Canadian spelling
It’s not that American spelling is incorrect. It's just not Canadian. We do have our own spelling as defined in Canadian dictionaries. By and large, if Canadians use American spellings, it’s because they never question their American spellchecker. In fact, sometimes the spellchecker may change the word automatically, without even giving us the courtesy of a red, squiggly underline.
For a full list of Canadian vs. American and Canadian vs. British spellings, check a Canadian dictionary or style guide. In the meantime, here are four examples:
Centre, not Center, is the Canadian spelling. This is probably the most common and most prominent example of a word often spelled the American way.
Colour, honour, favour, odour, valour, etc, are traditionally Canadian spellings, although many Canadians use the American “or”. Both the Globe and Mail and the Federal government favour “our”
Note that even in British (and Canadian) spelling the “u” is often dropped when a suffix is added. Honorary and honorarium are often misspelled honourary and honourarium. However, honourable is the preferred Canadian spelling.
In Canadian spelling, final consonants are doubled when a suffix is added, e.g., traveller, not traveler, modelled, not modeled, equalled, not equaled.
Canadians follow the British practice of using “ce” endings for certain nouns and “se” endings for the equivalent verb.
License your dog. Carry a driver’s licence.
Practise the piano. Go to football practice.
Generally, Canadians follow the British practice in pretence, offence and defence.
And it's catalogue, not catalog. And of course, zed not zee.
Remember that American spellings are not wrong. They are given in Canadian dictionaries as alternatives, just as British spellings are given in American dictionaries. But let’s not be overruled by a Microsoft spellchecker!
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For a full list of Canadian vs. American and Canadian vs. British spellings, check a Canadian dictionary or style guide. In the meantime, here are four examples:
Centre, not Center, is the Canadian spelling. This is probably the most common and most prominent example of a word often spelled the American way.
Colour, honour, favour, odour, valour, etc, are traditionally Canadian spellings, although many Canadians use the American “or”. Both the Globe and Mail and the Federal government favour “our”
Note that even in British (and Canadian) spelling the “u” is often dropped when a suffix is added. Honorary and honorarium are often misspelled honourary and honourarium. However, honourable is the preferred Canadian spelling.
In Canadian spelling, final consonants are doubled when a suffix is added, e.g., traveller, not traveler, modelled, not modeled, equalled, not equaled.
Canadians follow the British practice of using “ce” endings for certain nouns and “se” endings for the equivalent verb.
License your dog. Carry a driver’s licence.
Practise the piano. Go to football practice.
Generally, Canadians follow the British practice in pretence, offence and defence.
And it's catalogue, not catalog. And of course, zed not zee.
Remember that American spellings are not wrong. They are given in Canadian dictionaries as alternatives, just as British spellings are given in American dictionaries. But let’s not be overruled by a Microsoft spellchecker!
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