Why do americans think everyone in canada says "eh?" and "aboot"??

Question

I have never once said "what are you talking ABOOT?" nor do I use the term "eh". I really hate it when someone says Canadains talk like this. When I hear american tv shows portryaing canadians it drives me. Thinking about actually CANADIAN actors/singers, they do not say these things either (ie. pam anderson, avril lavigne, mike myers, shannon tweed, alex trebec, guys from simple plan, etc). So why do americans keep thinking we talk like that?

Answer 1

Well I'm an American and never have given it any thought as to what Canadians say; I thought they basically spoke like us!

Now on to MY PET PEEVE! I am a Southern Girl from the Appalachia mountains and hate it when people automatically assume we all go around hollerin YEEHAW and dress in overalls with straw hats; etc. Of course I am bad for using some of the words only found in the Appalachian dialect; and am the world's worst for using the word WARSH instead of WASH and WENDER instead of WINDOW; and I DO have an accent!

Oh and what really gets my goat is when people pronounce the Appalachian mountains to sound as it it is APP A LAY SHA instead of the way we people who live in these parts pronounce it which is APPUHLATCHIAN.

Answer 2

In the area of the States where I live, much of the exposure that people think they have to Canada is through the movie "Strange Brew". Actually, many of our educational programs on television are from Canada as well, and the people on those programs speak with Canadian accents, but people don't realize it because it's not what they expect.

And, by the way, although the people you've listed are Canadian, they have changed their accents to make them more familiar to an American audience. You should refer to Canadian celebrities who work in Canada to make your argument.

(I personally lived in Canada for a while and when I returned to the States I had acquired a Canadian accent. People made fun of me for a while. It's sad, actually.)

Answer 3

we do not think you all talk like that it is just a recognizable accent just like
southern drawl
new england
accent
new york and new jersy accent
pennsylvanis twang
california has its own accent
i had a friend who lived in northern ohio whose accent sounded canadian i have relatives in maryland that have a different accent
the british accent
the australian accent
south african accent
even in nyc
you can tell the difference from brooklyn queens and the bronx accent
all english speaking people speak english with a different accent
we do not think like that because it is not an important issue
worth spending time thinking about
so i think it is you that has the problem with it
it is a fallacy when you say all americans think that way

Answer 4

Eh?

Sorry, but I'm a maritimer and it is fairly common around here. But then I'm also in the Navy and we have a whole host of expletives with a little more punch than Eh?

Of course ya could be a Newfie bye. (Newfoundlander for you none Canadians).
Or a Caper. (Cape Bretoner, which isn't much different from the Newfie bye, but done tell them's that bye).

Can ya guess which one I am, Eh?

Lord tunderin' I luvs me scallops don't ya knows bye. ;-)

(No Canadian's were harmed in the making of this commercial, 'cause they got's a sense o' 'umour bye).

Answer 5

i moved to canada from europe and to be honest for the most part i can't distinguish canadian accents from american accents (accept for souther US accents which are different). other than that they sound exactly the same to me. although canadians do say eh a lot, i even picked that word up after i moved here.

Answer 6

Honest Canadians tend to poke fun at themselves for talking like that. Well, excepting some stuck-up Canadians who try to talk like newscasters from middle America, of course. Canadian entertainers tend to adapt flat American accents in order to blend in with the entertainment industry crowd. A better question would be ... why are you ashamed of where you come from?

Answer 7

Because most Americans only believe what they hear and are very judgemental about all countries except their own. And before you other people go oh "you hate Americans" I am an American but its true.

Answer 8

That thought has never crossed my mind. I never would have thought that Canadians spoke like that, but then again, I guess I am not representative of all Americans.

I would have to say the cause is stereotypes.

Answer 9

Im from the East Coast of Canada and we say "EH" quite frequently. The comedy Bob and Doug epigtomized the sayin g and it has stuck. Most say By instead of boy. And our dialects are somewhat irrecognizable.

Answer 10

Strange Brew. Good ol Bob and Doug. Might be why heh

Take off eh!