Andy M. (Jul 13, 2011)

I'm really annoyed by the rampant misuse of apostrophes (or should I say apostrophe's?).  Everywhere there is a word that ends in "S" people feel the need to add an apostrophe.


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## Claire (Jul 13, 2011)

I have a good, elderly, blind friend who I read to.  She always has questions for my husband or me.  I cover language and literature, husband covers history and geography.  We're both a little iffy on sciences; and sports?  Forget it!  But her latest question was pronouncing some words.  Charade was one of them.  She thought people were being pretentious if people pronounce the second syllable as in "odd", liked "aid" better.  I told her both were correct depending on where you're from.  My husband crack the group up by singing that ditty about tomato and potato, and let's call the whole thing off!


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Lol! Talking about signs, we have a barber  that cuts hair down the street in his caravan. His sign says Satan's babar shop "Satin's barber shop"   Shame I guess it's not his fault.


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## Claire (Jul 13, 2011)

Andy, I agree with you.  Superfluous punctuation, or ignoring any at all.  As I said, I read aloud a couple times a week, and an absent or misplaced comma, semicolon, period, etc., can render a sentence impossible to read aloud without reading and re-reading it.  Ever hear of a book called _Eats, Shoots, and Leaves?  _It has some doozies in it.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Claire said:


> I have a good, elderly, blind friend who I read to.  She always has questions for my husband or me.  I cover language and literature, husband covers history and geography.  We're both a little iffy on sciences; and sports?  Forget it!  But her latest question was pronouncing some words.  Charade was one of them.  She thought people were being pretentious if people pronounce the second syllable as in "odd", liked "aid" better.  I told her both were correct depending on where you're from.  My husband crack the group up by singing that ditty about tomato and potato, and let's call the whole thing off!



Lol! So which is it Claire? Tomayto or tomato? Hehe


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## Claire (Jul 13, 2011)

Haha!  We both say potayto and tomayto.  My husband is a Midwesterner (USA) and I was raised all over the place.  But if anyone questions us, we call the whole thing off!  I wonder if anyone here is too young to know the song?


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Claire said:


> Haha!  We both say potayto and tomayto.  My husband is a Midwesterner (USA) and I was raised all over the place.  But if anyone questions us, we call the whole thing off!  I wonder if anyone here is too young to know the song?



Lol! Looks like I've started a huge debate with this darn thread. I just wanted to ask a question 
I say tomato and potayto. Strange but most Afrikaans people do. 
Now when it comes to my home language I make no mistakes. Only proper Afrikaans was allowed in our school, no funny business..lol!


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## Claire (Jul 13, 2011)

My father was in the military, so I just kind of go with the flow on most words, and don't consider any option right or wrong.  When I was in New Hampshire, a water fountain was a bubbler.  Carbonated beverages were soda most places I lived, but here are pop and in New Hampshire were tonic.  Then over many years I had to learn a few words in many different languages.  Don't know enough to speak any of them!  So few can offend me by their pronunciation unless they are trying hard to do it!

I, too, do have my limits.  I am an aunt, not an ant.  Probably comes from a French-Canadian translation from "tante".  It isn't so much that I'm being stubborn, but just prefer my nieces and nephews to use "aunt".  I find it amusing how people get offended if you pronounce something differently.


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## Hoot (Jul 13, 2011)

Well, speaking as a student who was taught grammar in the late '50's and early '60's, I have to say that I was very surprised when I went back to school last year. It had been some 38 years since I was in school. The lack of knowledge of grammar and spelling among my younger classmates was astounding. Over the years, I have come to accept that there are some things that will just never change, such as the apparent confusion over terms such as "lose" and "loose". Some folks seem to think those terms are interchangeable. It all worries me.
'Course, from time to time, I sometimes slip into a alter ego, if you will, speaking the lingo of the Mountain Men, for example. But it is a concious decision when I do that and I am certain that some folks who read such writings from me are surprised to find that I actually have a fair command of the English language.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 13, 2011)

