[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia English English

[Ray Saintonge]

Jack & Naree wrote:

>The thing aboot (!) Canada is that there's a steady stream of recent (and 
>educated) British immigrants as with Australia, maintaining the standards.
>I would not be surprised to find Americanisms more a feature of urban 
>working-class Canadians near the US border.
>
Some 80% of the Canadian population lives within 150km of the US 
border.  (That's about 90 miles for you Brits and Yanks that don't 
understand that.)  British and Australian immigrants have not been 
dominant among those who choose to come live in Canada; we see far more 
newcomers from India.  I understand that years of British influence have 
resulted in a peculiar form of hypercorrect English, but I don't see how 
this influx of Raj English will help maintain standards among Disneyfied 
Canadians.  I think that a continued practice of smug linguistic aikido 
will be more effective  Come to think of it, that strategy may work as 
well in cricket as in baseball.

Ec