Mark Carney Criticised For Using British Spellings In Canadian Documents - Slashdot

Mark Carney Criticised For Using British Spellings In Canadian Documents - Slashdot
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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian:
Mark Carney says that amid a fundamental shift to the nature of globalization, his government will catalyze the growth in both the public and private sector. But Canadian linguists say that's a problem. Language experts have
called out the Canadian prime minister's growing "utilization" of British spellings in key documents
-- including the recent federal budget and a press release issued following a meeting with Donald Trump.
Carney, who served as the governor of the bank of England for seven years, appears to have run afoul of Canadian linguistic norms, returning to his home country with a penchant for using 's' instead of 'z'- a hallmark of British spellings. In an
open letter
(PDF) chastising the prime minister, six linguists have asked his office, the Canadian government and parliament to stick to Canadian English spelling, "which is the spelling they consistently used from the 1970s to 2025." They warned that if governments start to use other systems for spelling, "this could lead to confusion about which spelling is Canadian."
Canadian English is a source of immense pride for the nation's pedants. But the country's distinct and somewhat arbitrary spelling reflects the legacy of how Canada was colonized. "Canadian English evolved through Loyalist settlement after the American Revolutionary War, subsequent waves of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish immigration, and from European and global contexts," the letter says, with the current accepted spellings of words reflecting "global influences and cultures from around the world represented in our population, as well as containing words and phrases from Indigenous languages." The linguists pointed out that Canada's distinct style of spelling was widespread in media and government documents, with this deliberate decision reflecting a desire to preserve a vital element of the country's "national history, identity and pride."
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Submission: Mark Carney Criticised For Using British Spellings In Canadian Documents
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Mark Carney Criticised For Using British Spellings In Canadian Documents
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Mark Carney Criticised For Using British Spellings In Canadian Documents
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Huh?
Score:
by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @07:35PM (
#65862859
One thing I can say for the British is that they pronounce words exactly the way they spell them. (See aluminium/aluminum). So, while my Canadian coworkers pronunciation of "schedule" bothered me as an American, I cannot call it incorrect! Obviously, the Canadians still consider themselves to be British... er, with the exception of a bunch of francophile jerks in Quebec.
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Re:Huh?
Score:
, Informative)
by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @07:36PM (
#65862863
"Which spelling is Canadian?" Both, my friend, both!
Parent
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Re: Huh?
Score:
by
ArmoredDragon
( 3450605 )
writes:
Its just American spelling with a lot of A's added.
Re:
Score:
by
arglebargle_xiv
( 2212710 )
writes:
Its just American spelling with a lot of A's added.
That's eh's, not A's.
Re:
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by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
They named Canada by drawing letters out of a hat. 'C', eh? 'N', eh? 'D', eh?
Re:
Score:
by
Teun
( 17872 )
writes:
One thing I can say for the British is that they pronounce words exactly the way they spell them.
You forgot this little thing called The Great Vowel Change.
It really fucked up the pronunciation.
Phonetic? No!
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
Actually, English is one of the worst languages when it comes to being phonetic. When do you get the "guh" sound in "though" or "through" (I don't believe formal documents spell the latter as "thru"). Or words like "Leicester" or "Worchester" - you don't hear "chester" as a part of either word
Re:
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by
flatulus
( 260854 )
writes:
My favorite joke on English pronunciation (Gallagher):
[youtube.com]
Re:
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by
Richard_at_work
( 517087 )
writes:
"Lieutenant" (and numerous other words) wants to have a word with you
:)
Re:
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by
serafean
( 4896143 )
writes:
I'm not sure people would be proud of the title of "placeholder" . Admit it, "Lieutenant" sounds fancier
;)
Re:
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by
Richard_at_work
( 517087 )
writes:
That is part of the English language, used extensively in England, and not pronounced the way its spelled.
Literally just picking a few place names from where I used to live in the UK, and you get:
Happisburgh - dates back a thousand years.
Wymondham - dates back approximately 1,500 years, and originates from an Anglo-Saxon name.
