Of Zeds and Zees

The list of inexplicable language quirks never ends

Among the many complaints I received about last week’s column, a reader said my use of the term “halfmast” was incorrect, noting “halfstaff ” is the proper way to describe flags that are not on a boat.

In fact, “half-mast” is indeed the accepted Canadian usage, whether the flagpole is on a boat or not.

There remains confusion because some Canadian news organizations once insisted on “half-staff ” for flagpoles on land and “halfmast” for those on boats, but most now have settled on half-mast in all instances.

Further complicating things is the fact that Americans do distinguish between the two, and Canadians are often tempted to follow suit.

In the newspaper business, we call these matters of style.

The Oxford dictionary claims the two are interchangeable, and of course nobody really cares in casual use, but newspapers rely on consistency, and journalists like rules.

At The Spectator we follow the style set out by The Canadian Press, and The Canadian Press has always used “half-mast.”

(Once upon a time, many newspapers had the luxury of internal committees that met regularly to decide such matters, and rulings would often raise the ire of colleagues.)

Other Americanisms sometimes used in Canada, which can often confuse the message, include “college” when we mean “university” and “soda” when we mean “pop” or “soft drink.”

Other differences include “sneakers” when Canadians say “runners” or “running shoes.” And “wheat toast” when we say simply “brown toast.”

But both sides generally get the idea.

Likewise, of course, Canadians often favour British spellings for words such as “favour” rather than the American “favor” and “theatre” rather than “theater.” And the Canadian “cheque” and “grey” to the American “check” and “gray.”

Canadians prefer “storey” when talking about floors in a building; Americans spell it “story.”

We like enrol and fulfil, not the American enroll and fulfill, as well as defence not defense, and traveller not traveler.

Unfortunately, and to confuse things further, Canadians are caught in the middle, and adopt some American spellings over British spellings, and worse, sometimes we switch back and forth.

Canadians generally agree with the American suffix “ize” as opposed to the British, who prefer “ise.” Canadians prefer “plow” rather than the British “plough” and “program” to the British “programme.” And we like “spelled” rather than “spelt” — unless we’re talking about a type of wheat.

For better or worse, Canadians follow Americans on “soccer,” which the British call “football.”

Finally, as I’ve said before, while it is important that newspapers are as consistent as possible, the language simply is not, never has been and never will be. Constant change is inevitable.

“Gaol” instead of “jail,” even in Britain, is now archaic. “Nigh” instead of “near” and “naught” instead of “nothing” are now used only ironically.

While we’re losing “forsooth” and “smite” and “henceforth” and hundreds, even thousands of others, we’re gaining, for better or worse, words such as “meh” and “frenemy” and “binge-watch.” It’s always an adventure.