Oh dear...I can feel another ancient, politically incorrect joke coming on.
"See that person? She/he must be Scottish!"
"How do you know?"
"It's the way he/she rolls his/her r's".
But you don't normally teach French to English speakers by just standing in front of the room jabbering in French and hoping they figure out what's going on.
Yes, you do. This is called "French immersion" and is extremely popular here. Literally half the schools in my neighbourhood are French immersion! They are exactly as you describe: take a bunch of children, many of whom don't know a word of French, and jabber at them in French for all their subjects.
It's why it's called immersion: the students are thrown in at the deep end in what is for some an unfamiliar language.
Having your child attend French immersion school is considered to be a route to potential government employment, as many jobs with the provincial and federal governments require the employee to be bilingual.
(Tangent: AIUI native speakers of Quebecois French consider the accent of French immersion students to be flat and robotic, including that of the famous French immersion student Justin Trudeau. )
I'm well aware. I said normally. There's a school here in Canberra that does some of this.
But ALL their subjects? Seriously?
And do the children get in trouble for speaking English?
The idea that "half the schools in your neighbourhood" insist on teaching a bunch of non-French speaking children entirely in French sounds deeply skewed. Or maybe you actually live in a bilingual neighbourhood? Saying that half the schools in your neighbourhood are French-speaking is completely different to saying that half the schools in an English-speaking place provide no curriculum in English. The latter is frankly nuts. That's not creating bilingual kids, that's creating kids who aren't EVER learning in their own language. They'll end up being academically learned in French and deficient in English.
Most Canadian provinces have been doing it this way for 20 years. I don't know of any research into whether it has a negative impact on kids' English learning, but my anecdotal evidence as a teacher and parent is that it doesn't hurt them. The way it's normally done here is that English-speaking kids whose parents enrol them in Early French Immersion have all their schoolwork in French only from Kindergarten to grade 6 (so up till they are 11-12 years old). I think at some point in elementary they do start doing an English language-arts class (reading and writing in English) but not in the very early years. Speaking in English is not punished but is certainly discouraged (though kids obviously still do speak English on the playground, etc).
Then in Grade 7 (age 12) they start introducing some core subjects in English (Math and Science) until, when they get to high school, all their subjects are in English except for the actual French course and one other course per year (their choice; most students choose a social studies course in French).
I don't know if it really produces fluent, competent French speakers. I haven't seen any evidence that it hurts kids' English skills. It's very popular in English Canada, and I have no trouble believing that half the school kids in a given neighbourhood are doing French immersion. My biggest issue with it is that (in my province at least, can't speak for others) it is a HUGE class divider -- people put their kids in FI based on whether they are middle-class or not, and that creates all kinds of issues, particularly turning schools that don't offer FI into more poorly resourced "ghettos" of children from low-income families with more learning disabilities, etc. I could get very soapboxy on this topic but this is not the place -- just chiming in to say that total French Immersion in the early grades is extremely common in English Canada.
Okay. I find the idea that huge swathes of people explicitly want their children to not be taught in their own language throughout their primary schooling kind of hilarious. I mean, I can completely understand in Canada why you would want your child to know both languages. But actively deciding your child's whole education should be in a 2nd language. Okay then...
I also can't help wondering if part of the reason it's a class thing is because only parents who have a hope in hell of assisting with homework want to do this.
@orfeo this is a thing elsewhere as well. Welsh medium education is very popular and sought out even by some monoglot English speaking parents in Wales.
We do it here, too. My town has a high proportion on Filipino families. Many children have no English when they arrive - we have no Tagalog teachers, or even speakers on staff, so essentially, these kids have to learn in a second language from immersion. They seem to do ok after a couple of years. A lot of the kids help each other.
