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squeakytoy
2007-04-18 03:57 am UTC (link)

See, I'm dreadful with American accents. Can't even tell the American from the Canadian.

(I usually just ask if people are from Canada: it's safer, and the Americans never hit you for thinking they're Canadian.)

So Bay Area, Mid-Atlantic, etc, etc, mean very little - you all sound pretty much the same to my ear.

On the other hand, I know the Kiwi from the Aussie (duh) and the South African from the English. Not sure I have the Irish/Scottish worked out and I've never heard anyone from Wales before.

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	melisus 2007-04-18 04:45 am UTC (link)
	The way to tell the difference between a Canadian and an American (regardless of region) is to have them say a word with a short "o". Canadians pronounce their vowels a little more drawn out than Americans (which is why they stereotypically think Canadians say "aboot"). (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	plazmah 2007-04-18 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	I'll never get where people get that "aboot" thing, because I cannot hear it myself! When I went to university (which was outside Toronto) two of my friends (who were from Vancouver and Edmonton) used to laugh at the way we said "about" over here. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

melisus
2007-04-18 03:21 pm UTC (link)

I don't really get it either, because either way it never sounds like "aboot" but some people insist it does. I know someone from Washington state and when we used to talk she'd laugh and tell me that the stereotypes I always said were wrong WERE actually right because I said "aboot". I told her I didn't; I just remembered there was a "u" in "about" and didn't say "abot" like she said.

I actually find these kind of things really interesting because I watched a show on the CBC once that looked at how the Canadian and American dialects evolved independently into what they are now.

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	plazmah 2007-04-18 03:53 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, that's my defense too: "I just prounounce the 'u', you bitches." As an aside, it was also in university that I met another Canadian who actually didn't use "eh?" at the end of her sentences. She was from Calgary, and just used "huh?" instead, like I know some Americans do. Very wacky. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	melisus 2007-04-18 04:01 pm UTC (link)
	Well Alberta's practically the United States anyways. ;) I don't use "eh" a lot, but I do use it. My relatives from Northern Ontario, however, use it a hell of a lot. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	plazmah 2007-04-18 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	I use it pretty frequently, and I'm from Toronto. Then again, I did grow up in Newfoundland, so maybe that has something to do with it. ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	frequentmouse 2007-04-18 04:39 pm UTC (link)
	Well, a lot of us mossbacks (although not Skip Berger) sound more like old-time BC residents than 5-6 generation BC people sound like people from Toronto, so, shows what she knows. (Had lunch with a table full of Anthropological linguistics people at the Empress once). (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chibikaijuu 2007-04-18 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	But it's not "oo" or "o", it's "ow". (Generally speaking, most Canadians I have heard don't have the stereotypical accent. When I did finally meet a couple of them who did, I had to go hide in the bathroom and giggle before I could engage in actual, non-embarrassing conversation with them. They really did say "aboot" and had an "eh?" at the end of every sentence.) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	brown_betty 2007-04-18 05:56 am UTC (link)
	Q. You have a swimming pool fool of Canadians and Americans. How do you identify the Americans? A. You say, "Everyone out of the pool!" Those remaining in the pool are Americans. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zyna_kat 2007-04-18 10:03 am UTC (link)
	??? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	plazmah 2007-04-18 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	Canadians are (stereotypically) polite and obedient? ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	frequentmouse 2007-04-18 04:41 pm UTC (link)
	Two signs on the road in the hereafter; one says "Straight to Heaven" the other says "Panel discussion on Heaven." Curious dead guy points to the second sign and says "What's that one for?" and St. Peter answered "Oh, we had to put in that for the Canadians." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dragonfangirl 2007-04-19 10:05 am UTC (link)
	That sounds like it could also apply to Unitarians. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	frequentmouse 2007-04-19 05:25 pm UTC (link)
	True, true, but I originally heard the joke on a CBC panel discussion show, so I cherish it for that fact. (Reply to this)(Parent)

keri
2007-04-18 05:15 pm UTC (link)

random, but amusing to me: the only accents I can tell apart are Irish, Scottish, and Welsh. I can't tell Australian from Kiwi from South African, and any other accents from England generally sound the same to me. Alas.

I don't even know how I can tell Irish from Scottish, either, but I commented once that a customer had a lovely Scottish accent and that it's rare to hear it in my part of Florida, and she was surprised that I pegged it correctly, so... *shrugs* proof's in the pudding, I guess

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