Costessey - originates from around 600AD, and again originates from an Anglo-Saxon name.
Re: Huh?
Score:
by
ArmoredDragon
( 3450605 )
writes:
Even the British agree that the word "leftenant" doesn't make any fucking sense.
Re:
Score:
by
techno-vampire
( 666512 )
writes:
That may be so, but you have to balance that against their insistence that the word "mathematics" is plural simply because it ends in an S.
Re:
Score:
by
Malenfrant
( 781088 )
writes:
That's nonsense. Mathematics is plural because there is more than one type of mathematics. Arithmetic and geometry to name just two of them. If your course is in arithmetic and nothing else than calling it singular makes sense. But if it covers more than one type of mathematics then it is obviously plural.
Re:
Score:
by
ShanghaiBill
( 739463 )
writes:
Even the British agree that the word "leftenant" doesn't make any fucking sense.
It's no worse than "colonel".
Or you can do two at a time with "lieutenant colonel".
Re: Huh?
Score:
, Funny)
by
Ogive17
( 691899 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @08:07PM (
#65862937
Can I borrow some worchestershire sauce?
Parent
Share
Re:
Score:
by
AmiMoJo
( 196126 )
writes:
Whatever you do, don't Google what that stuff is. You don't want to know.
Re: Huh?
Score:
, Funny)
by
drinkypoo
( 153816 )
writes:
drink@hyperlogos.org
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @10:36PM (
#65863191
Homepage
Journal
Once you've found out about fish sauce, not much is scary.
Parent
Share
Re:
Score:
by
dunkelfalke
( 91624 )
writes:
What's so scary about it? It is basically a concentrated cloves condiment.
Re:
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by
mjwx
( 966435 )
writes:
Can I borrow some worchestershire sauce?
Worcestershire isn't even that bad once you sit down and actually look at it, it's just long. Leicester is far more confusing and then we have names that are spelled like common English words but are pronounced differently like Reading.
Reading
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
Actually, "Reading" is pronounced 2 different ways, depending on whether one is talking about the verb or the place
Re:
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by
mjwx
( 966435 )
writes:
Actually, "Reading" is pronounced 2 different ways, depending on whether one is talking about the verb or the place
Erm... that was the point. Hence I referred to the "name" Reading.
Someone who was not native to the UK wouldn't know unless someone told them that Reading was pronounced differently to reading.
Re: Huh?
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by
RealMelancon
( 4422677 )
writes:
Francophile jerks? An other American jerk who thinks the planet speaks American English? Yo bro ?
Re:
Score:
by
KiloByte
( 825081 )
writes:
Well, that's why OP didn't call them "osties de tabarnak".
Re:
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by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
There are plenty of countries where it's American English that is learned and spoken when taught as it's just more practical given the US' greater global reach. The only reason British English has legs outside of neighboring Europe is the UK's colonial history. If you look at a global map of who speaks which it looks a bit like a British colonial map from the 19th century.
Re:
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by
Growlley
( 6732614 )
writes:
aye but if you Learn British English then you can learn to bastardise it to speak USian , However USians haven't managed the reverse in 250 years.
Re:
Score:
by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
I don't think Americans are wholly ignorant of British English but I do get what you're saying about Brits being more familiar with our dialect than we are with theirs. It's probably a function of American media given how successful it is globally. Brits make great movies too but at much smaller volumes and we get a bit culturally insular when it comes to cinema.
Re:
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by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
I'm not hand waving anything. I was assume people would understand that given that the UK is part of the European continent and its history is thoroughly entwined with it of course they do British English. No explanation necessary or so I thought.
Your whole post reads to me like this is some kind of dramatic competition to you when all I'm doing is pointing out who speaks which of the two major versions of English while also pointing out that British English isn't the universal norm in the rest of the world
Re:
Score:
by
ZombieCatInABox
( 5665338 )
writes:
Obviously, the Canadians still consider themselves to be British...
Er, no. Canadians
do not
see themselves as british. They see themselves as canadians. So you've worked with a handfull of canadians and you think you know everything about us and Canada. Typical american arrogance.
er, with the exception of a bunch of francophile jerks in Quebec.
