Ahhh...The Cottage Life!

I have often wondered if visitors form other lands will think I am having difficulties with my spelling. I actually think about it every time I post words like: behaviour, cheque, harbour etc.  Bloggers reminds me constantly that I don't spell as an American. Even if I put the spell check for British English into text editors for Spell Check, it also, occasionally tells me that I am wrong. It seems that Canadian English is in fact mostly British, with a little bit of American and some specific Canadian. As this is the case when are manufactures of text editors going to wake up and smell the coffee? I usually will see a choice for American English, British English but rarely will I see a choice for Canadian! One I found, when set to Canadian English, told me I was wrong when I put in Canadian spelling. It insisted I spell it the British way. I didn't realize we were that low in population or so small a country that our consumers would make so little difference. It is possible that we just don't complain enough, but surely developers of text editors must realize how annoying it is to be constantly seeing that red underline on sooooo many words! I find it strange also that they all will let me type "eh" without a comment.

From Wikipedia:
Eh (pronounced /ˈeɪ/ or /ˈɛ/ in English) is a spoken interjection in Armenian, Japanese, English, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese meaning something along the lines of "Repeat that, please". It is also commonly used as a method for inciting an answer, as in "it's nice here, eh?" Lastly, it can also be used to express indifference. In North America, it is most commonly associated with Canada.
"
Although we do use the word "eh", it is not as frequently as some may assume, Eh?

I found this list on the web. It was such a long list that I cut it in half. Go to this site to see the rest. http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/BritishCanadianAmerican.htm
So scroll through and take a look. I think you will find it interesting. I also find it hilarious that spell check is underlining most of the words in the list that are British and Canadian!

I have a video at the bottom of my blog, Canadian Please! In part of the video they talk about the zipper and Insulin being Canadian inventions and it got me thinking. ( Not always a good idea) What else did Canadians invent? There are slew of items, some have served to help people world wide and some are particularly for colder climates as Canada is for 5-6 months of the year.

• The undersea telegraph cable invented by Frederick Newton Gisborne in 1857 changed communication worldwide.

• In 1922, Frederick Banting, J.J McLeod, Charles Bestin had a major breakthrough in the study of diabetes with the invention of the Insulin process. 
• John A Hopps in 1950 developed the Heart Pacemaker. 
• The G-suit or Anti Gravity Suit was invented by Wilbur Franks in 1941, a suit for high altitude jet pilots.
• Actar 911 Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Manikins were invented in 1989 by Dianne Croteau . I taught with these for many years. They made CPR training portable.  
• Java, a software programming language, was invented in 1994 by James Gosling. 
• The snowmobile is huge in the northern countries. Invented by Joseph-Armand Bombardier in 1958, it remains a big ticket item to this day! 
• An absolute must to get around in Canada in the winter is the electric car heater invented by Thomas Ahearn in 1890. 
• Add in a little something that we all use every day, the lowly zipper.  The zipper was invented by Gideon Sundback in 1913 and I thank him for that!  
• From screwdrivers (the Robertson) to apples (Macintosh) there is a very impressive list. The world is filled with so many brilliant people and inventions! I found out a lot of information when I googled Canadian inventions. Do the same for your country .