Good heavens, is it Wednesday only? And I still have to think of something entertaining to write for three more days? It’s going to be a long week…
The good news is that tomorrow I’m opening one of my journals from my Junior and Senior years of high school (grades 11 and 12, Canadians!), for all the world to read…but probably only the hundred or so who read this blog will actually see it—far cry from the entire world. As a bonus, on this one day only, I’m not even changing any names! {Okay, so there’s one or two I’ve blotted out, but I am keeping some in their entirety.}
Trust me, this is something you won’t want to miss—I had [er…have?] quite a flair for the dramatic, even back then. I’m fairly certain you won’t be disappointed.
For today, however, I want to dissect Canadian lexicon: specifically the way Southern Albertans communicate done-ness. As in, being done—or finished—with any particular thing.
If I were to announce I was done with work for the day, I would say,”I’m done with work,” or “I’m done working.”
Let’s recap: I’m done with work. I’m done working.
If a born-and-raised Southern Albertan wanted to say he was done with work, he would say, “I’m done work.”
Or, in the same words: I’m done work.
…Is there something missing there? My older sister can tell us all exactly what role the “with” plays in my sentence (adjective, pronoun, blah blah blah can you believe I’m actually going to major in English and I don’t even know the parts of speech?). All I know is, I’m fairly certain the “with” is supposed to be there.
In my little head, this is a black-and-white issue. Telling people that I’m done dinner [Done dinner? What does that mean? Am I done eating dinner? Cooking dinner? Digesting dinner? What?] is as silly as saying “I’m talking phone” or “I’m play piano” or “I chubby bum” or “I Tarzan; you Jane.”
When I first met Poor Kyle, we’d be talking on the phone and he’d announce, “I’m on my way to your house—I’m done work,” I just thought it was a cute little speech impediment he’d gotten from being raised by parents who call the United States “The New-yited States.” But after living in Alberta for only a few months, I realised it wasn’t a Poor Kyle family nuance…I found myself hearing it everywhere:
The waitress at a restaurant asks if I’m done dinner.
The cashier asks if I’m done my shopping. Not if I HAVE done my shopping…if I AM done my shopping.
Oh, you’re done your holiday? How was it?
Hey, Camille, I’m done school, you wanna hang out?
I’m sorry I can’t answer your questions; I’m too distracted trying to make them sound right in my brain.
I’m not making this up.
I took a poll of, oh, five or six Canadians [not in the same family], and they all agreed: Saying they are done WITH something indicates, to them, that they are never going back. They’re done, absolutely. Forever. If they were to say they were done with work, it would be in a fit of rage, and they’d better have a good backup plan, because it means they’re completely done working. It’s final.
I don’t know where this came from, or how Canadian teachers haven’t corrected it, but it is a very real phenomenon.
I’m not crazy, am I? Please, someone tell me I’m right and they’re wrong. Because after typing it incorrectly so many times, it’s sort of starting to look normal to me. So help me if I raise my children to say things like “I’m done hockey practise!”
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