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exercise book
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:Exercise Book
Non-Canadianism
This is a word that our editors have determined is not a Canadianism.
n. — Quebec, Alberta, especially Education
a notebook.
Several variants refer to a book of lined paper, often used in school. Boberg's NARVS Survey labelled exercise book as a Newfoundland term, which is not borne out by Chart 2. Boberg also notes that it is a minor variant in Quebec (Boberg 2005: 37), apparently reinforced by the French term "cahier d'exercises" (Boberg 2005: 44). As seen in Chart 1, the term is not more frequent in Canada, but has a regional dimension in Quebec and Alberta, and possibly to a more minor degree in British Columbia (see Chart 2). OED-3 documents the term in British English from 1803, which suggests the term as a preservation from the UK. The more widespread term in Canada is, as in the US, notebook, yet in scribbler and copybook other interesting regional variants exist.
Quotations
1893
Art schools - Silver medal for design for exercise book in two colours, Edith M Wrenshall, Kingston; silver medal for design for note book in two colours, Edith M Wrenshall, Kingston.
1916
This sentence which might have come out of a French exercise book, is all Lieut. Commander Courtney Boyle sees fit to tell, and the officer will never understand why one taxpayer at least demands his arrest after the war till he shall have given the full tale.
1926
LOST
An Exercise Book with a Violet Cover, Finder please return to G. Vincent, Educ. '27, or to the bookstore.
1985
Both works are to be found in the early exercise book of the composer and in the case of the Violin Concerto the first modern performance didn't occur until Menuhin took up the score in 1952.
1997
It's all part of a national campaign called Project Love where teachers and students raise money to assemble kits of school supplies which include a pencil, eraser, ruler, exercise book and perhaps a picture or letter.
2007
Smith, Armstrong and Allain spent the morning stuffing 41 new backpacks with chalk, crayons, erasers, exercise books, glue sticks, markers, pencils, rulers and sharpeners sent to Afghanistan by good-hearted Canadians.
2015
For math these third-graders get off easy with one 1/2-inch hardcover binder, 5 page dividers and a white duotang. English makes up for that lapse, however, requiring 5 duotangs - red, green, yellow, blue and orange. And, oh yes, 1 small exercise book that has to be 1/2-plain and 1/2-ruled. There are also required supplies for ethics and something called portfolio but who's counting.
References
- Boberg (2005)
- OED-3
Images
Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 1 Apr. 2014