Bilingual education works very well in Canada, and there's solid evidence to show that the children exposed to it at an early age become more agile learners. I don't think it's restricted to any particular social class. A great benefit is that bilingual people have a much broader job market open to them in business and in government. I've been envious of our children on that account for a long time. French was my best subject in school in the UK, but I have still never achieved the ability to speak it on the street like our children. I'll concede that Québec French isn't the French we learned in school - I don't think my ear will ever be tuned to it.
The girls of the Chalet School were all trilingual. Mondays and Thursdays only French allowed, Tuesdays and Thursdays German, and Wednesdays and Saturdays English. On Sundays you could speak what you liked.
Learning on the street as a kid is ideal, before puberty at any rate. After that, more difficult. Learning in class will not be as good, usually. Chomsky's adage was that young kids don't learn a language, they acquire it, since brains have plasticity, up to puberty.
A couple of the kids at church are in a Spanish immersion program in public school here. They're nothing like fluent, but do write serviceable essays in Spanish (according to our native Spanish speakers).
To be fair to those west of the Pond we did have school yard rhymes where it had a short 'a' sound like the US 'ass' and most of us would know that whether an American was referring to a donkey or to buttocks if we heard them using the term.
The US term 'butt' for buttocks has grown in popularity over here in recent years. I don't remember hearing it much until about 10 or so years ago. It tends to be a milder term than 'arse' which itself seems to be a lot less offensive than it when I was growing up.
I'd die in a ditch to retain 'arse.' I mean, you can't imagine our dear Queen saying 'ass' can you?
A previous choir leader at my then-church in the US was trying to get the choir to put a long 'a' sound in the word "ass" in some Christmas hymn about an ox and an ass being twee together, because she didn't want the choir to say "ass".
We had to gently explain that having the choir sing about the ox and the arse wasn't an improvement.
What I meant was that I couldn't imagine her using either version. GG mentioned he couldn't imagine her saying "ass". I can't imagine her saying anything as impolite as those words for that body part.
What I meant was that I couldn't imagine her using either version. GG mentioned he couldn't imagine her saying "ass". I can't imagine her saying anything as impolite as those words for that body part.
Well, the Duke of Edinburgh has been known to use some choice phrases.
Besides, there is royal precedent. When James VI of Scotland / James I of England, was told that his subjects were becoming disgruntled that he wasn't appearing publicly very often, he replied, 'What? Would you have me drop down my breeches and show them my arse?'
Also, don't you think that a winking emoticon after my observation might just indicate that I'm being less than entirely serious?
I'm curious. Americans are notoriously monolingual unless they come from bilingual families. How did those of you who come from an English speaking families but are bi- to multilingual acquire your skills? And how do you keep them over the years?
My mother particularly thought it important to retain languages, so she made sure we had some ability. But I speak nothing but English fluently because mostly there's seldom someone to talk to in anything but English. I find composing sentences correctly often a challenge, and because I know I'm not right, so hesitate.
Foreign language required in High School. Took one year of French and seldom used the little I knew ever again. Although every few years I meet someone who speaks French and I use the wee bit I know. I am surprised what I do remember as the conversation moves on. I can also order of the menu in a French restaurant. Does that count? Later in life and a move to California means I have picked up a limited amount of Spanish. I have used it when doing bi-lingual worship services In other words I can pray and order a meal in Spanish. I also know a very tiny bit of German from grandfather whose grandparents were German so he would sprinkle a few German words in his conversation. The funny thing is he lived in the south and when as a child I heard him using German words and expressions I though he was speaking southern.
I'm curious. Americans are notoriously monolingual unless they come from bilingual families. How did those of you who come from an English speaking families but are bi- to multilingual acquire your skills? And how do you keep them over the years?
I went to school (yes, Captain Obvious here) and then used them at work.
Are Americans any more 'notoriously monolingual' than the British, Australians, Canadians, Jamaicans and other West Indians or New Zealanders?
Most Anglophone countries are notoriously bad at learning other people's languages.
