So, You Think You're a Canadian Writer, Eh?, Donna Hancock, 2002

So, You Think You're a Canadian Writer, Eh?

Donna Hancock

McDonald's restaurants are found in many different countries around the world, and in each country the menu reflects specific cultural preferences. In Tokyo, the best seller is a teriyaki chicken burger, while in Bombay, there is no beef on the menu and no eggs used in the sauces. Here in Canada, the Big Mac with its special sauce is a popular item. Much like McDonald's, writing is an international phenomenon shaped by regional tastes, and Canadian writers have developed a style and voice distinct from American or British writers. This unique national voice is important in our writing to portray a degree of patriotism or pride, and to create an awareness of the degree of multiculturalism within our nation.

While the question "What is Canadian?" is not easy to answer with precision, Canadian English and "Canadianisms" have gained recognition the world over to the point that most foreigners can easily identify us by our particular vocabulary or way of speaking. Orthographic differences are evident in spelling and diction, and general usage or style. This chapter will explore those qualities and advise writers how to be more Canadian in their writing.

Using the prescribed Canadian spelling is the first step writers should take, and editions of Canadian dictionaries make this task fairly simple. In the past, "Canadians seeking information or advice on their language had to look to either British or American dictionaries and usage guides, neither of which reflected the distinctiveness of Canadian English" (Fee v). Now, there are several quality dictionaries on the market, including the Canadian Oxford and the Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary. The 1998 edition of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary "was immediately acclaimed throughout the land, and no wonder: it is the product of the most broad-based and thorough (and, at $2 million, expensive) investigation ever undertaken into Canadian spellings and usages. Alas for nationalists, only 2,000 of the 130,000 entries in the dictionary are marked as distinctly 'Canadian'" (Holden 23).

However, the dictionary does distinguish between the occasions when Canadian writers use British spellings (valour) and when they prefer American ones (realize). In addition to the -our and -ize suffixes, we prefer -re to -er (centre) and -ce to -se (defence) (Canadian Style 52). It is important to identify which spellings are accepted as Canadian because many people feel that their identity is reflected in their language. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis suggests that culture influences language, and conversely that language influences culture and "affects how individuals in a society perceive and conceive reality" (Ember et al 262). Following this theory, Canadian English is what shapes our lives and makes us Canadian. An illustration: "Lynn Johnston, whose cartoon strip For Better of for Worse is syndicated all over North America, has never pretended that the family she depicts lives south of the border: 'I refuse to spell racquet as racket. I want to be Canadian'" (Fee v). Although Canadian English appears to be a blend of British and American spellings, not only is this mixture accepted, but it "may well constitute the 'Canadian style'" (Fee xi).

Being a multicultural nation, it follows that our language should reflect those various influences, and, in turn, our multiculturalism should be evident in our language. Many familiar words and phrases are considered Canadian, whether or not they have Canadian origins. Words with Canadian roots are closely tied to the country because newcomers needed a new vocabulary to identify experiences and objects unique to the land. Many of these words have native or French origins. Industries such as fishing, logging, mining, and farming developed their own vocabularies, as did pastimes such as hockey, hunting and curling. Most of our fish names, including Coho and Sockeye, are First Nations words, and so are many of the names of animals native to the country such as caribou and moose. Even the word Canada is thought to have come from the Iroquois language through French and then into use by English-speakers (McConnell 55). A wide variety of our words also stem from our other native language, French, including gopher, prairie, rapids and toque. Canadianisms are so common to our language that we often use them without realizing that they are a distinct feature of the language. The back forty refers to the land farthest from the dwellings on a farm; hootch refers to homemade liquor; a hockey puck is, well, a hockey puck; and sometimes things just don't pan out (Scargill 9-37). The word chesterfield is considered more Canadian than the British sofa or American couch even though it has British origins. And while we set the table, the British fix it and Americans lay it.

One of the most well-known Canadian words, eh, is not actually of Canadian origin, but still serves to distinguish us from other English-speakers. "Eh? is so exclusively a Canadian feature that immigration officials use it as an identifying clue" (Casselman 21). U.S. Immigration is said to use a border test that features words with unique Canadian pronunciations in order to distinguish between Canadians and Americans. In this test the person in question is asked to say the last three letters of the alphabet because Americans say zee rather than zed, and they must read this paragraph: "I have taken the wrong route. I am not a juvenile nor hostile. I live in a house with a roof. I am now out and about." "While the test is far from conclusive, as American and Canadian pronunciations overlap and the variants may be found on both sides of the border, the combination of features does provide some indication of one's origin" (McConnell 4).

Chaucer used the middle English form ey as early as 1387, and there are numerous examples of its use outside of Canadian English: "And who is to look after the horses, eh?" (Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights, 1847); "Didn't come, eh?" (Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, 1926); "So this is Brooklyn, eh?" (Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, 1949) (cited in Casselman 21). Although Canadians share the usage of eh with other English-speakers, we use it in different contexts than other regions. Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House exemplifies some subtle differences in usage:

There is the eh? that seeks agreement after an elliptical statement of something observed by the speaker: "Taking life easy, eh?"
There is the eh? which reinforces an exclamation: "Gee--what a night, eh?"
There is the eh? which reinforces an imperative: "Yeh, I know," Aunt Edna sounded annoyed. "But let me say it, eh?" (Casselman 21).

Words that we consider Canadian, whether because of spelling, origin, or usage should be layered into our writing to lend cultural distinctiveness. While some readers might consider many of these words slang, or informal usage, "it must be remembered that informal English is still standard English, and a writer who cannot vary his or her style from formal to informal cannot really be considered competent" (Fee xii). The use of Canadianisms gains the acceptance of the national audience at the same time that it sets our literature apart internationally. "Our writers have emerged as some of the most sought-after and compelling voices on the world stage. They have taken Canada's stories to Canadians, and the world" (Mcintyre, 52). Our multicultural nation is able to write its many stories from different backgrounds and perspectives with the aide of our unique multicultural language.

The written word still defines us. Stories are the R&D of the soul, and the pride Canadians feel in the truths of our history, and our achievements, is passed from generation to generation fundamentally through the written word. On average, Canadian writers have an annual income equivalent to a McDonald's cook. Yet together we have transformed the Canadian imagination. (Mcintyre 53)

Your distinct voice defines who you are as a writer, and because language shapes culture and your cultural identity is in part due to your language, the use of Canadian English in your writing is a significant element of being a Canadian writer. So, don't be a hoser. Be a true, proud Canuck - put down your poutine, get off the chesterfield and change your spellchecker to Canadian English, eh?

Works Cited

The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997.

Casselman, Bill. "Hay is for horses, but eh? is for Canadians." Canadian Geographic. Jul/Aug 1996: 21.

Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine. Anthropology. Tenth ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Fee, Margery. "Introduction." Guide to Canadian English Usage. Margery Fee and Janice McAlpine. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1997. v-xv.

Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary: A New Canadian and General Purpose Dictionary. Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1982.

Holden, Janelle. "Adding 'Colour' to Their Copy." Alberta Report/Newsmagazine 09/28/98: 23-25.

McConnell, R.E. Our Own Voice: Canadian English and How it Came to Be. Toronto: Gage, 1978.

McIntyre, Scott. "Literary Life Support." Maclean's 6/3/2002: 52-53.

Scargill, M.H. A Short History of Canadian English. Victoria: SONO NIS Press, 1977.

other publications

So, You Think You're a Canadian Writer, Eh?

Works Cited