The Great Canadian Vowel Shift • Hacker News Board

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#41

Post by mmastrac » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 2:43 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #32

marincounty wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked with Canadians and just thought they were Americans. This one guy told a joke, an the joke ended with, "It will cost you two loonies!" We looked up and asked, "What are Loonies?" (Their dollar bills) I asked how come you don't have an accent? (I did apologize about our educational system--we weren't taught anything about Canadians?) Well, he started to get mad about the accents. He said most of us don't h…

Not bills. Loonies are dollar coins with a loon on the back. "Twonies" are the two-dollar coins with a polar bear. Canada traditionally uses animal imagery on money, a sort of reconciliation gesture given the french-english-native splits in the country. Animals were common ground. Fyi, the band Nickelback was Canadian. The non-wikipedia joke behind that name is the animal on the back of the canadian nickel.

The beaver is considered to be the "front" of the coin.

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#42

Post by jgh » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 2:50 AM UTC

kafkaesque wrote: post #7

sandworm101 wrote: post #5

The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.

I'm in LA and every time someone finds out I'm Canadian, they say, "But you don't have an accent" or "You don't sound Canadian", and on the rare occasion, people refer to my Vancouver accent as "fake Canadian accent". I just half-smile or say "I don't know", instead of explaining how provincial their "typical Canadian accent" sounds to Vancouverites.

I'm also a Canadian in LA.. It tends to be other Canadians who can pick out my accent (from Toronto originally).

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#43

Post by rdsnsca » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 2:54 AM UTC

Mankhool wrote: post #37

What a great thread - from one Canuck to all of you - "How's it goin' eh?"

In Nova Scotia the only people you hear saying eh are from Ontario, mostly from the Toronto area it seems.

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#44

Post by biot » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 4:26 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #5

The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.

Yeah, I've always wondered why people think Canadians pronounce things like "no doot aboot it". That's basically Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons (ie: a crusty old Scottish accent).

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#45

Post by bdchauvette » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 4:33 AM UTC

For anyone who's curious about the stereotypical 'oot' and 'aboot' vowels, Wikipedia has a nice overview[1] of the phenomenon (Canadian Raising).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raising

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#46

Post by bentcorner » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 4:44 AM UTC

ChrisGranger wrote: post #13

bentcorner wrote: post #4

> The English version of “baguette” stops rhyming with “vague-ette,” Coming from central Canada, "bag" always rhymes with "vague". I get funny looks sometimes when "lag" comes up in conversation here in the Pacific NW.

By central Canada, do you mean Ontario? I've lived in Manitoba for decades and I don't know anyone who pronounces "bag" that way.

Raised in Winnipeg from a very early age. My wife who is also from Winnipeg speaks the same way.

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#47

Post by minsight » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 12:07 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #5

The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.

Canadians say "aboot" nearly as often as Americans who plan to go drink at a "baah". After all, the United States = Boston and Canada = St John's.

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#48

Post by CurtMonash » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 12:49 PM UTC

"These changes in the mouth are happening under our noses."

:)

Great line!

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#49

Post by scriptedfate » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

douche wrote: post #23

sandworm101 wrote: post #5

The accents in north america are split east-west, not north-south. I'm from Vancouver but whenever I am in the eastern US they think I'm from california because I don't sound have the ontario/maritime accent they recognize as "canadian". "aboot" doesn’t exist in the west. Never has.

Living in northern New England, my experience of Canada and Canadian accents has always been in relation to Quebec, which is a whole different beast. I'm not sure I've ever seen a good representation of the Quebecois accent on TV. South Park butchered it awfully

Bon Cop, Bad Cop[0] isn't TV (maybe a TV Movie, now) but its use of Quebecois was, to me (my formative years spent within 3km of the Quebec border), quite accurate.

[0]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479647/

Re: The Great Canadian Vowel Shift

#50

Post by sandworm101 » Wed, Aug 05, 2015, 5:45 PM UTC

jgh wrote: post #42

kafkaesque wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in LA and every time someone finds out I'm Canadian, they say, "But you don't have an accent" or "You don't sound Canadian", and on the rare occasion, people refer to my Vancouver accent as "fake Canadian accent". I just half-smile or say "I don't know", instead of explaining how provincial their "typical Canadian accent" sounds to Vancouverites.

I'm also a Canadian in LA.. It tends to be other Canadians who can pick out my accent (from Toronto originally).

Toronto? Not Trono?