The exceptions would be India, former African colonies and some of the Pacific Islands that were once pink on the map. White South Africans I've met tend to speak both English and Afrikaans - or at least understand some Afrikaans if they are of British heritage - and if they are black often speak both those languages as well as indigenous ones.
What I meant was that I couldn't imagine her using either version. GG mentioned he couldn't imagine her saying "ass". I can't imagine her saying anything as impolite as those words for that body part.
@Golden Key I don't find it at all difficult to imagine HMQ using the word 'ass' to refer either to a donkey or an asinine person. It doesn't have an association here with one's backside that it has in the US, and particularly not to someone of her generation who probably doesn't watch American comedy programmes on television.
I'm curious. Americans are notoriously monolingual unless they come from bilingual families. How did those of you who come from an English speaking families but are bi- to multilingual acquire your skills? And how do you keep them over the years?
Well, Swedish au pairs meant my siblings and I got a little useful language. Then school started me on French and Latin at 7; classical Greek was added at my senior school. Backpacking in the 1970s added a few useful bits and pieces in Arabic, and then I shared a house with a load of Iranians and Afghans before moving to Hong Kong for a couple of years.
I wouldn't describe myself as multi-lingual, but I endeavour to be able to "meet and greet" if I'm going to be anywhere for a period of more than a couple of weeks. BUT of course, being a Brit I'm never really comfortable trying to speak a foreign language.
As they say in Bucharest, Nadyavam se, che pomaga (I hope that helps).
Are Americans any more 'notoriously monolingual' than the British, Australians, Canadians, Jamaicans and other West Indians or New Zealanders?
Most Anglophone countries are notoriously bad at learning other people's languages.
The exceptions would be India, former African colonies and some of the Pacific Islands that were once pink on the map. White South Africans I've met tend to speak both English and Afrikaans - or at least understand some Afrikaans if they are of British heritage - and if they are black often speak both those languages as well as indigenous ones.
What I meant was that I couldn't imagine her using either version. GG mentioned he couldn't imagine her saying "ass". I can't imagine her saying anything as impolite as those words for that body part.
Well, the Duke of Edinburgh has been known to use some choice phrases.
Besides, there is royal precedent. When James VI of Scotland / James I of England, was told that his subjects were becoming disgruntled that he wasn't appearing publicly very often, he replied, 'What? Would you have me drop down my breeches and show them my arse?'
Also, don't you think that a winking emoticon after my observation might just indicate that I'm being less than entirely serious?
Ummm...I'm not sure why this has become a big deal. Yes, you said something funny about the queen. And I simply said I couldn't imagine her saying "arse" or "ass". Doesn't fit what I've seen of her public image over the years.
Maybe she uses a lot of rude language in private. We just don't get the pleasure of hearing it.
Thanks for the answers. . As a SoCal native, I am pretty embarrassed that I have so little Spanish. Maybe that is something I might tackle while being housebound. One of my roommates came from Central America originally so I would have someone to practice with.
Spanish in high school; German and Greek in College; Hebrew in Seminary. Now that I am having more time on my hands I think I may take a refresher course in German. I also learned American Sign Language while in college and Seminary.
My son took Japanese in High School. He also has Greek under his belt. He picked up Arabic while he was immersed in Palestine for a year.
I had a friend who hated foreign languages when he was in high school but then joined the Marines. Turns out the military aptitude test indicated he could easily pick up languages. He learned Vietnamese, Chinese, French, Tagalog, and Arabic.
@Golden Key the point I'm trying to get across is that 'ass' is not a rude word over here. There will be some awareness among younger adults that it's the way over where you are that people pronounce 'arse' but it's primary meaning is a grey quadruped with long ears and rather a strident call, from which it is also a derogatory word to describe a stupid or stubborn person.
If a UKian calls you an 'ass' that's what they mean. If they want to call you an 'arse' or an 'arsehole', both of which are also derogatory but with a stronger and slightly different shade of meaning from 'ass', that is what they will call you. It has a long 'a'.
