My OED spells it with a u. It's a bit old but .... Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network -----Original Message----- From: Karen McElrea <karenmcelrea@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sender: mea-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:13:09 To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Reply-To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mea] Re: "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks I fight for them, too. I just don't think that in one case we should revert to a nineteenth-century spelling because a few people got it wrong on a poll. Subject: [mea] Re: "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx From: bjbecker@xxxxxxx Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 21:01:55 +0000 I am not an American. I'll keep my 'u's ....:-) Barb Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless NetworkFrom: Karen McElrea <karenmcelrea@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sender: mea-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:33:20 -0500To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>ReplyTo: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mea] Re: "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks Mmmmm... yellow jam... And what do they call gophers in those places? I wish I'd seen Katherine's presentation - I'd like to rescind a little of my vitriol, then, knowing she was just outvoted on that one. But geez. And thanks for the vote on the sign, Cheri; I'm hounoured! To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mea] Re: "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks From: cheri.frazer@xxxxxxxxxx Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:08:52 -0500 I wish we could bring Katherine back for another speech. She was fascinating. She talked about how dictionaries used to be prescriptive but then made the move to purely descriptive, capturing what's happening with language as it evolves rather than trying to pin it down. If I remember correctly she didn't like honourary either but was out-voted. One of the funnier parts of her speech had to do with slang for doughnuts! She said there are huge regional variations for the meanings of jam buster, Boston creme, Bismark, jelly doughnut, and others I can't think of. A city somewhere in Ontario refers to a Boston creme as a "yellow jam buster." Oh, the horror. But it's not as bad as some regions of the US that call a turtle a gopher and an elastic band a "gum band". People are goofy. I vote for Ye Olde Honourary Mahatma Gandhi Way! From: Karen McElrea <karenmcelrea@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 2013-08-15 02:50 PM Subject: [mea] Re: "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks Sent by: mea-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx They should have spelled it "honorary," though, I agree - it looks odd! Someone from Belfast writing on a forum on this question says that "the OED mentions that 'honourary' was an alternative spelling in the 18th/19th centuries." So maybe the sign should read "Ye Olde Honourary Mahatma Gandhi Way." Public Works and Government Services Canada's Translation Bureau site states that "In Canada, honour not honor is the preferred spelling for the noun and the verb. Both honorary and honourary are widespread in Canada [really?], although honourary is rarely used in the rest of the world." But the real Canadian authority, Katherine Barber, says on her Wordlady site, "A recent Facebook poll I conducted about the spelling of this word had 39 well-educated Canadians opting for "honourary" versus 22 for 'honorary,' similar to the results we found when we conducted a survey for the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, as a result of which it is possibly the only dictionary of current English to include "honourary" as a spelling variant." So popular vote rules our dictionary. In what field were these people well-educated, exactly? Were the 22 also well-educated? Was such a small sample also the basis for its inclusion in the dictionary? How would this same group of people have answered the same question for "humourously"? To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mea] "Honourary" Mahatma Gandhi Walkway at The Forks From: cheri.frazer@xxxxxxxxxx Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 13:14:13 -0500 An Alert Reader (stole that term from Dave Barry!) has pointed out that the new signs at The Forks spell honorary incorrectly. You can register your concern at 311@xxxxxxxxxxx and/or contact CTV News; their crews were filming the signs today. Where are the Raging Grammarians when you need them?! -C. "PLEASE NOTE: The preceding information may be confidential or privileged. It only should be used or disseminated for the purpose of conducting business with Parker. If you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete the information from your system. Thank you for your cooperation." "PLEASE NOTE: The preceding information may be confidential or privileged. It only should be used or disseminated for the purpose of conducting business with Parker. If you are not an intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete the information from your system. Thank you for your cooperation."