Claude Bouchard Books

As some of you may be aware, I’m a writer. I’m also Canadian. Over time, I’ve received comments regarding the improper spelling of some words in my novels. For this, I apologize but beg you to allow me the opportunity to explain such writing anomalies.

Being Canadian and having lived in Canada most of my life, I learned to read and write in Canadian schools. Now, don’t get me wrong, schools in Canada are fine learning institutions where we’re taught math with the same number system, decimals and fractions used in the U.S. and elsewhere on the planet. The location of countries and cities we learn about in geography are identical to those taught in schools outside of Canada. In fact, pretty much everything the Canadian educational system teaches students is the same as what students learn south of our border… Everything except English…

Before any of you start getting annoyed and criticizing Canada for this faux pas however, please consider that we Canadians are not to blame. If we were, we’d take responsibility and accept our well deserved lumps. The truth of the matter is, much of the wacky English we Canadians write was bestowed upon us by the Brits. We’ve made our efforts to correct things over the years, orally at first by learning to speak without an accent and, on this point, we are light years ahead of other British colonies such as Australia.

On the writing side, our progress has been slower, although we’ve managed to learn to properly spell words such as ‘tire’ (tyre) and ‘curb’ (kerb). It’s been years since we’ve ceased calling a car hood a bonnet and we never stick anything in the boot; it goes in the trunk. In addition, we’re not even sure what 'bangers and mash' are and don’t ever expect us to order a ‘Toad in the Hole’, even in a fine restaurant. That said, however, I admit we still have a ways to go until we attain the refined level of American English. In the interim, I’ve put together the following lexicon of some of the more common barbaric words we still use to help you understand what the hell we’re saying in our massacred English.

Centre: Center

Cheque: Check

Check: Verify

Colour: Color

Defence: Defense (Not to be confused with ‘the fence’

Eh?: You know what I mean?, Get it?, etc.

Kilogram: A bit over a coupla pounds (2.20462 pounds)

Kilometre: Kilometer or ‘1 mile x 0.6’

Labour: Labor

Programme: Program

Rumour: Rumor

Travelled: Traveled

Z (pronounced zed): Z (pronounced zee)

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