Spelling Hallowe'en

I asked the webmaster of a great Canadian dictionary site how to spell Halloween/Hallowe'en and whether one was more Canadian. This was his response:

From: Dave VE7CNV
Date: Oct 27, 2007 4:40 AM
Subject: Re: Spelling Hallowe'en
To: Brian Double

Hello,

Thanks for visiting my web site, for telling me how you found it,
and for telling me your location.
I seem to remember spelling it as Hallowe'en too. I found,
however, that Halloween is used in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. and
Hallowe'en is a variant also used in all three countries. The ratio
of Halloween to Hallowe'en use is about 11:1 in Canada, 1432:1 in the
U.S., and 39:1 in the U.K. Therefore, neither spelling is more
Canadian than the other.
As the eve of All Saints' Day, the original was All Hallow Even
(where Even meant evening). The contraction, Hallowe'en, uses an
apostrophe in place of the letter, v, just as with o'er/over, for
example. A further contraction removes the apostrophe to form
Halloween.
Have a happy one, whichever way you end up spelling it.

Dave (VE7CNV)

My site: http://www.luther.ca/~dave7cnv/
"Time, where did you go? Why did you leave me here alone?"
- Chantal Kreviazuk's "Time"
M+14

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm totally getting bashed by a bunch of American's who read this site after we'all looked this up. Thank's for nothing you's all.

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