I heard someone refer to our Lieutenant Governor as the “Lootenent Governor “the way Americans say it.    I also heard my not quite three-year-old granddaughter singing along with a toy that does the ABC song, you know, the one that ends with Z pronounced Zee.  I couldn’t correct her because the end of the song wouldn’t sound right and, besides, the toy voice sings “Zee”.  It’s obviously made in the States and reminds me of some differences in Canadian English and American English, such as “Sem-eye” as against ‘Sem-ee”, Restroom versus Washroom, Route and Route, Leisure and “Lee-zure”, Soda and Pop although both mean Soda Pop, and thank goodness we all use yards, feet and inches when  talking about football because Canada isn’t exactly 100% Metric.    What about “Kill-AH-metre”?  You don’t hear anyone say Mill-IM-itre or Cen-TIM-itre but almost everyone says Kill-AH-metre.  KILL-o-metre is correct.  Years ago, I used to correct our announcers to get them to say it the right way but then I gave up.  If most people say Kill-AH-metre, who cares?  What’s a lot worse is when names are mispronounced.  They say nothing is sweeter to hear than your name said properly.  Lots of people can’t say Dubois right.  My dad was of Belgian heritage, thus the French last name, which is a simple two syllables, Du, which in English means some, and Bois, which in English means wood.  Victor means winner so I’m the winner of some wood.  I’d prefer some gold. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.