| Author |
Message |
    
Kris Law
Detective Sergeant
Username: Kris
Post Number: 135
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 1:27 pm: |       |
My wife and I were talking about this Canadian accent thing last night, because the Conan O'Brien show is taping in Toronto this week, and they were talking about the whole accent issue.
We don't think we say "aboot" . . . we said it a few times last night to each other in sentences to see if we could hear it. But, at the same time Toronto is actually surrounded by the States, and the rest of Canada is fairly north of us, I'm wondering if we sound more like Americans in Toronto? |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 374
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 1:59 pm: | |
Kris,
I hear "aboot" from nearly all Canadians -- and some New Englanders as well [I recently heard "aboot"'s from a doctor. I asked him if he was Canadian. No, he was from Boston]. It's probably true that it is somewhat less pronounced in Toronto due to its proximity to the US and its size. There are undoubtedly a higher percentage of Americans living in and visiting Toronto than say Edmonton or Saskatoon or Halifax. You probably also visit the US more than your counterparts who live farther from the border.
But you know, it's difficult to hear an accent that surrounds you. I never heard the Chicago accent until I moved away from there. Now I spot it in a minute.
Other Canadianisms that we Yanks like to make fun of (in a good natured way!) include the ever present "eh?" or "then" at the end of a statement.
"Looks like rain, eh?"
"That'll be 30 dollars then."
Andy S. <-- who now lives in St. Louis where Highway 44 is always pronounced "farty-far" and where you eat "carn on the cob." How to cope? You just pray the the "Lard" to give you strength!
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Kris Law
Detective Sergeant
Username: Kris
Post Number: 136
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 2:15 pm: | |
Andrew,
I use "eh" all the time. It's cool because you can turn any sentence into a question, eh?
I know lots of Canadians who use "eh" but try not to. "I catch myself saying 'eh' all the time now", but it doesn't bother me. So I sound like the Chicken Lady . . . so what.
My favourite accent is the Baltimore accent . . . I've seen enough John Waters movies to be able to speak like that in my sleep. I love how they over-pronounce everything, and say things like pronouncing "Can of Coke" as "Can of Cake" . . . makes me giggle. |
Dan Norder
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 9:33 pm: | |
Robert,
"Folks" has very rural connotations. It also skews old and implies harmlessness. It's not the sort of thing that works for a lot of situations, as President Bush Jr. learned when he called the 9-11 terrorists "folks." |
Mike Park
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 10:11 am: | |
Kris and Andrew,
I think you don't realize your accent until you leave. I also think it's relative. So when I was in Boston on training 6 years ago, I used to help this woman from Kentucky with here programming. I would notice she was in the wrong screen and tell her to get "out". Now, I've grown up all my life never being more than 1 hour drive from the US border, and I didn't think I had an accent. But apparently I do...not as exagerated as "aboot" but a slightly softer version (say it without moving your upper lip and you too can be a native of Algoma District in Northern Ontario). Of course I suddenly noticed my accent because everyone around me was saying it like "Awoot" or "a-oot"...So, relatively speaking, I didn't have an accent until I went to Boston.
Of course I'm reminded every day, since I married a Newfie!
Mike |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 380
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 11:08 pm: | |
Ah yes. There is also the Canadian "oot" (out) and "sooth" (south) and sometimes even "hoose" (house).
But as for me, I married a South Carolinian. It used to throw me that she would say "own" when she meant "on." She remains unable to distinguish between my saying "pen" and "pin." After nearly 20 years of marriage to me, the time all being spent in the Midwest, she still responds with "ink pen?" when I ask if she has a pen handy [this to distinguish the object I asked for from a "stick pin" I guess]. Before we were married I once used the word "ducks" (as in the waterfowl), which she insisted she heard as "docks." We also had some confusion early on between "bulls" and "bowls," which makes for an interesting breakfast experience [she tends to pronounce "bulls" as "booooools.]"
Now, my step-father-in-law, who married my wife's mother after my wife's father died, and who is from north of the Mason-Dixon line like me, claims that my mother-in-law is able to make a five sylable word out of "grits." It goes something like this: "guh-er-ee-ah-ts."
Andy S.
(Message edited by Aspallek on February 14, 2004) |
Julia
Unregistered guest
| | Posted on Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 11:46 pm: | |
Hi, all,
Is there a Brit equilavent of the you plural pronoun? I think every region of the U.S. has a variation of some sort. I live in Georgia where we say, of course, "yall". Yankees say "you guys", though it is becoming popular down here, too, among people who don't want to sound TOO southern. People from other areas say "youse guys", or my favorite, "you'ns". There was once a feminine equivalent of guys which I haven't heard in a long time: "gals". It seems the trend is not to distinguish based on gender if you can help it. Like "actresses" are now "actors", "murderesses" are plain "murderers", "police women" are "police officers" etc. Kind of makes the language less colorful in the same way the disappearence of regional accents does.
