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Never heard of the WhiteSpot - on the very rare occasions as a kid we went to A&W - we were on a farm on the outskirts of a small farming community, and the only place to go was the A&W in a larger community (probably less than 5000 people back then, but it seemed big to me). And the reason we went to A&W was because we were so many kids and it was easier than my parents taking us into a restaurant I assume. Dad got the Papa Burger when he didn't get fish and chips, Mom got the Mama burger and we all got baby burgers. I never thought that was fair. I was sure I could have eaten a Mama sized burger.
No, we never used 'crisps' for chips.
And we wouldn't have had a traditional British dinner because we weren't of English background.
But I was aware of 'tyre' and 'crisps' because I read a lot of British books. We didn't have TV when I was growing up except for the black and white TV my dad would rent for himself during hockey season. Yup, people would rent TVs in those days. You had to wiggle around a lot with the antenna to get CBC. We only got three channels. Yes, we were allowed to watch when hockey wasn't on, but that wasn't the reason Dad rented a TV. Dad would have bought a TV but my mother wanted us to play outside. Hockey wasn't a battle she could win with Dad, so the compromise was a TV rented during the winter months. After the play-offs, back it went. In retrospect, I'm glad of that.
Nope, we never got a fresh orange at school or a copper penny. Looks like you got the fun part, BruSan.
I remember there used to be a TV rental company called Granada or something...
I guess they must have existed where I went as well, but I can't remember them for some reason. I also can't remember anyone getting penalized (penalised?) or corrected for using one type of spelling or the other.
You are right.
At Canadian universities, you are often required to use American spelling when writing peer-reviewed articles since most of them go to American Journals.
I remember there used to be a TV rental company called Granada or something...
I think they also rented out the first rotating antenna head equipment that sat on top of the TV. Most purchased that stuff but it could also be rented and installed by their tech's. Every time you changed a channel the round dial on the front of the box would show a light travelling around it's circumference to align with a point of the compass as the antenna head rotated .
Never heard of the WhiteSpot - on the very rare occasions as a kid we went to A&W - we were on a farm on the outskirts of a small farming community, and the only place to go was the A&W in a larger community (probably less than 5000 people back then, but it seemed big to me). And the reason we went to A&W was because we were so many kids and it was easier than my parents taking us into a restaurant I assume. Dad got the Papa Burger when he didn't get fish and chips, Mom got the Mama burger and we all got baby burgers. I never thought that was fair. I was sure I could have eaten a Mama sized burger.
No, we never used 'crisps' for chips.
And we wouldn't have had a traditional British dinner because we weren't of English background.
But I was aware of 'tyre' and 'crisps' because I read a lot of British books. We didn't have TV when I was growing up except for the black and white TV my dad would rent for himself during hockey season. Yup, people would rent TVs in those days. You had to wiggle around a lot with the antenna to get CBC. We only got three channels. Yes, we were allowed to watch when hockey wasn't on, but that wasn't the reason Dad rented a TV. Dad would have bought a TV but my mother wanted us to play outside. Hockey wasn't a battle she could win with Dad, so the compromise was a TV rented during the winter months. After the play-offs, back it went. In retrospect, I'm glad of that.
Nope, we never got a fresh orange at school or a copper penny. Looks like you got the fun part, BruSan.
Haar, I remember all those A&W burger names. WhiteSpot was a company on the west coast, it was the place to go in Victoria. I don't know if they're even still in business.
Your parents showed remarkable foresight considering what the future held vis-Ã -vis TV and it's early influence on kids. My next door young couple with two toddlers under the age of 7 allow them only 1 hour of TV per day which I think is equally as remarkable given todays tendency for a modern couple both working to resort to a TV to provide occupation of tykes while parents unwind from a day of working.
I think as regards our emulating the U.S. via television, we probably were marching in lockstep from it's advent.
Haar, I remember all those A&W burger names. WhiteSpot was a company on the west coast, it was the place to go in Victoria. I don't know if they're even still in business.