Claire said:


> My father was in the military, so I just kind of go with the flow on most words, and don't consider any option right or wrong.  When I was in New Hampshire, a water fountain was a bubbler.  Carbonated beverages were soda most places I lived, but here are pop and in New Hampshire were tonic.  Then over many years I had to learn a few words in many different languages.  Don't know enough to speak any of them!  So few can offend me by their pronunciation unless they are trying hard to do it!
> 
> I, too, do have my limits.  I am an aunt, not an ant.  Probably comes from a French-Canadian translation from "tante".  It isn't so much that I'm being stubborn, but just prefer my nieces and nephews to use "aunt".  I find it amusing how people get offended if you pronounce something differently.



I got 97% for English when I graduated high school, you would never say that now! Maybe it's the influence around me or too much Bob the Builder and Mister maker etc.  My brain has turned into porridge..lol!


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## Saphellae (Jul 13, 2011)

What about "Realise" and "Realize"

I thought that in Canada, not that long ago, that we dropped the Z for the S in the above word and some others.


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Jul 13, 2011)

Let me expalin to you how the _our _as opposed to _or _happened.

Long, long ago in a land far, far away, the country of England decided to absorb the country of Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. While hanging around at court, the Scots, whom had already been absorbed, noticed that the Welsh appeared to have thousands upon thousands of vowels they weren't using. Being the thrifty people they were recognized to be, they decided that instead of letting all those vowels go to waste, they would take those unused vowels from the Welsh and sprinkle them generously throughout the English language.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:


> Let me expalin to you how the _our _as opposed to _or _happened.
> 
> Long, long ago in a land far, far away, the country of England decided to absorb the country of Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. While hanging around at court, the Scots, whom had already been absorbed, noticed that the Welsh appeared to have thousands upon thousands of vowels they weren't using. Being the thrifty people they were recognized to be, they decided that instead of letting all those vowels go to waste, they would take those unused vowels from the Welsh and sprinkle them generously throughout the English language.


 
Really? I thought that was Vanna White.


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## Andy M. (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Really? I thought that was Vanna White.




Exactly!  Vanna is a Scot.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Exactly! Vanna is a Scot.


 
Is this like that Kevin Bacon thing?


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## Zhizara (Jul 13, 2011)

Did somebody mention bacon?


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## buckytom (Jul 13, 2011)

yum, i love rashers of streaky bacoun..


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## Zhizara (Jul 13, 2011)

Kevin Bacon is a streaker?


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## bakechef (Jul 13, 2011)

Claire said:


> My father was in the military, so I just kind of go with the flow on most words, and don't consider any option right or wrong.  When I was in New Hampshire, a water fountain was a bubbler.  Carbonated beverages were soda most places I lived, but here are pop and in New Hampshire were tonic.  Then over many years I had to learn a few words in many different languages.  Don't know enough to speak any of them!  So few can offend me by their pronunciation unless they are trying hard to do it!
> 
> I, too, do have my limits.  I am an aunt, not an ant.  Probably comes from a French-Canadian translation from "tante".  It isn't so much that I'm being stubborn, but just prefer my nieces and nephews to use "aunt".  I find it amusing how people get offended if you pronounce something differently.



I grew up in Maine with a strong French Canadian background.  I grew up saying aunt, after moving away I noticed that many people say ant, struck me as odd since it isn't spelled that way.  I've had people comment on my use of "aunt" saying that it made me sound snooty, I thought that was hilarious.


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## pacanis (Jul 13, 2011)

buckytom said:


> yum, i love rashers of streaky bacoun..


 
Hey, that ou thing looks cool


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 13, 2011)

Zhizara said:


> Did somebody mention bacon?



Bacon?


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Jul 13, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Really? I thought that was Vanna White.



No, because Vanna White makes you *BUY *the vowels.