So, trying to preserve and protect one's culture and language from assimilation is being a jerk now ? Take a little trip down to Louisiana and tell the cajuns there that they are jerks. See how that goes.
Moron.
Re:
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by
techno-vampire
( 666512 )
writes:
Take a little trip down to Louisiana and tell the cajuns there that they are jerks. See how that goes.
Either that, or spend some time in the Southwest, and meet some of the hispanics who want their children to have American citizenship but don't want them to learn English.
Re:
Score:
by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
Living in California which has a huge Hispanic population I've never seen any evidence of this in action. What I do see all the time is kids who speak English far better than their parents and are used as interpreters.
As far as I can tell claims like yours are just another right wing myth used to demonize immigrant populations they don't like with as much supporting evidence as Trump's fake immigrant crime wave. Maybe a few anecdotes with no broad supporting trends.
Re:
Score:
by
techno-vampire
( 666512 )
writes:
As far as I can tell claims like yours are just another right wing myth used to demonize immigrant populations they don't like with as much supporting evidence as Trump's fake immigrant crime wave. Maybe a few anecdotes with no broad supporting trends.
All I can say is that I hope you're right and I'm wrong. I don't like the idea of children growing up in America and as citizens who aren't allowed to learn the dominant language.
Re:
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by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
I'm sure there are a few nutters out there because there always are. That being said my company employs a lot of Hispanic folks and on employee appreciation day when they show up with their families the kids don't seem to have any problems communicating.
Re:
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by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
Their what? Their neighbors are US and Greenland
Re:
Score:
by
dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
Wasn't too long ago that the war with our neighbour Denmark was settled.
[wikipedia.org]
There's also Saint Pierre and Miquelon, our French neighbours who are only 10 or 19 km's away from Canada, with the 19 km the distance to Newfoundland and Labrador.
[wikipedia.org]
Re:
Score:
by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
That's kind of my point. If you've got British monarchs on your currency, you obviously still consider yourself British. The Commonwealth is awesome, by the way, it is one big happy family of 56 former colonies!
Re:
Score:
by
dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
We don't have British Monarchs on our currency, we have Canadian Monarchs on our currency. King Charles III, King of Canada, not King Charles III, King of England, a separate legal entity.
Re:
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by
dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
Also the Quebecois and various 1st nations would be quite pissed at the idea they're British
Re:
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by
BoogieChile
( 517082 )
writes:
Please excuse my laughter, my daughter. I really ought to toughen up.
Re: Huh?
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by
Z00L00K
( 682162 )
writes:
Except for Center/Centre. I have never heard the latter pronounced as it's written.
Re:
Score:
by
CormacJ
( 64984 )
writes:
As a UK expat, I confused my American co-workers with my flexible pronunciation of "schedule".
To me, a timetable is schedule with a soft C.
As a manager when I'm assigning hours to someone to work, that's schedule with a hard C
I don't know why its that way, but it seems wrong to do those the other way around,
Re:
Score:
by
skam240
( 789197 )
writes:
Not really, they just have different words they don't pronounce phonetically. Not to mention there's plenty of words both the US and UK use that aren't. They don't pronounce the 'k' in knife for instance just like we don't.
There's also no globally "correct" way to speak English, there's only "correct" ways to speak it within countries.
Re:
Score:
by
thegarbz
( 1787294 )
writes:
One thing I can say for the British is that they pronounce words exactly the way they spell them. (See aluminium/aluminum).
Err... so do Americans... They literally do not say or pronounce the 'i' they remove, it's one of the reasons it's spelled differently.
British are not better or worse than Canadians, Americans, or any other English speaker in their spelling to pronunciation likeness.
Re:
Score:
by
courteaudotbiz
( 1191083 )
writes:
Francophile jerk here. Va chier.
To address the subject, if our main problem is that our PM has a "British writing style", I guess we're in a far better position than our US neighbors.
Re:
Score:
by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
Touché.