I have a reasonable 'get me out of trouble' grasp of French and a 'make understood with help of gestures' facility in Italian. Generally my problem is understanding what people say back - even if it's actually all words I know I only make out about half of them and struggle to make sense of that half. Particularly so in Welsh, where my speaking is fine but pointless because I can't make sense of the reply.
Spanish is odd. I've never learnt any but can read it for gist and I know what subject someone's talking about, even if I don't know what they're saying about it. I put that down to Latin; as far as I can tell Spanish is Latin with the hard bits taken out and some regular sound changes.
What I meant was that I couldn't imagine her using either version. GG mentioned he couldn't imagine her saying "ass". I can't imagine her saying anything as impolite as those words for that body part.
@Golden Key I don't find it at all difficult to imagine HMQ using the word 'ass' to refer either to a donkey or an asinine person. It doesn't have an association here with one's backside that it has in the US, and particularly not to someone of her generation who probably doesn't watch American comedy programmes on television.
If she's like her grandson she won't have watched Fresh Prince.
@Golden Key the point I'm trying to get across is that 'ass' is not a rude word over here. There will be some awareness among younger adults that it's the way over where you are that people pronounce 'arse' . . . .
It’s not how we pronounce “arse.” We pronounce “arse” the same way UKians do when we say “arse,” which isn’t very often. It’s the word we use instead of “arse.”
We rarely use “ass” to mean a donkey—that usage is mainly confined to Christmas carols, at which children will snicker. And if we call someone an ass, we mean more than that they are stupid or stubborn.
Canadians are definitely not notoriously monolingual. As noted above, about 20% speak a first language other than French or English, and the vast majority of those have (or quickly develop) a working knowledge of either French or English, depending on where they live. Of the remainer, about a quarter are French speakers with a good working knowledge of English, perhaps another quarter are English speakers with a good working knowledge of French, and the rest (the category into which I fall) are English speakers with vestiges of French remembered from school or picked up from bilingual packaging. Most of us can pick out the odd word when the Prime Minister speaks in French before the translator kicks in, or can read road signs and ingredients in French, but can't carry on more than a halting conversation, if that.
The official bilingualness leads to some fun misunderstandings and misreadings. When I was growing up there was a popular packaged sort of sweet cake called "1/2 Moon." The package actually read "1/2 Lune Moon," with both the French and English words for moon being the same size, so everyone I knew called them Lune Moons and we were fully into adulthood before we knew different. The same company produced another chocolate packaged treat that many of us grew up calling a "Billot Log" for the same reason. And of course lots of Canadians refer to strong cheddar as what it's called on the package: "Old Fort" Cheese.
Canadians are definitely not notoriously monolingual. As noted above, about 20% speak a first language other than French or English, and the vast majority of those have (or quickly develop) a working knowledge of either French or English, depending on where they live. Of the remainer, about a quarter are French speakers with a good working knowledge of English, perhaps another quarter are English speakers with a good working knowledge of French, and the rest (the category into which I fall) are English speakers with vestiges of French remembered from school or picked up from bilingual packaging. Most of us can pick out the odd word when the Prime Minister speaks in French before the translator kicks in, or can read road signs and ingredients in French, but can't carry on more than a halting conversation, if that.
The official bilingualness leads to some fun misunderstandings and misreadings. When I was growing up there was a popular packaged sort of sweet cake called "1/2 Moon." The package actually read "1/2 Lune Moon," with both the French and English words for moon being the same size, so everyone I knew called them Lune Moons and we were fully into adulthood before we knew different. The same company produced another chocolate packaged treat that many of us grew up calling a "Billot Log" for the same reason. And of course lots of Canadians refer to strong cheddar as what it's called on the package: "Old Fort" Cheese.
