Do you hear your Canadian accent?
JaredMilne @ Mon May 10, 2021 6:43 pm
rickc rickc:
Newfoundland is in its own class altogether. They sound strange to everyone. All of the Maritimes have a distinct accent, the most prominent being from Cape Breton. To people not from that area, it can sound a lot like people from New England. Accent is not always HOW someone says something. Sometimes its WHAT they say. Certain words are a dead giveaway about where someone is from. Its not ABOOT, its ABOAT. And yes that is how Canadians from eastern Canada pronounce about. If you are from that area, you might not even be aware of how you are saying it. Its a dead give away to an American that you are Canadian. I remember being a kid from the south and my cousins from Chicago making fun of my southern accent. I was angry. I did not think that I talked like a hick. I did. I did not realize it until I left the area and came back years later. Everywhere that I traveled, people knew that I was from the south.
I can alway tell someone from southern Ontario. They speak way to slow and careful to be that close to the the northeast U.S. People from the northeast U.S.speak very loud and very fast. People from Ontario do not fit into the U.S. northeast or the southeast lingo. Everyone on the eastern seaboard knows that they are not from the U.S. They do not speak fast enough to be from the north, and they do not have the twang to fit into the south. That and the constant use of the word: eh. People from Ontario are easily the second most recognizable Canadians in the U.S. after Quebec. My kid had a best friend growing up that was a snow bird from Manitoba. They could easily pass as someone from North Dakota. I can't quite put my finger on it. If you seen the movie: FARGO, you get it. Little things like yah for yes. "Don't cha know" Nothing to extreme.
People from B.C.and Alberta have to tell me that they are from Canada. I cannot detect any regional accents or slang. They sound like the perfect announcer for the evening news. Not to fast, not to slow, not to loud, not to soft. Kind of like the goldilocks of the English language, just right.
I can alway tell someone from southern Ontario. They speak way to slow and careful to be that close to the the northeast U.S. People from the northeast U.S.speak very loud and very fast. People from Ontario do not fit into the U.S. northeast or the southeast lingo. Everyone on the eastern seaboard knows that they are not from the U.S. They do not speak fast enough to be from the north, and they do not have the twang to fit into the south. That and the constant use of the word: eh. People from Ontario are easily the second most recognizable Canadians in the U.S. after Quebec. My kid had a best friend growing up that was a snow bird from Manitoba. They could easily pass as someone from North Dakota. I can't quite put my finger on it. If you seen the movie: FARGO, you get it. Little things like yah for yes. "Don't cha know" Nothing to extreme.
People from B.C.and Alberta have to tell me that they are from Canada. I cannot detect any regional accents or slang. They sound like the perfect announcer for the evening news. Not to fast, not to slow, not to loud, not to soft. Kind of like the goldilocks of the English language, just right.
Yeah, the choice of words is kind of a giveaway. I've had Franco-Quebecois people I exchange emails with tell me that my choice of words when I write in French indicates that English is my first language, although they understand me perfectly well. Using the word "university" in place of "college" is probably a giveaway to Americans:
And while I have never once in my life heard any of us ever say "aboot", I can definitely agree on "aboat".
raydan @ Mon May 10, 2021 7:00 pm
I was writing something in French earlier today (with my French spellchecker) and it flagged Hawaii... just found out that it's Hawaï in French. Another time I was posting here but probably thinking in French and wrote pêche instead of peach... it's hard sometimes being bilingual. 