You will have guessed I am fascinated by being so close to the states as to follow local media. I'd be reading the Watertown newspaper on-line every day if you didn't have to give them over $100.00 CAN for the pleasure.
This morning I am reminded that it is Pearl Harbor Day and that at the moment it is "ten of nine" meaning "ten to nine". Sounds like Dickens to my ear. It reminds me of when I worked in Poland with some English lads that they would use the word "reckon" as in "I reckon that would be a good film" or "I reckon Thatcher destroyed the nation." Sounded like seventeenth century cowboy talk. Similarly, my cousins in Scotland got a rip out of "liquor" and "tavern" for "spirits" and "pub" - with some reason as my words were trendy in Britian in the latter 1600's and early 1700's when they related to wine bars created in response to more widely distributed wealth and the growth of commercial importing - before the days of the Inn which were themselves triggered by coaching travel.
"Tavern" or "Tav" was common in Halifax still in the '80's which is interesting as Halifax was founded in 1749, around about the end of the tavern era in Britian. There is much about language in North America which speaks still to the point at which the foot first hit the soil.
Comments
Arthur - December 7, 2003 10:24 AM
There is much about language in North America which speaks still to the point at which the foot first hit the soil.
I think most people forget that language is evolving and dynamic, as you already pointed out, mostly dictated by modern trends and events. I always find it fascinating to learn that the moment I left the Old Continent my Dutch vocabulary literally ceased to expand and adopt new words. That was three years ago. Imagine 10 years on the road.
Oh well. They've lost a taxpayer <g>. From now on, I gladly contribute to Canada's GNP.
Alan - December 7, 2003 11:29 AM
Have you come across the Dutch slanders in English?<ul><li><i>Double Dutch</i>: telling falsehoods;</li><li><i>Dutch Treat</i>: every person taking care of their own bills - ie cheapskates; and</li><li><i>Going Dutch</i>: doing a dutch treat on a romantic outine - ie big loser cheapskate guy.</li></ul>I have often wondered how old these phrases are and whether they go back to the English-Dutch wars of the first half of the 1600's. I never understood the New York accent, by the way, until I lived in The Netherlands.
Arthur - December 7, 2003 1:20 PM
Have you come across the Dutch slanders in English?
I find it funny that people I know don't necessarily associate 'Dutch treat' as something bad. Maybe this has to do with Nova Scotians, unless they propagate instant political correctness wherever I go and meet?
whether they go back to the English-Dutch wars of the first half of the 1600'
I think they (the English Dutch slanders) do stem from those Anglo-Dutch wars. Ironically, I cannot find any Dutch equivalents of the English slander: the only word that pops in my mind is 'Hooligan', a word that definitely stems from the late Eighties when English football supporters wrecked havoc in Continental European countries (naughty English <g>. However, for logical reasons that word is virtually unknown in Northern American 'English' vocabularies.
Arthur - December 7, 2003 1:22 PM
I never understood the New York accent, by the way, until I lived in The Netherlands.
For the ones unfamiliar with the history of New York: it used to be a Dutch colony until (at the end) the Dutch and English governments decided to finally make peace. The Dutch government traded New York for the 'lucrative' Surinam. Imagine what America would have looked like if the Dutch...
Alan - December 7, 2003 3:09 PM
All that given up to gain Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Arthur - December 7, 2003 4:23 PM
All that given up to gain Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
And Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, naturally.
Alan - December 7, 2003 7:18 PM
Fair enough but any star called "Jimmy Floyd" is a big star in my books.
Ale Fan - December 8, 2003 7:04 AM
Am I right in thinking that Canadian differs quite noticeably from American ?
I'm sure I've noticed some words that the Americans spell 'incorrectly' spelt the English way by Canadians.
Or is it just my imagination ?
Alan - December 8, 2003 8:36 AM
No, you are right we use the "ou" in neighbour, labour, harbour. We have a lot of local variation, too. I am in Ontario but am from Nova Scotia so find some of the language here a little vague - less so here in eastern Ontario than where my wife's family is from in south-west. Not so much words as how they put a sentence together. Rural Newfoundland English is fairly thick to my ear as well, as different again as the southern US drawl. If you saw the movie <i>Shipping News</i> you'd hear Newfoundlanders.
Alan - December 9, 2003 9:47 AM
Speaking of tavs, there are still socially accepted bootleggers and moonshiners in some parts of Canada!