That is fun isn't it. People actually do it when they know. Jeux Canada Games. Vélo Canada Bikes. Sante Canada Health. Which leads me to that many of us can probably watch hockey and understand the play by play. When someone does something stupid, we used to call the person in butchered and incorrect French "le premiere jeu-ay de la match de ce soir, il a une Molson's!" (the first star of tonight's game, give him a beer" (Molson Canadian is a beer brand)).
I think he's saying that we *don't* say "arse" in the US, except occasionally when putting on British slang for fun. And that's probably inspired by British TV or a movie.
For the U.S. in general, the figure is closer to 20%, though about 26% of Americans can conduct a conversation in more than one language. In Canada, 35% of the population is bilingual, and 56% of Europeans speak at least two languages fluently. For the world at large, the figure is over 50%
I think he's saying that we *don't* say "arse" in the US, except occasionally when putting on British slang for fun. And that's probably inspired by British TV or a movie.
Which is all true.
Right. But if we do say it, we pronounce it “arse.”
And that we generally don’t use “ass” in the senses that UKians do, except when it shows up in the odd Christmas carol or scripture reading (“a donkey, a foal of an ass”).
But, Nick Tamen, why say 'Ass' when you mean 'Arse' ifas someone upthread said, it's not a bowdlerisation?
I said it upthread. And the reason we say "Ass" instead of "Arse" is because "Arse" is simply not a word in American English. (It is an imported word, and will doubtless be recognized by most people as such, and they'll probably get the meaning as well; but it isn't Americanized yet, if it ever becomes so, and I'm saying that on the grounds that in my (rather large) experience it never appears in conversations or writings produced by and for Americans only.
tl;dr "Arse" is simply not available as a rhetorical option in American English at this time; its range is covered by terms including "ass" and "butt" and the various compounds thereof (e.g. asshole, butthead, and so forth).
I learned French at school (as most Brits do). I can mostly understand French, as long as they don't stray too far into slang and colloquialisms, but my grammar is appalling. A few years ago, I worked with a French group, and we found that the best way we could communicate was if they spoke French and I spoke English - each understood enough of the other language to get by like that. I speak German at the tourist-asking-for-directions level (school again), and did once enjoy being the first person able to direct a lost German-speaker on the streets of Geneva. And I've picked up a handful of words in a handful of other languages (I can do "hello", "please" and "thank you" in pretty much anywhere I've ever been.) Plus Latin, of course - mine is rather rusty.
Ok. I get that 'arse' isn't in the US lexicon but surely the word 'ass' in the US sense must derive from 'arse' originally?
It can't surely have sprung magically into existence as the ink was drying on the Declaration of Independence.
Go check the OED. (I can't because I'm supposed to be working, Bad Lamb.) But it's just as likely that "ass" is a survival of an older form preserved in America and changed in the UK.
Thanks for the information on Canadian multilingualism. Apologies for underestimating how polyglot it is. I am, of course aware, of the Francophone areas and I did know that there are large Asian and other migrant communities.
There's an embarrassing level of ignorance about Canada among many British people. We really don't know much about it other than the Calgary Stampede and that they play Ice Hockey over there. I did see something about Saskatoon on Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys but I only watched it because NoProfit lives there and I wanted to see what it looked like. Interesting place by the looks.
Ok. I get that 'arse' isn't in the US lexicon but surely the word 'ass' in the US sense must derive from 'arse' originally?
Sure, they’re variants of the same word, with spellings that reflect dialectical differences in pronunciation, much like “burst” and “bust,” or “curse” and “cuss.”
@Nick Tamen that's interesting. In BreEnglish 'burst' and 'bust' aren't the same part of speech and don't have the same meaning. 'Burst' is usually a verb but can be a noun. It can also be used as an adjective, but is a participle. 'Bust' is normally an adjective. When it's a noun, it means something completely different and I don't think the two meanings are related. I've never thought that 'burst' and 'bust' might both derive from the same root.
I get that, Nick. To clarify, I didn't take Lamb Chopped to be saying that 'ass' was a bowldlerised version of 'arse.'
But it is a variation on 'arse.'