Your parents showed remarkable foresight considering what the future held vis-Ã -vis TV and it's early influence on kids. My next door young couple with two toddlers under the age of 7 allow them only 1 hour of TV per day which I think is equally as remarkable given todays tendency for a modern couple both working to resort to a TV to provide occupation of tykes while parents unwind from a day of working.
I think as regards our emulating the U.S. via television, we probably were marching in lockstep from it's advent.
Whitespot is huge on the West Coast today. They've been able to afford to go somewhat upscale to. They've got more fastfood style outlets called Tripe O's and a sitdown family dining format still called Whitespot.
We did here and I'm 52. I remember when TV anchors started 'mispronouncing' (so I thought) words like schedule. It seemed to come out of the blue without any explanation (that I was aware of, since I must have been in my late teens at the time), like when they started saying 'Beijing' instead of 'Peking.' An explanation would have been nice.
I say shed-ule. I say holiday. As a kid we had chips with vinegar. I don't recall hearing 'whilst' though.
I'm 55 and my experience is the same as your. Whilst? No, chips, holiday, shed-ule, peckish etc were very common here in B.C.
I notice that not every Canadian who posts on these threads use Canadian spelling.
Do you get points deducted in school for using American spelling in writing assignments?
It's people who have the spell-check set to United States. You don't get a option usually for Canadian, so I choose British since I find it easier. Color etc just seem odd to me. My spellcheck just highlighted the US spelling as incorrect
I don't know if today teachers correct or explain the spelling differences. I don't ever remember using a US spelling in school, so I don't know if I would of been corrected or not.
My parents are primarily of French-Canadian background, although somehow my last name is Smith. I gotta look more in to that. My mom's side for sure, and My dad has taken me to relatives who live in Montreal, where he claims to be from...
But I'm pretty sure myself and all of my peers will spell things in the more British way:
Centre
Colour
Through...but is 'thru' a real word?
Armour
Behaviour
Favour
Do you think that changes the further West you go maybe? Also, why is Victoria so English when it's as far away as can be to their starting point and roots?
BUT, when you drove through the WhiteSpot or A&W and ordered over the little speaker thingy, I'd bet the farm you ordered burger with fries!
"Fish and chips" is decidedly an English term with the added hold-over of it probably being handed to you wrapped in newspaper, in the fifties and early sixties.
Just as quite probably, a Sunday roast beef dinner in Canada back then would have included "Yorkshire pudding" with a "Trifle" for desert with younger kids being limited to one serving due to the sherry or other liqueur hiding in the bottom layer.
The oxymoronic stuff comes in when Canadians making the transition from British to N. Americanism's would then order a plate of EITHER fries and gravy or chips and gravy and a cherry coke with the order never getting screwed up. We're a complicated lot.
I do not recall ever using the term "crisps" to define bagged potatoe chips or any other snack.
Soda was also a word foreign to my gen with us never referring to a "pop" or "soft drink" as a soda and also never referring to any place offering milkshakes or ice-cream along with a root beer a Soda Fountain. Those were more commonly set up in the front of many local dairies than a stand alone business. As kids we'd simply say "let's go to the Dairy (or whatever proper name the dairy used) for a shake and fries" as an eg.
Anybody remember occasionally being given a fresh orange at school? How about the huge copper penny upon passing a grade? I still have some of those.
As far I know White Spot didn't have drive-thru's, but car service. The tray went across the car, not hitched outside of the winder like at A&W. In fact some locations still have it. If you're looking for a job LOL they are accepting applications.
I am racking my brain trying to remember if they had fries or chips on their old menus. Today they use fries.
I'm guessing as a kid we didn't really look at the menu, but just told our parents " I want a cheeseburger and chips ". I didn't start using the term fries, again I'm guessing, but sometime after 1967 when McDonald's arrived in the lower mainland.
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Looks like you got the fun part, BruSan.