Something I find interesting is the description above about "aboot" and "oot" as being Canadian pronunciations. It reminds me of the speech of many people I know who are from Virginia. I've always thought it was a Virginia accent. It also makes me think of some friends I had once in England who said "booooks" pronouncing the oo's as we would in the word "tooth" or "shoot". They were from Manchester. It's interesting how similar pronunciations exist in places far from each other.
Oh, and by the way, anyone who's interested, the MLA stands for "Modern Language Association" and has to do with the publication of scholarly writings.
Julia |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 383
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 12:08 pm: | |
Actually, the phrase "you all" is used by non-Southerners as well when we want to make clear that the second person plural is intended. But we say both words distinctly, i.e. "you all" rather than "y'all."
Andy S.
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Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 651
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 12:25 pm: | |
Julia,
It's interesting you mention how Canadian's are supposed to pronouce things thing about as "aboot". I'm English and to me that sounds more Scottish than Canadian. In South Park they make fun of the Canadians why of speaking and make them say things like "aboot" which I had never heard. When I was doing my GCSE's there was a Canadian guy over here just for those two years and he didn't talk like that at all.
Sarah |
Kris Law
Inspector
Username: Kris
Post Number: 155
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 16, 2004 - 12:34 pm: | |
Sarah,
So, would you say Americans and Canadians sound the smae to your ear, or can you tell a difference as we can between English and Scottish?
Kris |
Alan Sharp
Inspector
Username: Ash
Post Number: 444
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 5:28 am: | |
Kris
I would say that big city Canadians are difficult to tell apart from Americans from northerly cities. Rural Canadians are easy to spot from their accents. These are the ones that usually use the "aboot" word!
Mike
I would agree that you never notice your accent until you leave. I was born in Scotland, grew up in Gloucester in the UK, and in the last ten years have lived in London, Brussels and Dublin. Most people say I have an English west-country accent, but when I go back to Gloucester I am told I have lost my accent. Americans tend not to notice that I am not Irish.
Last week at the C&D I was chatting with Robert Smith and it turns out he's a fellow Gloucester boy and grew up just a couple of miles from where I did, but I would never have noticed until Caz pointed out that we had the same accent. I never even noticed that he had an accent at all! |
Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 654
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:14 am: | |
Kris,
Some Canadians like the one who came to my school sounded American to me as does a Canadian girl in my tutorial group. I've never heard a Canadian who said "aboot" or similar personally, but then I've only known a couple of Canadians. When I see the word "aboot" I keep saying it in my head as Scottish.
Alan,
The thing with the accent is right. It doesn't sound like I have an accent and yet northerners have told me that I have a posh accent, which for a start is a load of balony, but they meant south-east England accent. But I found it strange that they didn't realise about their own accent which was liverpudlian, and a very annoying screechy version of it I must say.
Sarah |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 388
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:37 am: | |
Sarah,
The Canadian "aboot" is similar to the Scottish "aboot" but not as pronounced. The Canadian version is something in between "aboot" and "abutt."
Mike,
You are undoubtedly correct about the Canadian accent being less pronounced in the major cities, and especially those closest to the border with the US. It is the same with the US Southern accent, i.e. much more pronounced in small towns and rural South. On the other hand, sometimes it works the other way. For example, the Chicago accent (which is not very noticeable to begin with) is not shared by others from smaller Northern Illinois towns.
Andy S.
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Kris Law
Inspector
Username: Kris
Post Number: 156
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 10:45 am: | |
I think the confusing thing about the Canadian "aboot" from what I understand is that it is actually heard as almost aba-oot, so there is some weird twisting of the vowel.
I still don't here it though. Although I do now hear that I say "sorry" differently than Americans on television.
Kris |
Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 658
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 12:22 pm: | |
Kris,
Are you American or English?
That is all I wanted to ask so here are some more words to fill up space.
Sarah
And here are some more. |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 389
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 1:15 pm: | |
Kris,
You're right about "aba-oot." That's what I was trying to convey by my comment.
There are different American pronunciations of "sorry." First, we don't say it as much as the British because it is not our standard apology for bumping into someone. When I bump into someone on the Tube in London, I try to remember to say "sorry" (which I try to pronounce the British way: "Sawrry"). In America we would most likely say "excuse me" or "pardon me." But when we do say "sorry" we pronounce it either "sahrry" (more common) or "sawrry" (not uncommon). I really don't know that there is a geographical rule on that one. It's sort of like "wash," which seems to be pronounced "warsh" by a geographically diverse minority of speakers in America.
