American and Canadian accents - Telling them apart
- Thread starter Crewman47
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The bullshit Internet tough-guy stuff was a nice touch too, it made me sooo scared!
Yeah, that stuff normally does work. 
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
Yeah, that stuff normally does work.
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
I don't understand how 'zed' is an accent thing. Any American can say 'zed'. I think its more about the bastardization (I'm sorry) of the English language. For instance: Color/colour; Neighbor/Neighbour
Yeah, that stuff normally does work.
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
I don't understand how 'zed' is an accent thing. Any American can say 'zed'. I think its more about the bastardization (I'm sorry) of the English language. For instance: Color/colour; Neighbor/Neighbour
It's not as straightforward as that - color, neighbor, honor was how these words were spelled back in the eighteenth century, similarly "sidewalk" was the word for the path beside the road. It's the British spelling that has changed not the American.
(Add in the fact that Canadians have some British spellings and some American ones and everyone gets confused
)I don't know why Americans say "Zee" though.
Yeah, that stuff normally does work.
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
I don't understand how 'zed' is an accent thing. Any American can say 'zed'. I think its more about the bastardization (I'm sorry) of the English language. For instance: Color/colour; Neighbor/Neighbour
It's not as straightforward as that - color, neighbor, honor was how these words were spelled back in the eighteenth century, similarly "sidewalk" was the word for the path beside the road. It's the British spelling that has changed not the American.
(Add in the fact that Canadians have some British spellings and some American ones and everyone gets confused
I don't know why Americans say "Zee" though.
Oh, see I thought that difference was a couple of Americans being like
'oh yeah, we're going to change the dictionary because we're American'.
I read that in a textbook, I think. I'm not being an ass :-p
It's not as straightforward as that - color, neighbor, honor was how these words were spelled back in the eighteenth century, similarly "sidewalk" was the word for the path beside the road. It's the British spelling that has changed not the American.
(Add in the fact that Canadians have some British spellings and some American ones and everyone gets confused
I don't know why Americans say "Zee" though.
Oh, see I thought that difference was a couple of Americans being like
'oh yeah, we're going to change the dictionary because we're American'.
I read that in a textbook, I think. I'm not being an ass :-p
As far as I know, it was the Americans who changed the spelling. Noah Webster - when he first compiled his dictionary - changed the spelling in order to make it more logical (or somesuch reason).
Edit: Wikipedia agrees with me.
My point was: even though any American can say "Zed," in cases where you're trying to figure out if someone is Canadian or American without asking, that would be a really easy test, because I think you'll find most American's don't say "Zed" in reference to that letter.
Interesting.
What I was going from was my history classes where we had texts from British writers at the time and they spelled the words without the 'u'.
I can't remember exactly when the texts were that we studied, but I do remember being surprised that they had the "American" spelling rather than the "British" one.
I learn something new every day
What I was going from was my history classes where we had texts from British writers at the time and they spelled the words without the 'u'.
I can't remember exactly when the texts were that we studied, but I do remember being surprised that they had the "American" spelling rather than the "British" one.
I learn something new every day
Standard American sounds just like whatever the Canadian non-regional variety is called to me.
We have non-regional received pronunciation in England, nobody really talks like that and it's an "accent" (based on southern varieties) more commonly known as "Queen's English", or "BBC English".
So... the actual variety is huge, but as for the "standard".... I can't tell American and Canadian apart.
We have non-regional received pronunciation in England, nobody really talks like that and it's an "accent" (based on southern varieties) more commonly known as "Queen's English", or "BBC English".
So... the actual variety is huge, but as for the "standard".... I can't tell American and Canadian apart.
Interesting.
What I was going from was my history classes where we had texts from British writers at the time and they spelled the words without the 'u'.
I can't remember exactly when the texts were that we studied, but I do remember being surprised that they had the "American" spelling rather than the "British" one.
I learn something new every day
Slightly OT but one of my favorite topics, so forgive me. What I always find immensely interesting is that non-rhoticity (not pronouncing the 'r' in, for example, there) developed in England only in the nineteenth century. So whenever you watch movies depicting an earlier time, the English should actual sound more like Americans (or the Scottish) than like the RP speakers they always are.