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## LPBeier (Jul 14, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> American Standard English drops the "u."
> Canadian Standard English sometimes drops the "u."
> British Standard English doesn't drop the "u."
> 
> The different Style Guides are a pain. I'm forever having to verify usage issues with punctuation and spelling conventions. And, Canadian spelling conventions and punctuation conventions are a hybrid of US and British. Go figure.


I have a funny story on this CW!  Many years ago I worked for the BC Government in International Trade.  We were a small department that was developing a Database to link local exporters with International Importers.  My boss was American, and the assistant boss was English.  I, of course, am Canadian.  The two of them got into a very heated argument over this very thing.  Since I was the one actually writing all the leads, I used "ou" and also spelled it "centre" if it was a place and "center" if it was the middle.  My boss said that because this was international it should be the American spelling.  His Assistant said that because it was extensively for Europe it MUST be British English.

I looked at them both and said "this is Canada, I am Canadian and I am spelling it in Canadian".......which is a little bit of both .

Have we totally confused you Snip?


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## Claire (Jul 14, 2011)

Remember the years of the "you might be a redneck if...." jokes?  A nephew of mine was really into Jeff Foxworthy  and loved those jokes.  Various of his other female relatives are "ants".  But my sisters, my father's sisters, and my mother's sisters are all AUNTS.  He one time lost track and called me "Anty Claire."  I just laughed and said, you might be a redneck if .... I didn't even finish before we were all laughing.  

you can't take this stuff too seriously.  My husband said that when he was in Vietnam his platoon got into a huge fight about whether it was soda or pop.  He said he had to declare it to be "soda pop" and that everyone would say it that way.  "As if we didn't have enough fighting without that!"


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## Claire (Jul 14, 2011)

While we're on the subject ... So much of what we buy now is made or assembled in China or other countries.  What about instructions written in a language that vaguely resembles English but make no sense at all?  I'm sure it is the same in the other languages the directions come in.  I can just about assemble a piece of furniture using the directions, most of the time.  The last thing I tried, though, left me with 16 screws in my hand, wondering, what the hades?  The entire thing, of course, fell apart leaving me to see where I should have reinforced some joints with the screws.  Another recent one was trying to attach a new printer to my computer.  I used to be good at this, I really did.  I gave up and called computer guy, who just for the heck of it looked at the instructions and laughed and said, Claire, these are simply wrong, wrong, wrong.  I actually used to be an electronics technician in the Air Force, but now am so stupid I can't even read the instructions to hook up basic computer equipment, or for that matter, most recently, recharge my cell phone!  

I just feel that if you're selling an item in a country that has a predominant language (this came in about 5 languages and I suspect they all were that poorly translated), hire one person in your company to write instructions for whom that language is their first language.


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## dcSaute (Jul 14, 2011)

>>made in China

it's not a hard&fast rule, but the "written" stuff is often a very good tip-off as to whether the made in China stuff is of any quality or just knock off junk.

companies that have stuff made in China usually provide the written materials - or at least the text/copy for printing.  

the knock off companies 'translate' into English on their own - which frequently 'shows up' with a case of the giggles.


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## Zhizara (Jul 14, 2011)

I've had to assemble most of my furniture.  The instructions I usually get often have few words, but well done diagrams.  

I'd order from Walmart and have them delivered right to my planned assembly area.  So easy, with a few breaks to vent my bad words vocabulary, usually caused by those #$%^&*()_ pegs.


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## tinlizzie (Jul 14, 2011)

Here's part of an eBay description for a beautiful red Chinese teapot:

_*"...it is priceless if you own an excellent **chicken-blood-coloured stone teapot,** be sure of its treasure, bid it immediately,noble artwork!!..."*_
 
*Of course, their English is excellent compared to my Chinese.  *


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## bakechef (Jul 14, 2011)

I bought a camera case at Big Lots.  It was obviously straight from china.  The tag on it said "unit becomes portable when carried", I had to buy it just for the label, it cracked up!