That doesn't mean that the older term is 'better' of course.
On the 'burst' / 'bust' thing - I'd need to check but I suspect they do have the same root. That's partly down to the following phrase used in North Staffordshire as an exemplar of that area's dialect:
'Kick a bo' aggen a wo' an' yed it till it bosts.'
In standard English, 'Kick a ball against a wall and head it till it bursts.'
The phrase 'bust a gut' meaning to exert oneself literally means 'burst an intestine.'
So I'd lay odds on 'burst' and 'bust' sharing a common root just as 'curse' and 'cuss' do and 'arse' and 'ass'.
Comments
"See that person? She/he must be Scottish!"
"How do you know?"
"It's the way he/she rolls his/her r's".
Yes, that's another way of putting it.
Okay. I find the idea that huge swathes of people explicitly want their children to not be taught in their own language throughout their primary schooling kind of hilarious. I mean, I can completely understand in Canada why you would want your child to know both languages. But actively deciding your child's whole education should be in a 2nd language. Okay then...
I also can't help wondering if part of the reason it's a class thing is because only parents who have a hope in hell of assisting with homework want to do this.
I often wondered if such a system would work.
To be fair to those west of the Pond we did have school yard rhymes where it had a short 'a' sound like the US 'ass' and most of us would know that whether an American was referring to a donkey or to buttocks if we heard them using the term.
The US term 'butt' for buttocks has grown in popularity over here in recent years. I don't remember hearing it much until about 10 or so years ago. It tends to be a milder term than 'arse' which itself seems to be a lot less offensive than it when I was growing up.
I'd die in a ditch to retain 'arse.' I mean, you can't imagine our dear Queen saying 'ass' can you?
A previous choir leader at my then-church in the US was trying to get the choir to put a long 'a' sound in the word "ass" in some Christmas hymn about an ox and an ass being twee together, because she didn't want the choir to say "ass".
We had to gently explain that having the choir sing about the ox and the arse wasn't an improvement.
David always used to encourage his choirs to "roll your Rs, and don't just leave it to Piglet".
Especially that bit in the Psalms about a "rrramping and a rrroaring lion" - he actually wrote it out like that in his psalm chant sheet music!
Well, the Duke of Edinburgh has been known to use some choice phrases.
Besides, there is royal precedent. When James VI of Scotland / James I of England, was told that his subjects were becoming disgruntled that he wasn't appearing publicly very often, he replied, 'What? Would you have me drop down my breeches and show them my arse?'
Also, don't you think that a winking emoticon after my observation might just indicate that I'm being less than entirely serious?
I went to school (yes, Captain Obvious here) and then used them at work.
Most Anglophone countries are notoriously bad at learning other people's languages.
The exceptions would be India, former African colonies and some of the Pacific Islands that were once pink on the map. White South Africans I've met tend to speak both English and Afrikaans - or at least understand some Afrikaans if they are of British heritage - and if they are black often speak both those languages as well as indigenous ones.
Well, Swedish au pairs meant my siblings and I got a little useful language. Then school started me on French and Latin at 7; classical Greek was added at my senior school. Backpacking in the 1970s added a few useful bits and pieces in Arabic, and then I shared a house with a load of Iranians and Afghans before moving to Hong Kong for a couple of years.
I wouldn't describe myself as multi-lingual, but I endeavour to be able to "meet and greet" if I'm going to be anywhere for a period of more than a couple of weeks. BUT of course, being a Brit I'm never really comfortable trying to speak a foreign language.
As they say in Bucharest, Nadyavam se, che pomaga (I hope that helps).
20% speak something other than French or English at home. Which corresponds to the percent of us who are immigrants.
Ummm...I'm not sure why this has become a big deal. Yes, you said something funny about the queen. And I simply said I couldn't imagine her saying "arse" or "ass".
Maybe she uses a lot of rude language in private.
