Do Not Speed the Plough* Eh

Yesterday, MaryG wrote plough in her comment, whereas I shamefully revert to the American version – plow. I do think about it – about being a good Canadian I mean – but apparently I am not good enough. Not like MaryG, who is also my grammar guru when I need help.

Once upon a time, I promised to switch from our to or endings in words such as honour. It made sense, but when push came to shove, I couldn't do it, for I did not find it honourable.

So, honour it is, but plough it ain't. While I could occasionally be tempted to write plough, the thought of having to add an ed ending for the past tense is just too much for me to bear. Ploughed? Just no.

This is the difficulty of being a lowly Canadian, caught between our neighborly neighbour (see what I did there?) to the south and our British roots. 

Then there are those problematic er vs. re endings. I do try to keep to re but when spellcheck keeps trying to correct me, I sometimes have to reassure myself by doing a bit of online checking because I get that insecure.

While er endings might make more sense than re, that dadgum Yankee refusal to double consonants is enough to try a Canadian saint's patience. I find that appalling, for I tells ya that appaling should be pronounced aPAYling according to the rules of pronunciation the way that I learned them.

So yeah, I am a pretty true Canadian . . . who also writes plow, for there is has to be an exception to almost every rule.

*Speed the Plough comes from a film that I used to show to some of my classes back in the early 70s about advancements in agriculture. I just thought of it, so I used it although it is only tangentially relevant to this post. 😎

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