Language Question

Please remember I am western Canadian and it is a 6 hour flight to far eastern Canada where these may have different meanings:

-suspenders are what one uses to hold his pants up instead of a belt
-pants can be trousers or what a dog does after running, or a spankee does during or after a spanking
-fanny generally refers to one's butt, a "fanny-pack" refers to a belt with pockets in it that hangs on top of one's fanny and is used in hiking a lot
-lifts I have heard in reference to elevators but only by visitors up here, usually it means picking up something.

We also have such words as
double double -means coffee with two sugars and two cremes or two milk servings
timbit - refers to the center of a doughnut sold separate from the doughnut
two-four - refers to 24 beer, a long weekend can be a 2-4 weekend in some references

There is lots of slang in both USA and Canada, but my main concern is when I submit stories I am very careful to try and avoid slang as it is commonly only regionally and this Library spans the globe. I have found there is a preference for stories written in American English which I suppose only makes sense as the highest number of people here are from USA.

CS

Does that include using an adjective to modify a verb (different) instead of an adverb (differently)?

You can't please all the people all the time, no matter what you do (or write). I usually call underwear "pants" even though it has a different meaning in the US - hopefully the context will make it clear. And in the UK "paddling" means standing in the sea at Blackpool with your trouser legs rolled up!

I don't think anyone here is seriously bothered about one or the other side of the Atlantic spellings like "favor" versus "favour", except that if the story is based in Britain or in the U.S., say, and direct speech or quotes of written material are incorporated, they should be locally correct - so no "Returning the letter to Lucy, Sir George coughed and said, 'The Prime Minister favors a different solution,' Miss Smart."

Most of us are familiar with the potential misunderstandings over suspenders, pants, knickers, fannies, chips, lifts, subways, liberals, radicals and crisps. It is, of course, possible to have non-linguistically-based misunderstandings over all these things as well. It's generally easy to work out which sense is meant, and if not, the misunderstandings are often worth a good laugh, as when the late Payne Stewart asked fellow-golfers what they thought of his knickers.

One of the best things about this group is the mutual understanding of difference - in linguistic as in other matters. On a LinkedIn group I belong to, there is a lot of sharing across oceans, but I note that whereas the Brits, Germans, Turks, Indians, Chinese, Nigerians, Australians and so on are generally aware that they need to explain local references to places or practices not world-famous ("Bradford, Yorkshire, England" or "Vaisaki, a Sikh religious festival", a lot of the Americans (U.S. version) assume everyone will know what Medicare is or where Athens, Ga is situated.

I have just been reading all these posts for the first time, and I'm sitting here with a big grin. I find that usually an infamiliar word or phrase is pretty easy to figure out from the context of the story. I like learning the ways people express themselves, that are different from me.
We travel, and are always running into differences that can be difficult yet fun. Per se', I only drink seltzer, but there are some places that the waitress will look at me as if I had two heads. Seltzer? OK, club soda, soda water, and PLEASE, Don't put mustard on a hamburger unless I ask for it. lol Its what makes the world go round. I realize this is a bit off subject, lol
These are all the same here. But chips come in a bag, they aren't french fries. And I know in GB that my yard is a garden, even though its not all planted with flowers and veggies.

Well, when I write, I write my characters as I see them... so if slang is appropriate I use it and make the assumption that readers have the brains to work it out for themselves.

There are some 'Americanisms' I struggle with, like fanny, but that is mostly because here the word has a completely different meaning and is very little used. I also struggle with things like I wrote him instead of I wrote to him and I will get instead of please may I have but I am perfectly able to understand these differences, even if I don't quite get the logic behind them

Just be who you are and write what you want to say, not what you think people want to read...

I have to admit that tiptopper does have a point, you do tend to, as he said... use an adjective to modify a verb (different) instead of an adverb (differently). Is this a Canadian thing? I don't know any Canadians to know...

The reason I asked was to find out if Canada used US Or English meanings and it obviously and unsurprisingly uses US meanings.

The equivalent of 'fanny-pack' would mean -'bum-bag' in the UK-it is interesting to imagine what reaction the use of fanny-pack would get over here.

I shall have to find out at the annual cricket club dinner as our beloved treasurer always carries a bum-bag to collect the subs and match-fees!

Actually in England before WW2 Fanny was a common abbreviation of the girls name Frances and was widely prevalent 'oop north'.
My late grandmother who regrettably died before I was born in the 1930s was always called Fanny and indeed Fanny is the name inscribed on her gravestone. Indeed afaik the Gracy Field's song Fanny in our Alley intended no double entendre in its title-Goodness knows what you could make of it nowadays.

Someone who worked in welfare benefits said a regular visitor used to be an old lady called Fanny Whiffin.

Mea culpa Errata
Gracie Field's song was of course "Sally in our Alley", but I think she sang another one with Fanny as the girl's name. I only know of her from my mum.

I do not know if it is just a Canadian thing or perhaps it is just me, I would think it is across western Canada but have never noticed it before.

When my wife and I travel to Mexico during Canadian winters, the nationals there tell us that they understand Canadians a lot easier then Americans (presuming they have never met a Newfoundlander...LOL) as we use English as taught in their textbooks. I have always presumed it was more the Queens english then American, however with the web being like it is today I think that will change over time.