DCHP-2

table DCHP-2 (July 2016)

• 1 v. — often Politics

  bring a topic or a piece of legislation forward for discussion.

  Type: 2. Preservation — To table meaning 'to bring forward for discussion' is a preservation from British English and is found in many former British colonies. OED-3 has attestations for this meaning as far back as 1653 (see OED-3, s.v. "table"(4.a)). Confusion may arise, however, because to table has the opposite meaning in the US, i.e. 'to postpone discussion of a topic'. Both uses have been found in Canada since the mid-19th century (see also meaning 2).
  As the data shows (see Charts 1 and 2), at least since the 1990s the British meaning of 'bring forward' has been overwhelmingly prevalent in Canada. In three samples of 100 tokens from Canadian newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, 93 percent of meanings for tabled were the British-origin 'bring forward', while only 7 percent had the meaning of 'postpone'. These percentages remain very stable from 1990 to 2013 (see Chart 1, fluctuation between 7 and 11 percent). In comparison, the same analysis with 100 US newspaper tokens in each period yielded the finding that 99 percent of them meant 'postpone' over the three periods, which leads us to call this meaning the "US meaning" of tabled (see Chart 2). As with other linguistic features, Canadian English is flexible enough to tolerate both, but prefers, by a great margin, the meaning 'bring forward'.

  • 1865  There was tabled and read a petition from the Rev. A. Romans, residing in Halifax, praying for re-admission into this Synod, whose case was referred simpliciter from the Presbytery of Halifax. 
  • 1899  Just before the House adjourned last night Mr. Fielding tabled further supplementary estimates as follows: To pay his legal representatives the balance of sessional indemnity of the late Senator Sanford, $258. 
  • 1905  Sir Frederick Borden, as a preliminary to intelligent discussion of the militia estimates, yesterday tabled a carefully-prepared statement from the Militia Council as to the defence of Canada. 
  • 1989  "I'd have to look at it a little more closely, but it sounds interesting," Dalla Riva said. "I'm all for promoting football in Montreal." He plans to table the suggestion at next month's league meeting. 
  • 1994  Finally, after proposing tougher gun-control rules, including a universal firearms registry, Mr. Rock now has to table legislation in February and flesh out his proposals. 
  • 2008  Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe urged Harper to table his military plan, "so we can debate it before he goes spending billions on military equipment." 
  • 2013  During the height of the "robocall" affair last March, the Conservatives voted with an NDP motion that called for legislative changes within six months to better allow Elections Canada to police elections, but the government has yet to table a bill. 

• 2 † v. — often Politics

  postpone the discussion of a topic or a piece of legislation until a later date.

  Note: this meaning is not a Canadianism in the DCHP-2 typology and is thus marked by a "dagger". Examples are listed here to illustrate its long history in Canadian English.

  • 1879  The plan was tabled at the time, richly endowed bodies being rather slow in their movements; but it has now been called up again, and is likely to be adopted. 
  • 1897  The motion in favor of a Canadian Governor-General was warmly debated yesterday afternoon by the Trades Congress, but was finally tabled by a vote of 15 to 10. 
  • 1905  A resolution was introduced to establish a death benefit in connection with the auxiliary, but the feeling was stongly against the change, and it was tabled. 
  • 1932  Lack of Confidence Resolution Debated By Senate Wednesday Rumour has it that the Senate discussed a motion of non-confidence in President Klinck for three hours, Wednesday night. The resolution was tabled and the meeting adjourned at an early hour Thursday morning. 
  • 1977  Asked to table indefinitely a motion proposing a night-time curfew on Mississauga young people, city council yesterday deferred voting on the issue on the grounds that the councillor who proposed it (Frank McKechnie) was absent from the meeting.