Re:
Score:
by
Locke2005
( 849178 )
writes:
Don't tell me where to go. By "jerks", I mean the people responsible for replacing bilingual street signs with French-only street signs, at the expense of taxpayers. Because being bilingual wasn't good enough, they have to have FRENCH ONLY! If you're not one of those jerks, then I wasn't referring to you. (I have tremendous respect for the people that speak multiple languages fluently. People that refuse to learn the language skills needed to communicate with the people around them? Not so much.)

As far as
Re:
Score:
by
mjwx
( 966435 )
writes:
One thing I can say for the British is that they pronounce words exactly the way they spell them. (See aluminium/aluminum). So, while my Canadian coworkers pronunciation of "schedule" bothered me as an American, I cannot call it incorrect! Obviously, the Canadians still consider themselves to be British... er, with the exception of a bunch of francophile jerks in Quebec.
Granted we don't horribly mispronounce words like "solder" (it's "sole-der" not "sod-her", there's an L in it and don't even get me started on Jaguar) however there's a whole swath of words in English that are not pronounced the way you think, Sean Bean for example. there's at least 7 ways to pronounce the "ough" sound. Hell, just try to pronounce a lot of English place names like Bicester, Leicester or Worcestershire let alone the sizable London commuter town of Reading (for the uninitiated, it's pronounce
Re:
Score:
by
dunkelfalke
( 91624 )
writes:
Not proto-German, but old Low German. Modern standard German has its roots in old High German instead.
What exactly is "Canadian spelling"?
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
How exactly are Canadian spellings different from American ones? The only thing uniquely Canadian I can think of is the date format. While the Brits use DDMMYY and Americans use MMDDYY, the Canadians go w/ YYMMDD. Actually, that happens to work great when sorting files in any filesystem, which is why it's one of the few things Canadian that I admire
Other than that, I do know that there are words that Canadians prefer to use, like serviettes, which neither Brits nor Americans use. But I still don't get
Re:
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
That's British though. How is it uniquely Canadian, like the date format?
Re:
Score:
by
tlhIngan
( 30335 )
writes:
That's British though. How is it uniquely Canadian, like the date format?
It's not uniquely Canadian, but we inherit the spelling of some words from American English, like "utilize" (instead of the UK "utilise") while using other words from UK English (like honour, colour, etc) instead of the American honor, color, etc.
It's a hybrid system that makes it Canadian, and you can tell if the localization team did a good job or not or if they just assumed Canadian English is either US or UK English rather than a m
Re:
Score:
by
Koen Lefever
( 2543028 )
writes:
One thing I can say for the British is that they pronounce words exactly the way they spell them.
Ghoti
[wikipedia.org]: pronounce "gh" as in "enou
gh
", "o" as in "w
men", "ti" as in "na
ti
on": fish.
British English and [North] American English
Score:
by
OrangeTide
( 124937 )
writes:
Both are inconsistent and irritating, and by preserving spellings through linguistic shifts, they make it essentially impossible to generalize a phonetic system. Add to that the Latin alphabet, even with various digraphs, is insufficient to cover English's phonemes.
And at once instance we'll spell something with a letter we no longer pronounce, out of tradition. And another we'll swap HW in the beginning of all Old English words and start pronouncing them like "white" or "whey". Absolutely ridiculous langua
Re:British English and [North] American English
Score:
, Insightful)
by
Alain Williams
( 2972 )
writes:
addw@phcomp.co.uk
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @07:51PM (
#65862901
Homepage
If we changed spellings so that they followed how words are pronounced:
* We would have words spelled differently in different countries and also different parts of the same country.
* Over time spelling would change, this would make it hard to read old texts. By
old
I mean 100 or 200 years; even older would be worse.
* Dictionary compilers would have a harder task than they do today.
* Mechanical (ie computer) analysis of texts would be harder, more errors.
If anything we should use a single world wide English spelling. I am English and so I think that it should be the King's English as spoken & written in England. I do not expect those in other countries to agree with me but it would be good if they saw sense.
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Re: British English and [North] American English
Score:
by
blue trane
( 110704 )
writes:
ChatGPT says:
- William Clark's Lewis and Clark diaries show that significant spelling variation can exist even as recently as the early 1800s.
