Canadian English

Until fairly recently, Canadian English was a severely understudied national variety of English. Reliable sociolinguistic data of a national scope has been especially hard to come by and, until the mid-1990s, was virtually inexistent. The geographical proximity to the American super power is quite unique to Canadian English and contrasts it with other varieties of English, such as Australian, New Zealand, or UK varieties of English. Combined with a relatively low awareness of Canadian English features (a result of the school system), some commentators, especially outsiders, tend to confuse Canadian English with American dialects. Comparisons of degrees of difference are always relative: while a local East Anglian English speaker may confuse a Torontonian for an American, Canadians usually have little difficulty telling the one from the other. The last ten years in particular have produced significant data on a national scale that allows the characterization of the variety more adequately than before.

via Canadian English : Oxford English Dictionary.

Flourishes, Craftsmanship, Dates, History, and Flickr

William Morris was an important figure in my house growing up. Mostly because he was one of my grandmother’s muses (growing up as she did in Southern California surrounded by the work he inspired in the California Craftsmen, e.g. the sublime Gamble House). And we had the best picture books of his works lying around the house. (the fact that he was also a socialist and anarchist as well as a successful aesthetic theoretician and artist helped later)

Which is all apropos of very little except my thinking about why I’m so sympathetic to the design philosophy of what I call “flourishes.” Flourishes, as I think of them, are the elements you add to a design not because they are necessary or straightforward, but because they’re often ha>rd and interesting, and their inclusion speaks of a better world than the one we live in. That’s core to my personal definition of craftsmanship.

Which again is apropos of nearly nothing, except it’s on my mind as I think about this blog post, which is mostly about dates and Flickr. (and to a lesser extent craftsmanship)

via Flourishes, Craftsmanship, Dates, History, and Flickr – Laughing Meme.