Selections fromrom the Globeandmail.com Social Studies Section

Words to live by

Canada's official national motto is A Mari Usque ad Mare (From sea to sea). This spring, leaders from Manitoba, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon, noting that the Arctic Ocean has been overlooked, advocated the slogan be changed to read: "From sea to sea to sea." Provincial slogans, too, reflect what's on people's minds:

Newfoundland: Quaerite Prime Regnum Dei (Seek ye first the Kingdom of God)

Prince Edward Island: Parva Sub Ingenti (The small under the protection of the great)

New Brunswick: Spem eduxit (Hope was restored)

Nova Scotia: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit (One defends and the other conquers)

Quebec: Je me souviens (I remember)

Ontario: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Loyal she began, loyal she remains)

Manitoba: Glorious et Liber (Glorious and free)

Saskatchewan: Multis E Gentibus Vires (From many peoples strength)

Alberta: Fortis et Liber (Strong and free)

British Columbia: Splendour Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment)

Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia, news services

Eh, Canada
"One interjection, one sound, one word seems to identify Canadians wherever in the world we travel," writes Bill Casselman in Canadian Words & Sayings. However, it is well over 600 years old, he adds. He quotes the late Canadian lexicographer Walter Avis, who noted that "eh? is a feature Canadians share with Britishers but one which some Americans consider unusual." Americans say huh? more often than eh? contends Mr. Casselman.

Canadian identity
The recently issued New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English defines Canadian as: 1) a Jewish person (U.S.); and 2) a multiple bet (Britain), citing a source that says this bet is also known as a Super Yankee.

Thought du jour
"A Canadian is lost when he asks himself what a Canadian is." -- English essayist V.S. Pritchett

HAPPY 138TH BIRTHDAY CANADA!

Having lived in a few different places around the world has helped me to understand that there's no place like home! And even though I'm deserting the country for the next 3 years, I can't wait to finish school and come back for good! Link