Canadian linguists and editors are not pleased.
Words using British spellings have suddenly appeared in documents published by the Canadian government. Gone was the “ize” construction standard in Canadian English in favor of the “ise” spelling used in British English. So “emphasize” became “emphasise,” and “trade liberalization” became “trade liberalisation.”
“At first we thought it was an aberration,” said John Chew, the editor of a forthcoming Canadian English dictionary being produced with the help of the Society for Canadian English.
But examples continued to pile up, both in a recent news release and, perhaps more notably, the federal budget. Hundreds of words were spelled the British way: “de-industrialisation,” “amortisation,” “catalyse,” “digitalisation” and so on.
The choice undermines Canadian English, a group of linguists and editors said in an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. (Hm-m-m-m)
They noted that the English adopted by Canada has been used by the federal government for half a century. “Canadian English spelling must continue to be used in all communications and publications in the federal government,” the letter said. “It’s a matter of our national history.” The writers noted that Canadian English is a “distinctive national variety of English recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary.’’ And “It is one of the practices woven through our everyday lives that make us Canadian.”
The editors and linguists added that remaining loyal to Canadian English is the “simplest way to take an ‘elbows up’ stance,” a hockey term Mr. Carney used to underscore the country’s resistance to President Trump’s volley of tariffs and his stated desire to make Canada the 51st state.
In an informal survey this year, Canadians were asked to choose a word of the year. The winner? “Maplewashing,” or the practice (properly spelled the Canadian way, of course) of making something appear more Canadian than it actually is, especially in the context of marketing products for sale to Canadians.
Mr. Chew commented that Mr. Carney’s government seems to be reverse-maplewashing.
Leave a Reply