Tim Creery

Parlez-two on the Chemin Canada Road Tim Creery

Canada is a land of many languages, but only two are "official", English and French. This little book is about the highly unofficial language common to both, "Parlez-Two-in-One", or "Parlez-Two" for short, or P2 for shorter. Being an amalgam of the country's two mother tongues, it is entre deux mères. From École de Ski School to rue Rideau Street, to Fin de Construction Ends, and on to the Centenaire de Gravelbourg Centenary, and all the way to numerous Arrêt-Stops and Sortie-Exits, Parlez-Two makes Canada a grammarian's pitfall, if you take language too seriously, as many Canadians do. But others don't, and they will get a kick out of "Parlez-Two on the Chemin CANADA Road". This little book, which the author calls a "tract", gives the lowdown on the unsuccessful campaign of officialdom and grammarians in Québec and in the federal government in Ottawa to douse Parlez-Two. On the other side, the tract cheers on the work of the Régie de P2 Board, which is Canadians' intuitional champion of P2 in overcoming officialdom and doing what comes naturally. Numerous quotations from the chair of the Régie de P2 Board, who is known as the Nobody, serve to bolster the strength of Parlez-Two-in -One. By the end of the book you will know a lot more about how to speak Canadian.