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Author Archive for Samantha

In defence of Canadian spelling

I know I’m not the first to say this, but I can’t stand Microsoft Word. It’s clunky, counter-intuitive and largely unreliable. But the main reason I don’t like it is – I blame it for the slow death of Canadian spelling.

I’m a spelling nerd who also really loves Canada, so it’s no wonder I think Canadian spelling is so cool. It’s not British, it’s not American. It’s a mixture of both, with seemingly arbitrary rules. We sometimes spell travelling as traveling. Is it analyse or analyze? It’s both! It’s such a wonderful representation of what Canada itself is like. We’re not British or American, but we take influences of both and come up with something uniquely our own.

How does this relate to Microsoft Word? Well, I have a theory. For a long time I’ve seen Canadians spelling our beloved ‘-our’ words – words like colour, flavour and favourite -without that all-important ‘u,’ or centre as center. I’ve even seen it on corporate signage, things you’d expect to be run past a fussy copyeditor like me before being printed.

Microsoft Word is the most common word processing program we use. Mac usage is on the rise, but Pages doesn’t even come close. Many people went through large parts of school using Word to write papers and create projects. How many of them changed the default dictionary to Canadian English? Probably not many – American English is just so close. However, use the word favourite, and you’ll get that dreaded red squiggly underline. You’ll think you’ve spelled the word wrong, and let Word auto-correct it to favorite. Canadian spelling dies a little more. Stand up, Canadians! Don’t rely on your American spell-checker! Fight for your right to use words like cheque, colour and kilometre! Your very Canadianness hinges upon it!

Okay, okay, so I got a little carried away at the end there, but I really do think Word – and built-in spell-checker programs – are stripping away the things that make Canadian spelling so interesting. Don’t let it happen!

August 20, 2010 | 2 comments | View Post

Spelling & grammar: “Should/could have” vs “should/could of”

One thing that fascinates me, though the result often frustrates me, is how many of our spelling errors arise from the spoken word. The phrases “should of” and “could of” are perfect examples of this.

Why “should of” and “could of” are incorrect

“Should of” and “could of”, if you break them out into their two separate words, don’t actually make any sense together. You can say “a pint of beer” or “three hours of sleep”, but “should of studied” doesn’t fit.

In this case, people say “should of” and “could of” because of the contraction that’s created from the word “have.” Really, it’s “should’ve” and “could’ve” – in other words, “should have” and “could have.” This contraction sounds very similar to “of” when spoken aloud, but “of” in this case is meaningless and incorrect.

Hope that helps! Personally, the words “should” and “could” are starting to look very strange to me after writing this post, so I’m done!

August 10, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Rafe Bartholomew book promo video in Tagalog

This morning, I decided I wanted to share some links to audio and video files of author readings. During my search, however, I stumbled upon something even better. Check it out:

This is author Rafe Bartholomew, giving a promo in Tagalog for his book Pacific Rims.

From his website:

. . . no people in the world love [basketball] like Filipinos. I spent three years following the Philippine game, studying its roots, recording the stories of its former and current greats, and sweating my way through daily pick-up battles. The nation’s passion was sometimes irrational, often impressive and always inspiring.

For the record, it’s true. Filipinos love only one thing more than karaoke, and that’s basketball.

I wanted to share this video because of how it relates to my last post about Filipino writers. Yes, it’s true that Bartholomew isn’t Filipino himself, but his book is about something that is, to me, so quintessentially Filipino. He also seems to really like the Philippines, which is admittedly something novel to me. You always hear people say how much they love Tokyo or Bali or Seoul, but when was the last time someone expressed their lifelong dream to visit Manila? I also love that he’s speaking Tagalog in the video. Though I’m not a native speaker myself, his accent and pronunciation sound very good!

So, while this is not technically a book by a Filipino writer, I think it’s a book that definitely sheds some light on an aspect of Filipino culture. I think I will keep an eye out for this book; it sounds interesting!

July 30, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Spelling & grammar: “conscious” vs “conscience”

This is a spelling misunderstanding I’ve been seeing around the internet quite often lately. These two words sound similar, but they’re different.

Here’s the difference between “conscious” and “conscience”

  • Conscious means to be awake, to be aware, or to have knowledge of something.
  • Conscience is the little voice inside you that tells you stealing your best friend’s car and driving it into a lake is wrong.

So, this means the following phrases are incorrect:

  • Socially conscience
  • Unconscience
  • Listen to your conscious

How to tell the difference between “conscious” and “conscience”

Because these words sound so similar, it’s easy to get them confused. However, the key to telling them apart is in the second ‘n’ in conscience. Say it aloud if you need to (if you’re in public, you can say it under your breath – it’s okay!). If you need to talk about how to tell the difference between right and wrong, watch for that second ‘n.’ Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to come up with an easy mnemonic device for this one, but after a while it should become second nature!

July 27, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

My most detested phrases

I know that the English language is ever evolving (though I try in my own way to keep it from evolving into incoherency), but there are some popular phrases that just make my skin crawl. I hereby vow to never use these in any form, written or spoken:

  • Across the pond
  • Pout – to describe lips in general, not an actual pout
  • Wow factor
  • Culture vulture

Here are words and phrases that bug me because they’re actually incorrect:

  • All intensive purposes (should be “intents and purposes”)
  • “Incidences” to mean “incidents” (“incidence” is actually a technical word which is not pluralized)
  • “Awe” as an alternate spelling of “aw” (I mean, it’s an entirely different word!).
  • “Comprised of”, but I’ve talked about that one before.
  • “Should of”, “would of”, etc.
  • “Penultimate” to mean “the most ultimate” (it actually means “next to last” – very far from the way it’s commonly used, which is a shame because it’s a great word).
  • “Reoccuring”

My mother can’t stand when people say “absolutely” as a synonym for “yes.”

What phrases drive you up the wall?

July 23, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post

Let’s talk Filipino writers, shall we?

My friend Teri sent me a link to an interview with the author Miguel Syjuco. To be honest, I’d never heard of him, but Teri thought I might be interested since Syjuco is a Filipino writer and she and I are both half-Filipino. The interview is here.

I don’t want to speak for Teri, but she and I have talked in the past about including “Filipinoness” in our fiction. For myself, it’s been difficult and I could never pinpoint exactly why until I read the Syjuco interview.

He talks about writing “Filipinoness” for a Western audience without feeling the need to explain it. It really resonated with me. How many books have we read by Chinese, Indian, Mexican authors that included names of food we didn’t need to look up, or cultural references we already knew? Filipino society is fairly Westernized already, and when people emigrate from the Philippines, they tend to “blend in” quite easily. As a result, many Filipino cultural touchstones remain hidden from popular view. I mean, when was the last time you went to a Filipino restaurant? And if you’ve ever been to one, where there any non-Filipinos in there? In my experience, Filipino culture happens behind the scenes, with family and family-like friends. I’ve always wondered why Filipinos are always so thrilled to meet other Filipinos – even second and third generation ones – and now I think I understand why.

I was born and raised in Canada and of two very different cultural backgrounds (three, actually, if you count Canada). As a result, I know bits of both but am no expert in either. However, I do know that the Philippines is much more complicated than it appears on the surface. I think more people should write about it and explore it without being modest or feeling unable – myself included!

Anyway, the point is that this was a great interview (salamat, Teri!) and it’s really made me motivated to bring out more “Filipinoness” in my writing while resisting the urge to explain everything.

Also, if anyone knows of any good Filipino writers, let me know!

July 16, 2010 | 0 comments | View Post
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