{curtsy]
My son took Japanese in High School. He also has Greek under his belt. He picked up Arabic while he was immersed in Palestine for a year.
I had a friend who hated foreign languages when he was in high school but then joined the Marines. Turns out the military aptitude test indicated he could easily pick up languages. He learned Vietnamese, Chinese, French, Tagalog, and Arabic.
If a UKian calls you an 'ass' that's what they mean. If they want to call you an 'arse' or an 'arsehole', both of which are also derogatory but with a stronger and slightly different shade of meaning from 'ass', that is what they will call you. It has a long 'a'.
Spanish is odd. I've never learnt any but can read it for gist and I know what subject someone's talking about, even if I don't know what they're saying about it. I put that down to Latin; as far as I can tell Spanish is Latin with the hard bits taken out and some regular sound changes.
If she's like her grandson she won't have watched Fresh Prince.
We rarely use “ass” to mean a donkey—that usage is mainly confined to Christmas carols, at which children will snicker. And if we call someone an ass, we mean more than that they are stupid or stubborn.
The official bilingualness leads to some fun misunderstandings and misreadings. When I was growing up there was a popular packaged sort of sweet cake called "1/2 Moon." The package actually read "1/2 Lune Moon," with both the French and English words for moon being the same size, so everyone I knew called them Lune Moons and we were fully into adulthood before we knew different. The same company produced another chocolate packaged treat that many of us grew up calling a "Billot Log" for the same reason. And of course lots of Canadians refer to strong cheddar as what it's called on the package: "Old Fort" Cheese.
That is fun isn't it. People actually do it when they know. Jeux Canada Games. Vélo Canada Bikes. Sante Canada Health. Which leads me to that many of us can probably watch hockey and understand the play by play. When someone does something stupid, we used to call the person in butchered and incorrect French "le premiere jeu-ay de la match de ce soir, il a une Molson's!" (the first star of tonight's game, give him a beer" (Molson Canadian is a beer brand)).
Which is all true.
https://www.puertoricoreport.com/bilingual-america/#.XqmsHGhKiWs
And that we generally don’t use “ass” in the senses that UKians do, except when it shows up in the odd Christmas carol or scripture reading (“a donkey, a foal of an ass”).
I said it upthread. And the reason we say "Ass" instead of "Arse" is because "Arse" is simply not a word in American English. (It is an imported word, and will doubtless be recognized by most people as such, and they'll probably get the meaning as well; but it isn't Americanized yet, if it ever becomes so, and I'm saying that on the grounds that in my (rather large) experience it never appears in conversations or writings produced by and for Americans only.
tl;dr "Arse" is simply not available as a rhetorical option in American English at this time; its range is covered by terms including "ass" and "butt" and the various compounds thereof (e.g. asshole, butthead, and so forth).
It can't surely have sprung magically into existence as the ink was drying on the Declaration of Independence.
Go check the OED. (I can't because I'm supposed to be working, Bad Lamb.) But it's just as likely that "ass" is a survival of an older form preserved in America and changed in the UK.
There's an embarrassing level of ignorance about Canada among many British people. We really don't know much about it other than the Calgary Stampede and that they play Ice Hockey over there. I did see something about Saskatoon on Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys but I only watched it because NoProfit lives there and I wanted to see what it looked like. Interesting place by the looks.
So it's good to hear more about it.
But it is a variation on 'arse.'
That doesn't mean that the older term is 'better' of course.
On the 'burst' / 'bust' thing - I'd need to check but I suspect they do have the same root. That's partly down to the following phrase used in North Staffordshire as an exemplar of that area's dialect:
'Kick a bo' aggen a wo' an' yed it till it bosts.'
In standard English, 'Kick a ball against a wall and head it till it bursts.'
The phrase 'bust a gut' meaning to exert oneself literally means 'burst an intestine.'
So I'd lay odds on 'burst' and 'bust' sharing a common root just as 'curse' and 'cuss' do and 'arse' and 'ass'.