Hi, Marcia!

We have something else in common: growing up in a US state that borders the Great White North. The Canadians have actually compiled a whole dictionary of words and phrases of distinctly Canadian origin, A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, which claims, among other things, almost the entire vocabulary of hockey. And rightfully so.

In The Story of English, I found the following exposition of that wonderfully versatile Canadian monosyllable, "eh":

"I'm walking down the street, eh? (Like this, see?) I had a few beers en I was feeling priddy good, eh? (You know how it is.) When all of a sudden I saw this big guy, eh? (Ya see.) He musta weighed all of 220 pounds, eh? (Believe me.) I could see him from a long ways off en he was a real big guy, eh? (I'm not fooling.) I'm minding my own business, eh? (You can bet I was.)"

On the same page, Stephen Leacock, a Canadian humorist, is quoted as saying, "In Canada we have enough to do keeping up with the two spoken languages without trying to invent slang, so we just go right ahead and use English for literature, Scottish for sermons and American for conversation."

So, if you want a translator who can translate from English to....English, you'd ask for a Canadian?

Regards--
Mary Anne