- Despite this, the journals remain readable to modern readers with little effort.
- This suggests that standardized spelling is helpful but not essential for comprehension.
- The costs of spelling change over time are often overstated.
Re:
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OrangeTide
( 124937 )
writes:
Memorising a bunch of spelling in order to read some 18th and 19th century documents that are otherwise modern English seems inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as teaching millions of children and English as a second language students a bunch of spelling variations that should otherwise be obsolete.
None of us can read Old English without significant training. And even Middle English (~400-500 years) is troublesome for a layperson without an annotated student book for the text you want to tackle.
I don't a
Re:
Score:
by
dunkelfalke
( 91624 )
writes:
but not as inconvenient as teaching millions of children and English as a second language students a bunch of spelling variations that should otherwise be obsolete.
That really isn't a big deal. Usually the ESL teachers explain the differences very early on and recommend to choose one standard and stick with it, because mixing different spelling variations in one text will result in lower marks.
Re:
Score:
by
thegarbz
( 1787294 )
writes:
We already have this. Dictionaires draw endless distinctions in differences between regional spellings and even go to the effort of pointing out some use of a word may be archaic in one region vs another.
It's not nearly the complexitly problem you make it out to be, not much would change if we for example called it a "nief" rather than a "knife". Or if we called the big brown animal a "bair" so it reflects "hair" you "tair" out of your head, and then left "fear" and "ear" to sound the same.
Re:British English and [North] American English
Score:
, Informative)
by
jenningsthecat
( 1525947 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @09:50PM (
#65863119
Your comment subject seems to imply a homogeneity in North American English which is non-existent. For example, for Canadians a
cheque
is a financial instrument; a
check
is an inspection or process of confirmation.
Nite
and
lite
are merely misspellings of
night
and
light
. Also, the last letter of the alphabet is and always will be
zed
and not
zee
Colour
flavour
, and
valour
are usually spelled with the 'u' here in Elbows Up land, whereas in the US I'm pretty sure the 'u' almost never appears in those words.
And of course, in America the word
meter
may refer to either a unit of measure or an instrument for measuring. Here in Canuckistan, the unit of measure is the
metre
Parent
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Re:
Score:
by
OrangeTide
( 124937 )
writes:
Even in the US the only homogeneity is if your education background uses Websters as its standard reference, which I suspect is above 99% of US schools.
The dictionary situation in Canada has historically been less one-sided. Depending on province is the most common dictionary, with Gage being the only truly Canadian dictionary I ever saw growing up. But I suspect OUP Canada is the dominate one now (I haven't been over there in decades).
Years ago, at least in the northern US, metre and meter were both common
Re:
Score:
by
tlhIngan
( 30335 )
writes:
Your comment subject seems to imply a homogeneity in North American English which is non-existent. For example, for Canadians a cheque is a financial instrument; a check is an inspection or process of confirmation. Nite and lite are merely misspellings of night and light. Also, the last letter of the alphabet is and always will be zed and not zee.
Colour, flavour, and valour are usually spelled with the 'u' here in Elbows Up land, whereas in the US I'm pretty sure the 'u' almost never appears in those words.
Re:
Score:
by
pjt33
( 739471 )
writes:
North American English kept using words that ended up being deprecated in England.
Or popularised words which were previously only spoken in a regional dialect and which never spread beyond that region within England.
Re:
Score:
by
thegarbz
( 1787294 )
writes:
For example, for Canadians a cheque is a financial instrument; a check is an inspection or process of confirmation.
Only because you approach the problem from the spelling rather than from the language. There's no reason to write words differently if they sound the same audibly, as demonstrated by Americans where a check is a financial instrument, and a check is an inspection or process of confirmation.
Language needs context to be understood. There's no point of splitting word spelling, the context informs us what we are talking about. There's no reason written language needs to be more precise than spoken language.
This
Re:
Score:
by
Cochonou
( 576531 )
writes:
Written language is more precise than spoken language in many languages, and there is actually a reason for that. You cannot ask for clarifications or get additional information to resolve ambiguities on a sheet of paper...
