Canadian vs. American "English"

[Sabeine]

I've noticed that so many words from Canada and the States are pronounced the same way, but spelled differently. For instance, I believe the Canadian (and British) way to spell flavor is "flavour", the same goes for color "colour" etc.. Does one also call a mother "mum" in Canada as in GB? In the States it is mom, or if one is a child mommy.

My wonderful Canadian stepmom has some interesting expressions that she'll say sometimes, but that has nothing to do with spelling.

Why is it that the rest of the English speaking world spells things the British way, and the States left out the "u" in most of the words?

[Carolyn]

Don't forget theatre and centre, does Canada do that as well?

And my personal favorite, the American al-um-me-num versus the British al-u-min-e-um (aluminum). Or vI-ta-mins [long I) versus vit-a-min.

[Natooke]

You’ll find that both the British & American spelling is acceptable in Canada … either or … doesn’t matter, however official government documents etc are in British . As I’m from an “older ” generation of schooling … British spelling was only taught. As you all have noticed with Microsoft Word there are many choices of English spelling … Canadian English is one of them. As Canada is a very young country … she adopted her own flag in 1967 … I remember singing “God save the Queen” in school & that Canada Day was called “Dominion Day” …& that the Union Jack was flown. Just in my family alone with having a British (war bride) grandmother … we partook in Sunday Roast Beef dinners with Yorkshire pudding, dark gravy & peas and of course teatime was always served with crumpets. My maternal grandmother who was a first generation Scot … was fondly called Nanny.

For me to leave the “u” out in spelling is rather difficult … it just happens it so ingrained in me … spelling the British way helps preserve our heritage as well, but you’ll fined that the majority of Canadians spell MOM today, which is how my kids refer me as, but they do pronounce it MUM like I.

Why is it that the rest of the English speaking world spells things the British way,

I would think it’s because of the Commonwealth ties.

Don't forget theatre and centre, does Canada do that as well?

Yes & neighbour.

And we still refer to Imperial measurements, even though Canada went metric years ago e.g. US gallon is (oh gees I forgot ) more then an Imperial gallon.

But the thing is … I have a N. American accent nothing close to a British accent.

Cheers

[Natasha]

I think Natooke covered it quite well.

As I was reading this thread, I started thinking about the mom/mum thing. And I realized that although i spell it mom I pronounce it mum. Don't know if that's just me or if it's all other Canadians though.

[Carolyn]

Actually, if I'm recalling correctly, the Imperial gallon is slightly more than the regular gallon, but then I'm lucky to remember that there's 4 quarts to a gallon, etc.

I'm lucky, coming to this metric thing late in life, just to deal with approximations. Like a liter is similar in measure to a quart, give or take, and a meter is a little more than a yard, but god help us if you expect me to be exact about it.

[crankody]

yeh i think we all spell it mom but say mum

[SlyandKami]

Must be the French connection if you want to go way back Britain was invaded by the Normads and most French Canadians have there roots back from Normandy...that's why you have so many french words in English...it also makes it easy when you have French and English to learn Swedish. Plus Canada has always had strong ties with England....not much choice we were a member of the commonwhealth. Can maybe explain why we mostly write words a bit different but speak the same way.