Sadly, I cannot provide any useful links as I've picked this up in classes.
Interesting.
What I was going from was my history classes where we had texts from British writers at the time and they spelled the words without the 'u'.
I can't remember exactly when the texts were that we studied, but I do remember being surprised that they had the "American" spelling rather than the "British" one.
I learn something new every day
Maybe your books had amercanised spelling and not the original?
Well, being from Western NY...(which in itself seems to have 5 or 6 different accents)...the main difference I notice is with the "A's". Around here, the word apple would be pronounced with a very whiny sounding "A", so it sounds like "eahpple". Most Canadians I've encountered (mostly from Ontario, but some in my own family from other provinces pronounce it similarly, to my ears at least) pronounce it "Ahpple". Not too much of an "ah" sound, but definitely a wider "A" than most Americans I've heard. Also, the word sorry. Most Canadians I've encountered say it "soary" (which, incidentally, is how I pronounce it), while most of the people around here pronounce it "sahry", with a very wide (and annoying, to my ears) "A".
Being a singer, I've been trained to sing with very distinct, round, and verticle vowel sounds, which translate into my normal speech. As a result, I speak with very few of the dialectual quirks of my area. I was actually asked if I was from out of town the last time I went out to eat in Buffalo.
Being a singer, I've been trained to sing with very distinct, round, and verticle vowel sounds, which translate into my normal speech. As a result, I speak with very few of the dialectual quirks of my area. I was actually asked if I was from out of town the last time I went out to eat in Buffalo.
There was a discussion about this here a few years ago, and someone posted a link to a website that asked you how you pronounce a bunch of different words, and the site told you what kind of accent you had from a certain region in North America.
Anyone remember that, or have the site still?
Anyone remember that, or have the site still?
Well I've just tested my wife (Ontario born and bred) and she says it as "about".
Yeah, that stuff normally does work.
In all seriousness, the "aboot" thing just doesn't work. I'm from North Carolina, and we have people who have grown up on our coast who say "aboot" and "moose" for "mouse" and "hoose" for "house" so I don't see how "aboot" can be a fair test.
The zed/zee thing seems the best idea. If they don't seem to have an accent but say "zed" then they might be Canadian. But then again, why not just ask them?
I don't understand how 'zed' is an accent thing. Any American can say 'zed'. I think its more about the bastardization (I'm sorry) of the English language. For instance: Color/colour; Neighbor/Neighbour
It's not as straightforward as that - color, neighbor, honor was how these words were spelled back in the eighteenth century, similarly "sidewalk" was the word for the path beside the road. It's the British spelling that has changed not the American.
(Add in the fact that Canadians have some British spellings and some American ones and everyone gets confused
I don't know why Americans say "Zee" though.
Actually, it was Webster who changed the spelling. But spelling wasn't quite as standardized beck then, so I guess it made sense to him.
Interestingly enough, there are places in the states that say pavement instead of sidewalk.
^ I say y'all and I've lived in Ontario nearly all my life.
I say it too, but only when I'm at Dragon*Con.
Funny, I don't think I've ever heard my bf say "y'all", even though he was raised in Memphis and lives in Atlanta. Then again, he doesn't have much of an accent at all (though he can put it on when he chooses to).His roommate, OTOH, says it all the time... but I think he grew up in Atlanta, so maybe it's an Atlanta-specific thing? I don't think I know that many people in that part of the US outside of Atlanta.
True, but if you want to hear one that's not exaggerated, listen closely to Colonel Tigh on BSG. Michael Hogan's accent is pretty thick. I can also hear a bit of Canada in Amanda Tapping's and Torri Higginson's accents (though not in Evangeline Lilly's, and I have no idea where Nathan Fillion came by his accent).
I have a few friends who live here but who grew up in Buffalo, and one who lived in the Bronx for the first half of her life... both accents are significantly noticeable.
So, if you're from Buffalo... what the hell is "weck", anyway? Whenever I'm in Buffalo I'm always seeing signs advertising "beef on weck" but I have no idea what it is. Some kind of bread?
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