O Canada goes gender-neutral

[JessyCeleste]

No need to apologize. Maybe I missed it but I never saw massive protests from the unwashed masses shouting our "our damn national anthem is sexist".

Our government should focus on the important issues in our lives like "allowing men to shower with natural born unaltered adult women".

*HUG* lol Thanks sweetheart. Post by post, I'm liking you more and more. You're funny and sweet lol.

 

[sinc]

Before seeing if anyone called me out for my narrowminded arrogance, Id first like to apologizw and retract part of what I said. My remarks were arrogant, condescending and kinda heartless. Thats not the type of person I am but I do make mistakes. I could just edit it but i think in this case thatd be cowardly of me. I said it and need to own up. People have the right to feel offended without some arrogant girl pompously talking about language. My issue is not with those who are offended by the old lyrics. My plight is only that I feel the government (all parties) sit there discussing matters that dont effect our lives anywhere near as much as other issues they are not discussing do, and then sell it to us to show us what good inclussive politicians they are. So Im sorry for what i said about the english language and i really regret HOW I said it. Im human and make mistakes. I wanted to own up to this one. I am not the type of person to be rude like that. I strive to make the lives of those who cross my path, better...hether in a big or small way...I want to be a positive source, not a negative one. The world can be a cruel cold place at times, I want to make people smile and feel good. Not mock them for having an opinion or for feeling excluded. So heres me giving a self inflicted spanking (yum). I will now read if anyone spanked me too and apologize for being a kakahead. Have a great day everyone and if theres any typo im sorry. Im using my cel and it can be a kakahead too sometimes.

You have just completely won me over!

 

[frisky bsnss]

Regardless of whether or not the change is a good idea, (personally I don't give a damn), I think that the politically correct version is GRAMMATICALLY wrong.

It seems to me that the new version should be:

"In all of our command."

 

[johnhenrygalt]

Regardless of whether or not the change is a good idea, (personally I don't give a damn), I think that the politically correct version is GRAMMATICALLY wrong.

It seems to me that the new version should be:

"In all of our command."

No, absolutely not - you need to learn to parse English sentences:

O Canada, our home and native land;
true patriot love in all our sons command.

The subject is "Canada"; the verb is "command". What does Canada command? "True patriot love" - "love" is the direct object ("true patriot" being qualifiers). Who is being commanded? "all our sons" - this is the indirect object. The current English-language version suggests that "true patriot love" is something that is commanded in "our sons" (by "Canada" of course). The proposed version suggests that "true patriot love" is something that will be commanded "in all of us".

The original English version used the phrase "thou dost in us command" - this was far clearer grammatically as the subject "Canada" was repeated using the 2nd-person personal pronoun "thou".

 

[frisky bsnss]

The subject is "Canada"; the verb is "command". What does Canada command? "True patriot love" - "love" is the direct object ("true patriot" being qualifiers). Who is being commanded? "all our sons" - this is the indirect object. The current English-language version suggests that "true patriot love" is something that is commanded in "our sons" (by "Canada" of course). The proposed version suggests that "true patriot love" is something that will be commanded "in all of us".

What a shame that the amendment wasn't a return to the original version: "thou dost in us command". It is unambiguous, gender neutral, and would have had the legitimacy and charm of returning to a historical version.

The difficulty is that the phrase in the old version, "true patriot love in all thy sons command", can easily sound like "all thy sons" have command of "true patriot love". It's a complicated sentence with subject, direct object, indirect object and verb not being in intuitive order.

In any case, I appreciate your reply and it makes sense to me now.

 

[basketcase]

House votes 225-74 to change one line in 'O Canada' from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command."
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/dying-mp-present-as-house-votes-225-74-to-change-o-canada-1.2947565

Hasn't this been the accepted version for decades? I remember my very white-bread working class school singing it that way (or something similar) in the 80's.

And I get amazed at how crotchety people on this board gets over things like this. Is the average age here 85? Back in my day sonny...!

 

[Conway_Stewart]

Changing the wording is a symbolic gesture...but I believe symbols are important.

The old version reflected the country as it was at the time...things are different now and the anthem should reflect it IMHO.

 

[T.O.tourist]

If they really wanted to be PC, this;
"O Canada, our home and native land"
would be changed to;
"O Canada, our home on native land"

 

[wellhungone]

This is crazy, everyone needs to take a chill pill.

There is nothing wrong with the anthem. The PC's and liberals need to stand up and stop giving into these lunatics.

 

[johnhenrygalt]

The difficulty is that the phrase in the old version, "true patriot love in all thy sons command", can easily sound like "all thy sons" have command of "true patriot love". It's a complicated sentence with subject, direct object, indirect object and verb not being in intuitive order.

Yes, it is a strange construction. I once thought that the anthem suggested that Canada was in the command of its sons. However the telltale sign is that there is no possessive apostrophe on "sons" in the phrase "in all thy sons command".

 

[jcpro]

I always preferred The Maple Leaf Forever. Better lyrics and much better music.

 

[Conway_Stewart]

I always preferred The Maple Leaf Forever. Better lyrics and much better music.

I remember singing God Save the Queen in elementary school.

 

[whollycheeses]

That's great. The next step is to remove reference to god because as an atheist I believe this is discriminating against people like me who don't believe in god. The national anthem should be inclusive to all canadians

Absolutely agree. That "God keep our land" bullshit was added in 1967. It should be removed before any other revisions are made.

 

[huckfinn]

I don't think you can possibly write an anthem so that it does not discriminate. Are you going to change it for the Jewish and Muslim communities too?

I think it needs to be representative of the majority of the population.

 

[Big Sleazy]

This people are complete fucking retards. This is what passes for politics these days. I wish Trudeau would go back to teaching grade 6 drama classes and Wynne would just find a bathroom that best suits her so she can be locked up with a bunch of sex toys and we could throw away the keys.

 

[Smallcock]

It probably cost the tax payer millions for this little project to be initiated and brought to fruition.

 

[Judge_Knoll]

So. Fucking. What.

We are still the same country we were last year.

 

[In A Canoe]

Truthfully, it does not bother me at all that it has been changed.

 

[omegaphallic]

I'm an MRA and even I don't give a fuck, they could turn it into a Country-Gangster Rap-Pooka-New Wave-Yodalling-Classical-Punk fusion and I still wouldn't give a fuck. I care about the things that make this country great, not the symbolize this country, the essence, not the surface.