DCHP-2

across usually in spoken language; in the expressions go across or come from across DCHP-2 (April 2016)

• adv. & used nominally with 'from' — Prince Edward Island; rare, possibly dated

  to or from Nova Scotia or New Brunswick (from the Prince Edward Island perspective).

  Type: 3. Semantic Change — A specialization of the word across, referring to the crossing of the Northumberland Strait between Prince Edward Island and the Canadian mainland. DPEIE is the best source and reports the following from interviews in the late 1970s/early 1980s (s.v. "across"):
  "The [DPEIE] Common Word Survey included the question ‘If someone lives in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia he or she is from…?’ Across was favoured by 7% of the informants, chiefly rural users, over such choices as the other side or the mainland."
  Formerly used for ferry traffic; since 1997 primarily referring to the crossing of the Confederation Bridge.
  See also DPEIE, s.v. "across", which labels it at "mainland, Nova Scotia or New Brunswick".

  See also: away  

  • Oral data is difficult to come by, especially of young PEIers; it stands to reason that the 1997 opening of the Confederation Bridge, which connects PEI with mainland Canada, would have had an effect on the use of across.