{"id":195323958,"date":"2026-06-05T15:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianspelling.com\/oldsite\/?p=195323958"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:17:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T19:17:39","slug":"its-zed-not-zee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianspelling.com\/oldsite\/2026\/its-zed-not-zee\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s Zed Not Zee"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Can you believe the Canadian style guide, the government of Canada resource for correct writing style in Canada, has not been updated since 1997!\u00a0 You can download it as a PDF file from the link below, but, its a little outdated. Some language, spelling, and grammar have changed. New words have been added, others slipped away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Government of Canada – The Canadian style : a guide to writing and editing.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Canada has style guides and guides to writing markets, all outdated now. Why? People in Canada still write. I keep wondering why all the style guides have been neglected. Why isn’t any one writer or publisher or our own government keeping a Canadian writing style guide actively updated and available?<\/span><\/p>\n

Once upon a time the Canadian Author’s Association<\/a> had a writer’s guide – The Canadian Writer’s Guide<\/a> – An official handbook from 1976. I went to the current website to see if there is anything updated from writers\/authors of the association. Nothing I could find. But, they will be happy for your paid membership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most up to date I can find is:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Canadian Writer’s Handbook: Third Essentials Edition Paperback \u2013 2022<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Quoted from About the Author on the Amazon page:<\/span><\/p>\n

William E. Messenger and Jan de Bruyn (both now deceased), both professors emeriti of the University of British Columbia, produced the first edition of The Canadian Writer’s Handbook (main volume) in 1980. Judy Brown (now deceased) joined the project as an editorial consultant on the third edition; she was senior instructor and associate head in the English department at UBC.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All deceased so they aren’t going to be making updates. But, I wonder how Canadian the book was. The resources used are: MLA, APA, Chicago, CSE, and IEEE styles. Not the Canadian Press or any Canadian newspaper or publisher. So even if some intrepid character did want to create an updated version of the Canadian Writer Style Guide online… they would be undertaking a pretty huge project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that I’ve looked all this up and written more than I had planned… does anyone really care? I guess I do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

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Please help me support my fondness for groceries, bill paying, and the occasional new print book.<\/p>\n