Canadians in ADS

[Paul McFedries]

I've been on the list for nearly five years, and I'm a member of the ADS,
but I didn't know that the scope of the ADS was *North* American. I've
contributed to a few Canuck-related threads, but always with a sheepish,
"should-we-be-doing-this?" feeling. I didn't feel unwelcome on the list;
rather, I just thought that non-U.S. threads were off-topic. Now that I know
that the Free Trade Agreement extends to language, as well, I'll be happy to
initiate and contribute to Canadian-lingo topics.

Paul
wordspy.com


----- Original Message -----
From: <AAllan at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 4:00 PM
Subject: Canadians in ADS


> Mention of
> "not quite the ONLY Canadian"
> brings to mind the relative quiescence of Canadian dialect studies within
the
> American Dialect Society in recent years. Our constitution declares that
we
> study "the English language in North America," and in the past we have had
> even a Canadian president (Murray Kinloch) and a Canadian executive
secretary
> (H. Rex Wilson). But there has been only one Canadian on our annual
meeting
> program for the past two years, and not necessarily with Canadian topics.
>   Is it the fault of us who live south of the border? Do Canadians no
longer
> feel welcome in ADS? Or is something else going on?
> - Allan Metcalf
>