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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)

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