Do Canadians have a distinct accent?

[yvr girl]

Can you always tell someone is Canadian as soon as they open their mouths?

[Benfea]

1. Take off, eh!

Hoser.

[billyskank]

2. I haven't met enough Canadians to be able to say

to my shame.

[rug]

3. After aboot one minute.

[Karenina]

22. Having bean there...

Yup!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

4. They sound "normal" until they

say about.... or aboot. That's the only way I can tell.

Oh, and then ending every sentence with eh?

[purr]

5. Yup...

My aunt, uncle, and cousins are Canadian and they have a distinct accent.

[El Fuego]

6. When they go oot and aboot, eh

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Some of you do.

The French Canadians have distinctive accents too, it's not all aboot the English Canadians.

[Baclava]

8. ...and their beady eyes and flapping heads...

... and their affinity for ice...

[crispini]

9. Just wait for the "out," "about," and "project."

My team once was working with a team in Canada and kept a running total of those on the whiteboard during conference calls, just for giggles.

We later found out they were doing the same thing with our "ya'lls" :rofl:

[Darth_Kitten]

12. Why do you guys say things like....

awwwwnt instead of aunt? :)

ruff isn't of roof? :)

And we don't say aboot, we say about. :)

[auntAgonist]

32. and don't forget...

INsurance instead of inSURance. dallar instead of dollar.

[intrepid_wanderer]

10. most do...

but... it's regionally specific.. just like the states.

either way, Canadian guys in general are sexy


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Patiod]

11. I just noticed it with Howie Mandel last night

My SO loves "Deal/No Deal", and I said "I didn't know Howie Mandel was Canadian" after he slipped and said "oout" (he usually supresses the accent)

But then again, I can usually tell if someone has gone to a Philadelphia-area Catholic school or public school, just from their accent. My ear is pretty good.

[FarLeftRage]

13. Yes.

I can tell the difference when I'm watching CTV or CBC and especially when I'm in Canada.

I live some 40 miles south of the border...

[GOPisEvil]

14. Canadians make progress (with "pro" as in "professional")...

also, organEYEzation...

I love listening to Barry Melrose of ESPN. :)

[billyskank]

15. Brits and Aussies say that too

It's just you guys. :)

[GOPisEvil]

17. Yeah, but Canadians generally sound American with just a few exceptions.

Those exceptions are nice to hear. My favorite waitress in this town is an Aussie. She could read the phone book to me, and I'd be attentive. :P

[gollygee]

16. Yes

Canadians have an accent all their own :D

[no name no slogan]

18. I can tell them

But I live close to the border (relatively speaking) and I've worked with them in the past. I find the Canadian language very interesting and easy on the air. Not quite as proper as the English used in southern England, but not nearly as sonorious as that used in the Middle U.S. An interesting and pleasing tongue, IMHO.

ON EDIT: I also listen to "As It Happens" on the CBC every night, too, so that may also bias me.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

19. What are you talking aboot? -nt

[tjwmason]

20. From what I hear it's diminishing.

I know an old-school Canadian who laments the cultural imperialism of all things American (especially as regards spelling and pronunciation). That Canadians know how to pronounce the word missile inter alia is very heart-warming.

[Bucky]

23. Regional accents tend to make periodic comebacks, tho.

If a region is getting too culturally dominated by another, the locals will sometimes bolster their own "authenticity" by emphasizing their local accents more. Dubya's west Texas drawl is both affected and genuine. At first he needed to fit in, but now the act has become the fact.

[khashka]

28. Yeah we've discussed this

American cultural imperialism grates on my nerves.

And the Brits are the worst, never mind Canadians. Language, spelling, everything thrown aside so they end up sounding like a crap American soap opera.

Khash.

[GirlinContempt]

33. Freakin' newfies

That'll NEVER go away

[5thGenDemocrat]

21. To a Michiganian, Ontarians do

The only part of Canada I've been to is between Windsor or Sarnia and Montreal (lower Ontario, basically). Plus, I worked as a hockey writer for five seasons and of course met a lot of Canadians in the course of doing that job.
To me, the "eh" and "oot" and "aboot" stuff is more an Ontario thing than a Canadian national one. I know folks from, say, Vancouver and those from, say, Toronto sound different to me.
And in Montreal, it's like they're speaking a whole different language!
John
What's up with that, anyhow?

[GirlinContempt]

38. Montreal, uh, isn't in Ontario.

[auntAgonist]

24. I'm told that I do have a distinct accent.

I live in Michigan and I think people here have an accent. They tell me I speak 'quite proper', whatever that means :)

aA

[khashka]

25. Yes!

But it's cute and kinda sexy :)

Canadians have a distinct way of pronouncing the word "sorry". It's unique and very appealing.

But "Canadian" covers a lot of ground. Newfoundlanders have a very different accent from people from Toronto or Quebec or Edmonton.

So there is no Canadian accent, but there are definitetely Canadian accents.

In fact I was talking to a woman a few days ago and eventually asked what part of Canada she was from. "How did you know I was Canadian?" "Your accent."


Khash.

[Parrcrow]

26. I'm told I do

Here in Kansas, I get alot of double takes when I'm speaking to the locals. They usually can't place it though. My wife's kids love hearing me say out, about, house, couch and so on. also fifteen (apparently I say fif-deen). When I listen to the CBC, I can hear the accent now myself.

[Benfea]

29. Are you a newfie?

The only Canadians I can ever identify by accent are newfies. All the other English-speaking Canadians are pretty much indistinguishable from Americans as far as I'm concerned.

I can sometimes identify Quebecois, but not by accent. If I identify them, it's by the combination of French accent with Canadian personalities or North American mannerisms.

[Parrcrow]

36. Nope

I'm from southern Ontario

[leftofthedial]

27. what's this thread aboot, eh?

[RevolutionaryActs]

30. Yup.

There's just this little something. At least to me anyway. :shrug:

[flamingyouth]

31. I'm soory to say, yes

;)

[Taverner]

34. Some

I usually ask them to recite the alphabet if I really wanna know.

If they say "zed" at the end, I got em!

[xmas74]

35. Yes.

In my region it sounds like my old home.

I usually ask them if they are from the North.

[Aristus]

37. I'm sore-ee to say, but you Canadians doo hyave a very

distinctive accent, but that's something to shoat aboat, so don't worry. B-)

[progmom]

39. you can even guess where in canada they're from....eh?

[tenshi816]

40. Not sure about that myself.

I grew up in Georgia but have lived most of my adult life in England. Many people, both in the UK and in the States, think that I'm Canadian because of what my accent has become. Make of that what you will.

[XemaSab]

41. To my ear it sounds a lot like a Minnesota accent

even if you're out west in British Columbia, eh.

[BikeWriter]

42. My Friend in Prince George, British Columbia sounds normal.

[u4ic]

43. There's also a distinct accent

for Ukrainians descendants who have settled in the Prairies (can't say about Manitoba, but definitely Saskatchewan and Alberta).

[meow2u3]

44. One of the Olympic commentators mentioned this

He said some of the other athletes, including the hockey players, thought the members of the US curling team were Canadian. Could it be because Minnesota is so close to Canada? :shrug: