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> "So far, bless him, he has not resorted to 'gaol' for 'jail.'"

Some parts of Canada inexplicably used "gaol" for "jail" until fairly recently. For example, the "Headingley Gaol" near Winnipeg. The jail has been renamed to Headingley Correctional Center, but the road to it is still Gaol Road, preserving the linguistic curiosity.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headingley_Correctional_Instit... [2] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Gaol+Rd,+Headingley,+MB,+C...



> For example, the "Headingley Gaol" near Winnipeg.

Why is that inexplicable? It would have originally been called that with that spelling.


> For example, the "Headingley Gaol" near Winnipeg.

Fellow Winnipeger here! I remember driving by that sign as a kid and being baffled by that word.


Canada is not just english-speaking, but also french speaking. We have TWO national languages, with equal importance.

This being said, I would suspect the english word gaol comes from the french word geôle.


According to Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaol), gaol and geôle have a common shared ancestor in Old French/Latin. It's not the result of Canada's multilingual nature.


I stayed in the Ottawa Jail Hostel in the former Carleton County Gaol. The receptionist sure acted like a warden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Jail_Hostel


I mean even in British English this is no longer common.




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