Zed & Zee
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
So is the Solaris & FreeBSD file system Zed-Eff-Ess or Zee-Eff-Ess? Which do the Canucks prefer?
Re:
Score:
by
Bert64
( 520050 )
writes:
Pronunciation of letters is different to the names of the letters...
Or how do you pronounce "what"?
Re:
Score:
by
AmiMoJo
( 196126 )
writes:
The UK has multiple spellings too. At school they mostly teach the -ise spelling, but I prefer the Oxford -ize spelling. Either is acceptable, although a lot of spell checkers don't support Oxford.
Wait until...
Score:
by
Sebby
( 238625 )
writes:
he starts using the metric system. Then
all hell
is gonna break loose!!!!!,
Re:
Score:
by
Midnight Thunder
( 17205 )
writes:
he starts using the metric system. Then
all hell
is gonna break loose!!!!!,
Too late. That was already a thing in 1970.
Re:
Score:
by
vux984
( 928602 )
writes:
Its a work in progress:
Hockey Puck, Black, 6oz
[canadiantire.ca]
6 oz? Re:Wait until...
Score:
by
davidwr
( 791652 )
writes:
Is that troy ounce, avoirdupois ounce, or hockey-puck ounce?
The latter is defined as 1/6th the weight of a standard NHL hockey puck, exactly.
Re:
Score:
by
Midnight Thunder
( 17205 )
writes:
True. Should be mandating businesses to use metric or dual unit display.
A lot of this is probably still an influence of the US being a trade partner, but given current politics, maybe this is a good time to further push the missing metrification?
metric
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
For
scientific
work, the US actually
does
use the metric system. It's only for commercial use that we go back to the American variants of the old imperial system
So what do Canadians use for shoe sizes?
Re:
Score:
by
Sebby
( 238625 )
writes:
For
scientific
work, the US actually
does
use the metric system. It's only for commercial use that we go back to the American variants of the old imperial system
So what do Canadians use for shoe sizes?
Probably trump's dick length, per Stormy Daniels.
Kings English
Score:
by
warewolfsmith
( 196722 )
writes:
You must recogniSe and speak the Kingz English. Got It.
Re:
Score:
by
Midnight Thunder
( 17205 )
writes:
You must recogniSe and speak the Kingz English. Got It.
The king is still head of state, so I'm okay with that.
I love living in Canada
Score:
, Insightful)
by
dskoll
( 99328 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @07:50PM (
#65862897
Homepage
When this is what passes for a scandal, things are OK.
Share
Re:
Score:
by
PPH
( 736903 )
writes:
Things are OK. Eh.
Re: I love living in Canada
Score:
by
tiananmen tank man
( 979067 )
writes:
I prefer American drama, yes I have TDS.
Re:
Score:
by
unixisc
( 2429386 )
writes:
That seems to be more of a State Department thing. I haven't seen anything suggest that other departments are micro-managing their font choices
Re:
Score:
by
alvinrod
( 889928 )
writes:
If this is what passes for news for nerds or stuff that matters than things are not OK.
Re:
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dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
What is more nerdy then spelling?
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by
sinij
( 911942 )
writes:
When this is what passes for a scandal, things are OK.
Only things are not OK in Canada. Tariffs
hurting the economy
[www.cbc.ca] and causing
prices on necessities to go up
[www.cbc.ca]. Out of control
immigration
[www.cbc.ca] causing
healthcare wait lists to double
[www.cbc.ca] and
rents
[www.cbc.ca] in major cities are not affordable to family on median income.
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davidwr
( 791652 )
writes:
As far as tariffs go, Trump telling the rest of the world they should learn to live without America may be the best thing for the rest of the world, long-term. Sure, there is short- and medium-term pain, but imagine it's 2060 and the rest of the world has weaned itself from any dependence on America. Imagine a Trump-like President trying to tell the rest of the world what to do. Imagine the rest of the world shugging its collective shoulders.
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dryeo
( 100693 )
writes:
Canada's population is dropping due to limits on immigration.
