Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

What's about ''dair''?

''Dat's a nice car, dair dair!''

Oh I hear dat a lot here dair!

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by lio45

When are Canadians supposed to say "eh"? At the end of sentences?

Usually at the end, yeah. In my interpretation it doesn't necessarily turn the statement into a question, but implies agreement or feedback is requested.

"It's a beautiful day eh?", etc.

We do the "là" thing too, but it's pronounced "luh". And it's not as flexible as "eh". You'd really only say it at the end of a sentence where it would be just as appropriate to point.

"She's over there sure luh!"
"Look at that luh!" etc.

I've also heard people here put "eh" - with no H in front, definitely not "hey" - at the beginning of a sentence when the next word is "b'y". Still means "hey" (I assume Canadian "eh" does as well?) but definitely pronounced "eh".

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by lio45

When are Canadians supposed to say "eh"? At the end of sentences?

It can generally be replaced by "isn't it?".

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Usually at the end, yeah. In my interpretation it doesn't necessarily turn the statement into a question, but implies agreement or feedback is requested.

"It's a beautiful day eh?", etc.

We do the "là" thing too, but it's pronounced "luh". And it's not as flexible as "eh". You'd really only say it at the end of a sentence where it would be just as appropriate to point.

"She's over there sure luh!"
"Look at that luh!" etc.

I've also heard people here put "eh" - with no H in front, definitely not "hey" - at the beginning of a sentence when the next word is "b'y". Still means "hey" (I assume Canadian "eh" does as well?) but definitely pronounced "eh".

The Newfoundland ''luh'' definitely merits further study by some linguistic scholar.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Oh I hear dat a lot here dair!

What's even odder is you hear people say dat and dair in eastern and northern Ontario who don't even speak French! (Though they often have French surnames.)

I've been tripped up by this on occasion. I hear someone talking English with what sounds like a francophone accent, and so I switch to French with them, and they curtly respond with a ''I don't speak French!".

[SignalHillHiker]

Same, yeah - out where Trevor3 is from on the west coast of the island. There are still some francophones but most people are unilingual anglophones. But they still have a little French way about them when they speak. "Would you pass me through the door my sweater?", "I love seafood, me.", etc.

[SignalHillHiker]

Shared this before, I think, but it has everything we've discussed on this page.

"dat dere", "luh", etc.

• Video Link

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

What's even odder is you hear people say dat and dair in eastern and northern Ontario who don't even speak French! (Though they often have French surnames.)

I've been tripped up by this on occasion. I hear someone talking English with what sounds like a francophone accent, and so I switch to French with them, and they curtly respond with a ''I don't speak French!".

You are absolutely right about all that!!!

There are so many times I have thought somebody was francophone at first and they could barely speak French. They just had the mannerisms down pat due to their family background or the people they were around.

I have Caucasian friends who grew up in Moosonee and who speak English just like any Cree person does from there. If you were to speak with them on the phone you would think they were Moose Cree.

[SignalHillHiker]

*****

[esquire]

^ Further to Del's comment, I probably mentioned this before, but I once stayed at a B&B in Bonavista where I understood at best maybe 2/3 of what the owner was saying. The rest of the time I smiled and nodded.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Further to Del's comment, I probably mentioned this before, but I once stayed at a B&B in Bonavista where I understood at best maybe 2/3 of what the owner was saying. The rest of the time I smiled and nodded.

I've been to Newfoundland and Labrador three times and found the residents of Bonavista were probably the most difficult to understand. I've been to pretty much all of the island and it's interesting how different each community or peninsula can be in terms of dialect, accent, speed, etc..

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I've been to Newfoundland and Labrador three times and found the residents of Bonavista were probably the most difficult to understand. I've been to pretty much all of the island and it's interesting how different each community or peninsula can be in terms of dialect, accent, speed, etc..

I played hockey growing up here and we got to travel around the island a lot. We played teams from every region of the province - big city teams and the tiniest towns with teams ranked at the very bottom of the province. It's amazing how varied it can be from community to community.

For provincials we were often ranked in with St. John's, Mount Pearl, CBS and Bay Roberts. My second last year we played CBS in the semi-finals - winner advanced to play St. John's for gold - and I can tell you that I never understood a single word spoken by anybody on the CBS team from puck drop to the handshake line (we lost 2-1). Once those guys get going, dear lord...

The BEST was in peewee, the first time we ever faced Bay Roberts in provincials I discovered the entire town cannot pronounce the letter R. The parents had a chant that come down from the stands a couple times each game: "Up the harbouw, wound the showe, come on Bay Wobets, scowe some mowe"

Gold.

[SignalHillHiker]

One of our MHAs added Rs to the end of any word ending in A today.

"We needs ha Librul govemunt ta bring hin idears" Etc.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Acajack

What's even odder is you hear people say dat and dair in eastern and northern Ontario who don't even speak French! (Though they often have French surnames.)

I've been tripped up by this on occasion. I hear someone talking English with what sounds like a francophone accent, and so I switch to French with them, and they curtly respond with a ''I don't speak French!".

My mother said that she grew up saying dese, dose and dat (instead of these, those and that) in the upper Ottawa River valley. And there was a reason. She was from a community of substantial German origin. This came from German native speakers. I believe this also applied to those of Polish descent which was also represented in the same area.

[SignalHillHiker]

We are all out at Magnums. Four NLers and three mainlanders.

Copes just said "hoose" and one of the locals started making fun of him. Then it led into a discussion about how to say "house" "about" etc. Copes and Ayreonaut both CAN they say it our way. They totally did. But they said it hurts their cheeks And jaw and they'd need a massage after lol.

[giallo]

I'll assume Magnums is a bar. If so, that the nerdiest bar conversation I've ever heard of.

[SignalHillHiker]

we also went on at length about salt beef and urban development.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

we also went on at length about salt beef and urban development.

And how the first hinders the second?

[Ayreonaut]

Originally Posted by giallo

I'll assume Magnums is a bar. If so, that the nerdiest bar conversation I've ever heard of.

Dinner actually, but they do have a fine bar as well. (full name is Magnum and Steins)

[Nathann]

I wanted to say I think the Canadian accent is something we develop at a certain age, especially Canadian raising. It seems to manifest at the end of our late teens. I didn't start raising vowels until I was at least 19.. Before that my accent was more American sounding. I find this also occurs in other people. We don't really get our "raise" until we get to a certain age and then our accents gets stronger and stronger as time goes on.