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## LPBeier (Jul 14, 2011)

Claire's right about not taking this stuff too seriously.  Most Canadians I know take cracks about our spelling about as seriously as we take being called "hosers", being thought of as having snow 365 days a year and putting that two letter little expression after every sentence.  

You don't really think we do that.....
.....
.....
.....
eh?


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## pacanis (Jul 14, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> Claire's right about not taking this stuff too seriously. Most Canadians I know take cracks about our spelling about as seriously as we take being called "hosers", being thought of as having snow 365 days a year and putting that two letter little expression after every sentence.
> 
> You don't really think we do that.....
> .....
> ...


 
I for one know that you guys don't have snow 365 days a year.
It would be too hard to transport your beaver pelts by canoe if the streams stayed frozen.


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## Claire (Jul 14, 2011)

Oh, believe me, I am well aware that almost anyone can speak English better than I can their language.  But then, I'm not selling them something they have to assemble.  I grew up with people of many linguistic backgrounds and have nothing but admiration for most of them.  It is a great joke among my French-speaking friends that I cannot pronounce a French "R" correctly.  Ridiculous, given that my full name has at least 4 of that letter in it.  It took me years to realize that I inherited an odd bone spur in the roof of my mouth that simply makes it impossible to roll my "R"s correctly.  My first French teacher told me to abstain from milk at lunch.  Huh?  I've hated milk from birth.  I was easily into my 20s or older when Mom told me about the bone growth!  Oh, well, what the heck.


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## Saphellae (Jul 14, 2011)

LOL Laurie

Every time I say Eh at the end of a sentence, more often than not the other person also ends with Eh in their response and I just laugh at that silently...   Like, "Well,  I heard it was going to rain, but it looks like the sun finally came out eh?"  And they would reply with something like... "Yeah but, your garden really needed it eh?"

I catch myself saying things like "is that right eh?" lol.. I say it alot, now that I think on it.

When I play online games with voice chat, as soon as I let an "eh" slip I stop talking.. and someone usually asks if I am Canadian lol.


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## Zhizara (Jul 14, 2011)

Saphellae said:


> LOL Laurie
> 
> Every time I say Eh at the end of a sentence, more often than not the other person also ends with Eh in their response and I just laugh at that silently...   Like, "Well,  I heard it was going to rain, but it looks like the sun finally came out eh?"  And they would reply with something like... "Yeah but, your garden really needed it eh?"
> 
> ...



People from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont also use "eh" a lot.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 14, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> Claire's right about not taking this stuff too seriously.  Most Canadians I know take cracks about our spelling about as seriously as we take being called "hosers", being thought of as having snow 365 days a year and putting that two letter little expression after every sentence.
> 
> You don't really think we do that.....
> .....
> ...



Repeatedly and often...


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## Bolas De Fraile (Jul 15, 2011)

I have to say as a Brit living in Wales and as I am dyslexic I have a problem at present.
I use firefox and when it upgraded to 5 my spell checker vanished and will not re-install.
I am just happy that some of my posts make sense.I do realise my punctuation, spelling and grammar is crap but not one person here has smacked me for it.
I used to use hear as here and wear as where, there and their are also dificult to choose


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## Zhizara (Jul 15, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> I have to say as a Brit living in Wales and as I am dyslexic I have a problem at present.
> I use firefox and when it upgraded to 5 my spell checker vanished and will not re-install.
> I am just happy that some of my posts make sense.I do realise my punctuation, spelling and grammar is crap but not one person here has smacked me for it.
> I used to use hear as here and wear as where, there and their are also dificult to choose



Take heart, Bolas.  I too recently upgraded to FireFox 5.0 and lost several of my add-ons that weren't compatible.

Over the next week, however, they were automatically added back one by one.