An interesting cliche in British English is the abundant use of "sort of." I find that the phrase is used as the equivalent of "kind of" but also sometimes as the equivalent of "about" or "approximately" where it really wouldn't fit in American English.
Oh yes, I love the British "went missing," which I have adopted as part of my vocabulary. You almost never hear it from an American. Where you Britsh say something has "gone missing" we simply say it "has disappeared" or that it "is missing." But "went missing" sounds so wonderful that I can't resist using it (and thereby identifying myself as an Anglophile).
Andy S.
(Message edited by aspallek on February 17, 2004) |
Kris Law
Inspector
Username: Kris
Post Number: 157
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 1:47 pm: | |
I'm Canadian, but my family is originally from Scotland. Well, my mum's side of the family is anyway. But being Canadian (despite what most Canadians will tell you) is about the same as being American. At least now with the abundance of television it is.
And Andy,
regarding the term "warsh" . . . I've noticed that too, also "terlit" for toilet.
But, I've noticed something similar in a lot of British pronunciations if a word ends in an "A" it will sometimes have an "R" added on. For a good example of this at the end of the Rocky Horror Picture Show Riff Raff refers to his sister Magenta as "Magent-er" |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 390
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - 5:38 pm: | |
Kris,
"Terlet" for "toilet" is classic Brooklynese. For some reason Brooklynites reverse their "oi's" and their "er's," with the classic "soilern" being substituted for "sirloin."
Adding an -r to a word ending in a is also a characteristic of Boston Brahmen. Recall that President Kennedy used to refer to "Cubar" when talking about the missle crisis.
Andy S.
(Message edited by Aspallek on February 17, 2004) |
Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 661
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 6:41 am: | |
Andy,
I'm British and I've never heard anyone using "sort of" instead of "approximately" or "about". It just wouldn't make sense.
Sarah
More words for your reading pleasure. |
Monty
Chief Inspector
Username: Monty
Post Number: 739
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 8:39 am: | |
Andy,
Im British and I confess to using ‘sort of’.
Leicesters closest seaside resort is Skegness and during the fortnight we pile over there. The locals refer to Leicester people as ‘Chisits’.
Why?
Its because of our accent. When we are shopping and we want to know how much something is we ask “ow much chisit?” Simple eh?
Monty
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Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 393
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:06 am: | |
Sarah,
An example:
"We have a sort of hour-long meeting every Wednesday night." I've heard it a number of times in Greater London.
Monty,
I don't know, but it took me a "sort of" long time to remember how to pronounce "Leicester" correctly!
Cheers!
Andy S.
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Monty
Chief Inspector
Username: Monty
Post Number: 740
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:48 am: | |
Andy,
Oh tell me about it.
For my North American brothers and sisters. Leicestershire is ponounced "LE-STER-SHEER"
NOT " LI-CEST-ER-SHY-ER"
I dont go round saying "AH-KAN-SAW" when its "AH-KAN-SAS" do I ? sheeesh !!!! soooo rude !!!
Monty, who is sort of joshing !
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Sarah Long
Chief Inspector
Username: Sarah
Post Number: 664
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:59 am: | |
Andy,
Maybe it's just me but your example made no sense. I've never personally heard anyone use it in that way.
I would say "we have about an hour long meeting..." but even then I would probably just miss out the "about" and just say "we have an hour long meeting...".
Monty,
I think Andy was asking how to pronounce Leicester not Leicestershire. Blimey, start him off on the harder one!! 
Sarah |
Andrew Spallek
Inspector
Username: Aspallek
Post Number: 395
Registered: 5-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 12:00 pm: | |
Actually, Monty, the State is pronounced "Arkansaw" but the Arkansas River is pronounced "Arkansas."
An inhabitant of the state of Arkansas ("Arkansaw") is generally referred to as an "Arkansan" rather than an "Arkansawer."
Go figure!
Sarah,
I have no trouble with Leicester any more. But I still do have a bit of hesitency with Marylebone (I tend to say "Mar-luh-bun," is that correct?)
Actually, the feminine voice on thee Tube trains has taught me a lot. Even the simple things like Bank. We in America tend to say "bang-k" while in London the Tube stop is pronounced "ban-k." Also, Elephant & "Cahstle" not "Caastle" and "Southerk" not "South-wark."
Andy S.
(Message edited by aspallek on February 18, 2004) |
Monty
Chief Inspector
Username: Monty
Post Number: 742
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 12:09 pm: | |
Andy,
And they say irony doesnt cross the Atlantic !!!...sorry, couldnt resist...bad Monty !
So the river is pronounced with a silent 'river' eh ? Very confusing indeed !!
Hey, you know as Sarah is from Berkshire, do you reckon the inhabitants there are referred to as 'Berks' ?
Cheeky Bogger Monty
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