That's Canadian, eh?

I stumbled across this article yesterday about Canadian English. Fascinating read. The article covers distinctive Canadian vocabulary, pronunciation and spelling.

According to the authors…

“There are… slight differences between American English and British English, and since Canadians are influenced by both, Canadian English is a mixture of both American and British features.”

True.

“Canadian English includes words borrowed from other languages which do not appear in other varieties of English. … Most of these borrowed words refer to features in the flora, fauna, geography and topography.”

Really?

The article then goes on to point out distinctive Canadian words, many of which I have never heard before. I can’t remember ever using the words biffy, sniggler, sook, or utilidor in a sentence or conversation.

But there are also some other gems such as toque (spelled incorrectly as tuque), off side, chesterfield and eavestrough.

Interestingly, no reference to the most Canadian of all expressions... “eh.”

Art Gives Back - The One & Other Project

One of my colleagues recently became the centre of attention in Trafalgar Square in London, England. He was randomly selected to participate in a special “living monument project” called One & Other, conceived by artist Antony Gormley.

The One & Other project involves a different person occupying the Fourth Plinth* in Trafalgar Square on their own for one full hour. The project runs 24 hours a day for 100 days without a break.

Many of those chosen are using their one hour to showcase their talent or to raise awareness for various plights or diseases.

My colleague was no exception… He made and broadcasted a chain of messages from friends (some even in real-time) – to help raise money for Sightsavers International.

Check out the streaming video of Tim's "performance art" here.

*The Fourth Plinth is the name given to the empty plinth in the north-west corner of Trafalgar Square in London. It was originally designed to display an equestrian statue but there were not enough funds available at the time to create a statue, so the plinth remained empty.