Yeah, not for nothing but we heard it from Canadian comedians
SCTV, KITH, there's propbably another 
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Is there a difference between Yoopers and Canadians?
- Thread starter Stinsok
- Start date
Yeah, not for nothing but we heard it from Canadian comedians
SCTV, KITH, there's propbably another 
bah! Try living in New Jersey. We're all apparently supposed to talk like we have some sort of asinine speech impediment - "new joisey", dawgs, wooter, coowfee" I have yet to hear someone actually talk like we're supposed to talk. Errr... towk
Musiclogic
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Ok let's get this correct, as a guy wh played his junior hockey in Peterborough, and lived in Oakville, More than a handful of Canadians say "eh" and "aboot". Get over yourself, most Canadians are proud of their differences. I am also married to a Joisey girl,(she hates when I say that) it's not wooter, it's wautuh, and it's cwauffee not cooffee. As for the Joisey thing, that is more the upper east coast that calls New Jersey that, the rest of us just picked up on it...LOL. Yoopers also have some different ways of saying things, but it's all part of what makes the USA and Canada so cool, We are so similar, the subtle differences become glaring, and we have fun with it.
Yes!!! I'm sure my Montrealer's "about" sounds somewhat closed down to most Americans; but my brother-in-law, from the Canadian west, says it darn close to "uh boat."
Excellent transcription, Stinsok! Way closer than "uh boot".
How's about; "Yeah, Right?" Or just the word "Right"? There's a guy I talk to semi regularly around Toronto, and every other word out of his mouth is a variation of either of those two things. The first time I talked to him I kept thinking he was asking for clarification. He'd say "Yeah, OK Right?" and I would actually answer him "Yep, that's right." 
I don't know if that's a whole different dialect up there or what, but I think that guy is kind of annoying to say the least.
My wife and I are both trolls. (We both live under the bridge) She grew up in northern lower Michigan though, so whilst I qualify as a "Fudgie" she does not.
I don't know if that's a whole different dialect up there or what, but I think that guy is kind of annoying to say the least.
My wife and I are both trolls. (We both live under the bridge) She grew up in northern lower Michigan though, so whilst I qualify as a "Fudgie" she does not.
I don't know if you're just trying to have some fun (can't tell from how you said it), but to me that's a tiresome point of view.
So far this has been a pretty friendly jaw about amusing differences between close neighbours. Can I suggest that there's not much to gain by making someone right and someone wrong?
Language is never stable. Pronunciation and vocabulary are constantly evolving over the generations; and whenever geography separates, some of the evolving is unique to a region.
Whether we're aware of it or not, we all grow up absorbing pronunciation and terms from our social environment -- not because anyone decreed some way of speaking the "correct" way. (With the possible exception of people who've been made ashamed of their local dialect as children.)
My brother's parents-in-law came from the west of England in the late 60s, and were horrified when their kids started speaking "Canadian". They constantly "corrected" them. (i.e.: tried to get them to adopt the local dialect of a region 1000s of miles away across the sea!) When my brother married one of their girls, they then started trying to convince his kids that they should adopt the "correct" terms, and the correct pronunciation!
In other words, utterly hilarious, clueless ethno-centric ideas of their own way of speaking being correct, and all deviations therefrom being wrong!
If we had wanted to, we could have had endless fun with how their dialect differed from "the King's English", cuz they were from that UK region whose accent we instinctively adopt when we imitate pirates! :^D lol !!
What's more, the King's English (Oxford/Cambridge) is itself a moving target. It's just plain different than it was 200 years ago, and their ancestor's would possibly have been horrified if they could hear today's version!
I should have capped that off by saying:
Anybody (where ever they are on the globe) who thinks their own way of speaking is more correct than their neighbours', should go back in time about 5 or 6 generations and ask their ancestors what they think of their current language! :^D We'd all get a better sense of what a creative, living, evolving thing language is -- as opposed to some static, schoolhouse set of rules that needs to be conformed to.
There's a thread with a very interesting discussion on the Canadian English dialect and its origins. Can't find it. There's even a name for that way of pronouncing "about" but again, I forget what it's called.
To be clear, it's not really a pronunciation of "about" as "aboot". It's really a more pronounced and quik "ah" "oo" , so "a-bow-oot", almost as 3 syllables rather than the two as we here in the states would pronounce it.
Other interesting Canadian dialectic pronunciations include "bean" for "been", "agayne" for "again" and "mum" for "mom", all of these I'm betting having some tie over from British English.
To be clear, it's not really a pronunciation of "about" as "aboot". It's really a more pronounced and quik "ah" "oo" , so "a-bow-oot", almost as 3 syllables rather than the two as we here in the states would pronounce it.
Other interesting Canadian dialectic pronunciations include "bean" for "been", "agayne" for "again" and "mum" for "mom", all of these I'm betting having some tie over from British English.
In some Cdn. regions the blending of the "ah" and the "oo" is so quick that you don't hear it as a diphthong, it sounds a lot closer to simply: "a boat".
In Montreal, I notice been is interchangeably either "bean" or "bin" these days. I think I usually say "bin". Probably influence from the TV.
But you're more likely to hear that someone's a has-bin, than a has-bean! (looks funny when written :^)
Around here, a-ghen is more common than agayne, but that's just my neck of the woods.
Mum is what I grew up with, and yup, UK provenance. You won't hear a Brit calling for their mommy! :^)
Musiclogic
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Just think if we all spoke dialects of "Old(e) English"...That would really be hilarious. We tried learning Old English in Grad School...talk about an exercise in futility...LOL
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:^D I woulda gotten a kick out of trying it.
But it just shows how language constantly changes. And the gradual change is both need-driven, and at the same time, a naturally expression of human creativity. (Shakespeare's school teachers were probably shocked at the liberties he took, inventing new words!) To pronounce that one particular version is more correct than another doesn't get us very far.
That said, I still wince when I hear noo kyuh ler instead of noo clee ar. :^D LOL
Mark Wilson
Supporting Member
Oh.
I say eh, but it's as some guy before said, I say it like "Good band tonight, eh?"
Or, I use "eh" as a replacement for "what?" as in "eh? Can you say that again?"
I say eh, but it's as some guy before said, I say it like "Good band tonight, eh?"
Or, I use "eh" as a replacement for "what?" as in "eh? Can you say that again?"
well,folks are a lot more mobile these days....i've heard upstate newyawke's that sound straight outta brooklyn,valley girls in montana,and southern in north dakota....seems like the whole works is getting tossed into a spin dryer and laced with rap lyrics,yo.....sigh
You got that right. Ever notice that even our moderator's look-alike (lol) Justin Bieber talks with a good dose of this subtle urban American cool guy accent? Where's he from, Ottawa or something?! :^D