[www.cbc.ca]
Rents have also been dropping, though still too high.
[globalnews.ca]
One thing Trump has done is driven a lot of healthcare workers to move north.
[www.cbc.ca]
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mjwx
( 966435 )
writes:
When this is what passes for a scandal, things are OK.
Yep, if spelling is the worst they can get him for he has to be doing a decent job.
Obligatory spelling humo(u)r
Score:
, Funny)
by
davidwr
( 791652 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @08:36PM (
#65863011
Homepage
Journal
Linguistic humor, English spelling reform
[upenn.edu]
Source: An old chestnut. In its globalized incarnation below, via Steven Gearhart.
English in the Future
Directors at Daimler Benz and Chrysler have announced an agreement to adopt English as the preferred language for communications, rather than German, which was another possibility.
As part of the negotiations, directors at Chrysler conceded that English spelling has some room for improvement and have accepted a five-year phase-in plan. In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Also, the hard "c" will be replased with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but komputers have one less letter.
There will be growing kompany enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replased by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 persent shorter.
In the third year, DaimlerKhrysler akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reash the stage where more komplikated shanges are possible.
DaimlerKhrysler will enkourage the removal of double letters, whish have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"'s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps sush as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" by "v".
During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be droped from vords kontaining "o", and similar shanges vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.
After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis, and employes vil find it ezi to kommunikat viz eash ozer.
Ov kors al supliers vil be expekted to us zis for all busines komunikation via DaimlerKhrysler.
Ze drem vil finali kum tru.
Share
Silly scandals
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by
gurps_npc
( 621217 )
writes:
on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @09:42PM (
#65863101
Homepage
Oh, I long for the day when the US president had scandals about things like pronunciation, spelling, or clothing.
Can we please go back to arguing about the lack of of a flag pin rather than war crimes?
Share
They're right.
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devslash0
( 4203435 )
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I'm British myself but if you reside in a foreign country, you play by the host's rules. Especially in official situations. That's it.
\o/
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easyTree
( 1042254 )
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Good call - object to people using the UK spelling of English words. You know that English comes from England right? Any guesses where that is? One point if you said "The UK."
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pjt33
( 739471 )
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You score 0/10 for contextual awareness unless you're claiming that Canada gave George III the finger, in which case it's your history grade which is in the gutter.
Re: \o/
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PoopMelon
( 10494390 )
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There is no 'we'. You are a random descendant whose lifespan had absilutely nothing to do with development in canada. Nationalism and sport fanatism are a pleague of humanity
"Criticised"
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NotRobot
( 8887973 )
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I see what you did, right there in the headline. Clever.
Zzzzzzz
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groobly
( 6155920 )
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O Canada, wherefore art thou Canada?
Standardise English please.
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Deal In One
( 6459326 )
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Can we have English follow a single standard?
It seems every other country seems to have a slightly different form of English. It's a pain at times.
I find it ironic
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flatulus
( 260854 )
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That the very title of this article uses the British spelling of "criticized".
Whatever.
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Smonster
( 2884001 )
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Doughn't ewe nough awl dis cumplanin' iz phawkyn' stewpid. Trewli pherst wherld prawblemz.
MMM DD YY
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0xG
( 712423 )
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The above is a (rather illogical) anerican construct.
In canada the *official* notation is DD MMM YY. Few seem to understand this.
I get my back up when anyone uses the american version here (banks seem to understand).
Although the YYYY MM DD format is my preference.
British English now allows both -ise and -ize
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rklrkl
( 554527 )
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I think complaining about using -ise endings instead of -ize is a bad example because British English now considers either ending valid. If the originators of the English language can accept both, why can't Canadian English?
I must admit that I did chuckle when the most definitely American company Google (or Alphabet, take your pick) used the most definitely not US English spelling of Aluminium for its possible Android/ChromeOS merger project. Would only make much sense if the project was headquartered in Go
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unixisc
( 2429386 )
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Whole new alphabet, though. Also, if he was a Putin brown-noser, how come Putin hasn't so far done what Trump wants?
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