That pretty much says it all, eh? Eh is about as Canadian as my accent gets. You will not hear me say "howoose" for house nor will you hear "agaynst" for against. From what I can tell, these are the best examples of the Canadian accent. Also it's funny how a little thing like "the" omitted from a common phrase really catches my attention. When they say on the news "so and so is in hospital", I think "THE hospital", but apparently that's an American thing.
Okay maybe there's a mini topic here, but certainly not worthy of a title. I'll try to do better tomorrow. Ta!
23 comments:
I'm not sure what that was all "aboot". LOL!
"agaynst" is always something I've thought of an an american (some kind of american accent, because, as with canadian accents there are 8 billion) thing.
i pronounce it ag-enst (well, maybe more eg-enst, okay, now I've said it out loud too many times and it's sounding strange and my cats are looking at me funny, i'll stop now.)
and house i've alway heard as howse, um, damn, i can't write that one phonetically. it's not how-s, it's, oh bugger, i don't know. but it's h__ws, there's no sound between the w sound and the s sound.
I hoop yoo had time fer some Back Bacon, Eh? I luv to heer Canadiens talk. They our aboot the sweatest peeple on airth, eh?
The is an overrated word. We have fool in white House. Yep, the is not needed! LOL.
You forgot OAT AND ABOAT :-)
I don't say AGAYNST, I think Yanks say that. I don't say EH.
And it drives me nuts too when people skip words.
Oh, and I don't know what Canadians say ABOOT...
:)
I say agayn and agaynst. I definitely say eh all the time. I also say mazda and never mozda - and you hear that pronunciation difference depending if you're watching the commercial on an American or Canadian channel. Cheers!
The funny thing is that Canadian accent, which I heard first hand from Jetboy, is EXACTLY the same accent I grew up with - it mimics the accent off all the people in the Tidewater area of VA/NC...
especially the oot and aboot...
TOO FUNNY!
what about "ice tea?"
"In hospital" sounds British to me. Are you hearing this in French, or is it a peculiarity of English-speaking Montrealers? Interesting...
We say "in the hospital" in Ontario. At least in all of the areas of Ontario I've lived in (northwest, eastern, Georgian Bay, Toronto).
Other than what you've mentioned (and the aboot thingee) the thing I notice most about the Toronto accent is that it's kind of a 'sing song' rhythm to it, and it usually sounds like their asking a question. Like every sentence sounds that way. I think that's what they 'eh' thing is a part of, making sentences questions. I can't write it very well, but I can imitate pretty accurately. No matter, I think it's really cute! :)
HUGS....
Gaynadians talk funny. I know this first hand.
Yes, hearing Canadians dropping 'the' from words like hospital or university was a surprise to me. But then I started thinking that Americans don't use it with college (Johnny is going to college, not the college, but Mary is going to the university).
Now if ye want to hear someting different, my son, come over to Newfoundland!!!
I picked up the eh and oat and aboat stuff when I was in Minnesota. I was such a chameleon that I lost it when we moved to California though.
I can't wait to hear more ABOOT the differences between American and Canadian.
i, too, always seem to hear a melodious tone to canadian speakers. i actually hear it in your voice all the time, but then i didn't know your voice when you lived in the states so i can't discern any differences.
this is a weird question but... do you notice when people walk, whether or not (or how) they swing their arms? i swear, when i visit ontario, people actually walk differently.
i'm a new yorker born and raised there untill i came to philadelhia for university, and for some reason i speak with a canadian accent sometimes. all of my OU/O sounds are stretched like aboout. no idea why
Well, if you didn't make it a topic, the comments certainly did.
It's kind of interesting the "articles" as parts of speech become such a defining element to the ear, when in fact, they're not very important. Lot's of perfectly good languages do without them entirely.
Dropping the "the" always makes me double-take when I hear it. While I was at University, I sprained my ankle and ended up in Hospital, then I pissed off the cops and ended up in Prison. Well, maybe not prison. ;)
see, your short post evoked alot of thought after all. i live in a part of ny state where the native residents say "mary, marry, merry" all the same. i grew up in another part of the state where all the words were said differently. after being here for 25 plus yrs, i hear the difference in how my accent has changed too, but i still have people say..you are fom down state, arent you.(lol)
or oooaaarrr! if you come from the South West of England
How dare those dirty Canadians omit the definite article?
Post a Comment