How you can spot a Canadian, eh?

Question

How you can spot a Canadian, eh? -Don McGillivray (Ottawa columnist for Southam Newspapers)

How do you tell a Canadian from an American?

It used to be enough to ask him to say the alphabet. When the Canadian got to the end, he'd say "zed" instead of "zee". But 18 years of Sesame Street have taught a lot of Canadian kids to say "zee," and it's starting to sound as natural as it does south of the 49th parallel.

Another test used to be the word "lieutenant". Canadians pronounced it in the British was, "leftenant", while Americans say "lootenant". But American cop shows and army shows and movies have eroded that difference, too.

Canadians have been adopting American spelling as well. They used to put a "u" in words like labour. The main organization in the country, the equivalent of the AFL-CIO, is still officially called the Canadian Labour Congress. But news organizations have been wiping out that distinction by adopting American spelling, mostly to make it easier to use news copy from such agencies as Associated Press without a lot of changes. So it's "Canadian Labor Congress" when the Canadian Press, the national news agency, writes about it.

Some pronunciations, considered true tests of Canadians, are not as reliable as they're thought. Take the word "house" for example. When some Canadians say it, it sounds very Scottish in American ears. Visiting Americans trying to reproduce what they hear usually give the Canadian pronunciation as "hoose".

The same for "out" and "about". The way some Canadians say them sounds like "oot" and "aboot" to many Americans. And when an American says "house" to a Canadian, the Canadian often hears a bit of an "ay" in it, something like "hayouse".

But pronunctiaiton isn't a good test because people from different parts of Canada speak differently. A resident of the Western province of Alberta, where there has been a considerable inflow of settlers from the United States, may sound like a Montanan or a Dakotan.

Then there's the ubiquitous Canadian expression "eh?" - pronounced "ay?" This is a better test because many Canadians tack it on to the end of every assertion to turn it into a question.

Answer 1

What's your question, eh?

I say zed, lootenant, house and about, and spell labour.

Answer 2

Okay....

But WHY "TEST" a Canadian? Are we enemies??

The word "labour" actually was derived from the French word, which written exactly as "labour" means "crops"....

Many of the French Canadian actually had to learn the English language, and what you are referring too as in the word "house" being pronounced "hoose" would be from a French person pronouncing the English word...

Otherwise, most English Canadian native have a tendency towards the British pronounciation, yet have been highly americanized through television and american songs....

I'll admit, we are difficult to "spot" as 98% will stay up in Canada, and with only 20 million English speaking Canadians, that makes Canadians very rare cookies.......

You are lucky if you actually incounter one......lol...

Does this help your problem?

Answer 3

Frickin' Ay, man, that's not only Canadians.
The litmus test is still to get three guys into a cab, and when they get where they're going will they spend 15 minutes arguing about how to equitably split a $1.83 tip 3 ways?
Y = Canadians, N = Americans.

Answer 4

Hey, mate !!!
Where the fun has been landed, ey ?
A very broad incidents of the like occur all over the world, today, but let me tell you this
: The difference between a frenchman and a swissman is this : when a frenchman saluts (greets) another, says "Aurevoir" ( see you ). The swiis, instead, says "a Dieu", meaning: see you in Paradise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is that ???? ( I don't know ).

Ciao........John-John.

Answer 5

Canadian is a gringo looking (most of the time), mostly English sepaking person who enjoys diversity (as opposed to oppresive US unanimity), doesn't want to kill you as his/her first instance, enjoys the outdoors (the rougher the better) and can be seen holding a Tim Horton's cup of hot coffee not matter how hot the summer.

Answer 6

How can you spot a Canadian?

If they are in Cuba and in Europe, they are warmly welcomed.

Answer 7

Thats good.

Answer 8

Canadians, can often be found grazing near tall grassy areas and lush forests. They can sometimes be difficult to detect because of there defense mechanism which allows then to blend into the environment.