If you listen carefully, you just might hear the first stages of a vowel shift in Canadian English, starting (of course) in Toronto. A vowel shift is a change in how, and where, a vowel is enunciated. Vowel shifts are the basis of the old “you say tomayto and I say tomahto” saw. And of…
This piece combines two of my favourite topics: Donald Trump and communication. If you’re a Trump fan, read no further– you won’t like it. Most everyone knows that last year, after some especially egregious tweets, the Donald was banned from Twitter. Now, that’s like telling a spoiled three year old to put away his favourite…
This is a story about an orange Canadian banknote, one of a kind. The summer I graduated high school I went looking for summer work at the then under-construction Mactaquac Dam in New Brunswick. Back in those days, of course, hitch-hiking was not only safe but normal, unless your Daddy was rich, which was not…
My dear old 1976 Case 480CK tractor weighs something in excess of six tons, loader and deadweight included. All of that makes for amazing traction, when all is going well. But when the old dear gets into deep, slimy, wet clay, all that weight can be counterproductive. The slightest miscalculation means that one of the…
My dear old dog Bob was a Baptist, through and through. His little brother Bennie, not so much, but more on that later. Bob the Border Collie was a rescue. I got him when he was around two years old. His puppyhood had not been a happy one. The farmer who rescued him described Bob…
Many people think that Michael is the most Irish of Irish names, but actually, the true Irish name is Mícheál (note the letter reversal). And to be truthful, Michael is actually of Hebrew origin, the name of one of the highest angels, and means either “who is like God?” or “gift from God”. Jews, Christians,…
As Canada approaches its 154th birthday, our country, as a sovereign state, is older than most countries in the world. But we have become like the young adult too comfortable living in the parent’s basement, full of promise, but never launching. Blessed by unfathomably rich resources, with one of the best-trained populations on the planet,…
Cancel culture is out of control, worsening the very problems it purports to denounce. Now, before you cancel me, or mail me an envelope full of ricin, hear me out. Given my generally centrist reputation, my statue should perhaps not be toppled quite yet. And just to be clear, there is a time and a…
Ernst Röhm was a true believer, right to the end. Joining the Nazi Party in 1919, he was one of the first members, even before Adolf Hitler, with whom Röhm was so close that he was one of only two or three allowed to address der Führer as “Adi”. Any fascist movement in its ascendancy…
We are at the early stages of discovering how many unmarked graves are associated with native residential schools in Canada, but there will be thousands. And while some may try to argue that those who ran the schools “meant well”, there is no possible excuse for the anonymous burial of thousands of children, or the…