History

The term "Canadian English" is first attested in a speech by the Reverend A. Constable Geikie in an address to the Canadian Institute in 1857. Geikie, a Scottish-born Canadian, reflected the Anglocentric attitude prevalent in Canada for the next hundred years when he referred to the language as "a corrupt dialect," in comparison to what he considered the proper English spoken by immigrants from Britain.

CanE is the product of four waves of immigration and settlement over a period of almost two centuries. The first large wave of permanent English-speaking settlement in Canada, and linguistically the most important, was the influx of British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-Atlantic States. The second wave from Britain and Ireland was encouraged to settle in Canada after the War of 1812 by the governors of Canada, who were worried about anti-English sentiment among its citizens. Waves of immigration from around the globe peaking in 1910 and 1960 had a lesser influence, but they did make Canada a multicultural country, ready to accept linguistic change from around the world during the current period of globalization. The languages of Canadian Aboriginal peoples started to influence European languages used in Canada even before widespread settlement took place, and the French of Lower Canada provided vocabulary to the English of Upper Canada.

English in the USA differs considerably from British English. Pronunciation is the most striking difference but there are also a number of differences in vocabulary and spelling as well as slight differences in grammar. On the whole, British people are exposed to a lot of American English on TV, in films and so on and so they will usually understand most American vocabulary.

American spelling is usually simpler. For example, British English words ending in -our and -re, end in -or and -er in American English, e.g. colour/color, centre/center. There are differences in individual words too, e.g. British 'plough' becomes 'plow'. The American spelling usually tries to correspond more closely to pronunciation.

Here are some common US words with their British equivalents.

American English

AAA

ATM

bus station

child tax benefit

clunker

convenience store

district

driver's license

efficiency

electricity

firehouse

first floor

flat

funeral home

get your panties in a wad

hockey player

International Revenue Service

IRS

junker

ladies' room

Laundromat

legal holiday

men's room

offense

one-armed bandit

paramedic

parking garage

parking ramp

plastic wrap

public housing

rest room

sales tax

Saran wrap

sneakers

sofa

street entertainer

superfine sugar

sweat pants

track housing

turn signal

unemployment

Valley girls

welfare

welfare check

zip code

Canadian English

CAA

ABM

bus depot

child benefit

baby bonus

beater

depanneur

riding

driver's permit

bachelor apartment

hydro

fire hall

main floor

flat tire

funeral chapel

get your panties in a bunch

puckster

Revenue Canada

RevCan

beater

washroom

coin laundry

statutory holiday

washroom

offence

video lottery machine

VLT

EMT

ambulance technician

parkade

cling wrap

social housing

washroom

GST

cling wrap

runners

chesterfield

street busker

berry sugar

track pants

housing development

turn signal lever

pogey

Surrey girls

pogey

welfare cheque

postal code

British English

AA, RAC

hole-in-the-wall

cashpoint

cashdispenser

coach station

family allowance

banger

corner shop

Spar

constituency

driving licence

bedsit

lecky

fire station

ground floor

flat tyre

puncture

funeral parlour

get your knickers in a twist

ice hockey player

Inland Revenue

banger

Ladies

launderette

bank holiday

Gents

attack

fruit machine

ambulanceman

multi-storey car park

cling film

council housing

lavatory, loo

VAT

cling film

trainers

couch

settee

busker

caster sugar

jogging bottoms

tracksuit bottoms

housing estate

indicator

winker

dole

Essex girls

income support

giro

post code

Spelling and dictionaries

Canadian spelling of the English language combines British and American rules. Most notably, French-derived words that in American English end with -or and -er, such as color or center, usually retain British spellings (colour, honour and centre), although American spellings are not uncommon. Also, while the U.S. uses the Anglo-French spelling defense (noun), Canada uses the British spelling defence. (Note that defensive is universal.) In other cases, Canadians and Americans stand at odds with British spelling, such as in the case of nouns like tire and curb, which in British English are spelled tyre and kerb. Words such as realize and recognize are usually spelled with -ize rather than -ise. (The etymological convention that verbs derived from Greek roots are spelled with -ize and those from Latin with -ise is preserved in that practice.)

Canadian spelling rules can be partly explained by Canada's trade history. For instance, the British spelling of the word cheque probably relates to Canada's once-important ties to British financial institutions. Canada's automobile industry, on the other hand, has been dominated by American firms from its inception, explaining why Canadians use the American spelling of tire and American terminology for the parts of automobiles.

Grammar

When writing, Canadians will start a sentence with As well, in the sense of "in addition"; this construction is a Canadianism.

Canadian and British English share idioms like in hospital and to university, while in American English the definite article is mandatory; to/in the hospital is also common in Canadian speech.