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## Claire (Jul 15, 2011)

The "eh" thing cracked me up.  Before he met my family I'd mentioned to my now-husband that my dad's family were French-Canadian (Daddy was born in the US, but his elder siblings and Memere et Pepere were originally Quebecois).  He started making jokes about "eh".  I had never noticed it!  I told him Daddy didn't do  that, it must be an English Canadian thing.  Well, of course he does, quite a bit.  He also transposes "th" and "t".  But then my father-in-law did that as well, and he was midwestern born and of Slovene descent.  There is a town in Quebec called Thetford Mines, and I swear, when I went on a "roots" road trip, I had no idea there was an "h" in the word!


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## LPBeier (Jul 15, 2011)

But you know, we Canadians get our jabs in at our Southern neighbours as well, eh?

We had a pastor a few years ago who was from Pennsylvania.  He always referred to the big entrance hallway as a "fo-yur".  It got to be a running joke.  He would announce that there were refreshments after service in the foyur and we would all yell in unison "Foy-eh"!!!  (hey, there is that eh sound again!).  Even though he and his family left over 5 years ago, The word foyer still gets a laugh or two


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## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Jul 15, 2011)

Bolas De Fraile said:


> I have to say as a Brit living in Wales and as I am dyslexic I have a problem at present.
> I use firefox and when it upgraded to 5 my spell checker vanished and will not re-install.
> I am just happy that some of my posts make sense.I do realise my punctuation, spelling and grammar is crap but not one person here has smacked me for it.
> I used to use hear as here and wear as where, there and their are also dificult to choose



There 

Their

They're not the same.

Some people will say to when they mean two, too.


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## pacanis (Jul 15, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> But you know, we Canadians get our jabs in at our Southern neighbours as well, eh?
> 
> We had a pastor a few years ago who was from Pennsylvania. He always referred to the big entrance hallway as a "fo-yur". It got to be a running joke. He would announce that there were refreshments after service in the foyur and we would all yell in unison "Foy-eh"!!! (hey, there is that eh sound again!). Even though he and his family left over 5 years ago, The word foyer still gets a laugh or two


 
He must have been from down by Pittsburgh. Those folks don't know how to talk yet.  It's foy-yer


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## LPBeier (Jul 15, 2011)

pacanis said:


> He must have been from down by Pittsburgh. Those folks don't know how to talk yet.  It's foy-yer


Are you pronouncing the "r"?  If you "are" then you aren't Speaking Canadian 

It's like one of the Kia Vehicles.  When they were advertising it a lot it was easy to tell if we were watching an American or Canadian station - American "Sportage" with a hard "g" ; Canadian "Sport awj" with a drawn out second syllable.   Every time I would here it the American way I would cringe.


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## buckytom (Jul 15, 2011)

Zhizara said:


> People from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont also use "eh" a lot.



those must be people really close to their northern borders, or transplanted canadians (spies, you know.)

with honest respect, zhi, i've never heard anyone from vermont, n.h., or maine say eh the same way canadians do.


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## pacanis (Jul 15, 2011)

Not even old people who couldn't hear?


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## LPBeier (Jul 15, 2011)

pacanis said:


> Not even old people who couldn't hear?


No, they say "huh?"


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## Snip 13 (Jul 15, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> No, they say "huh?"



My Gran always use to say "I beg your pardon?"  Even when she got alzheimers.  Bless her and her lady like ways! Gosh I miss her


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 16, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> No, they say "huh?"



Whut?


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## CWS4322 (Jul 16, 2011)

If you haven't read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" or "Slipping into a Comma," you really should.


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## Snip 13 (Jul 16, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> If you haven't read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" or "Slipping into a Comma," you really should.



Author?


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## Alix (Jul 16, 2011)

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 16, 2011)

CWS4322 said:


> If you haven't read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" or "Slipping into a Comma," you really should.



I love those books.  One of these days, I may actually follow the rules.


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## LPBeier (Jul 16, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> I love those books.  One of these days, I may actually follow the rules.


Rules?  Naaaa!


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## PrincessFiona60 (Jul 16, 2011)

LPBeier said:


> Rules?  Naaaa!


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