The Great Canadian Skyline thread for CMAs 1 million and under

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find Americans say "abahht".

I hear it as "abawht". Also "hawhse". And we won't even mention "sawhry". Americans talk weird.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

http://paulsaulnier.com/photography/...new_brunswick/

I'm pretty sure that's the exact building where I had found that dirt cheap (by non-Saint-John standards for that kind of building) office condo back when we were playing real estate guessing games!

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find Americans say "abahht".

If Canadians don't say "aboot" then it must mean they say "abawht", no?

[kirjtc2]

Originally Posted by Procrastinational

British Columbians also call electricity "hydro" more often than not. It's a very Canadian thing. I've never heard it anywhere else.

I think it depends a lot on whether your province's power company has the word "Hydro" in its name. In NB, where it doesn't, we tend to call it "power".

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by lio45

If Canadians don't say "aboot" then it must mean they say "abawht", no?

Nope. We make a sound all our own.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Beedok

I guess the site I read was wrong about BC being one of the provinces to call all electricity 'hydro' then.


I agree with that.


I don't think I've heard transmission towers before.


I say parkade somewhat. I don't think I'm that weird for Ontario.

Oh we say hydro all the time, just never "hydro pylon."

"Hydro lines" is a common synonym for "power lines."

But the towers themselves are transmission towers (or high tension towers).

[Beedok]

Originally Posted by lio45

If Canadians don't say "aboot" then it must mean they say "abawht", no?

No, we actually say 'about' with the 'u'.

[vid]

We call them "hydro towers" in Northwestern Ontario. They're also referred to as hydro towers in the opening line of the song "Shine" by Hamilton, Ontario band Junkhouse.

• Video Link

"We live around the hydro towers
Listen to them singing in the park"

That song is 19 years old now.

Hydro One calls them "Transmission Lines". They don't make any specific reference to the towers since they're just holding up the lines.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

http://paulsaulnier.com/photography/...new_brunswick/

That's the best picture of Saint John I've ever seen.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Nope. We make a sound all our own.

aboat

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

aboat

Nope. If I say "aboat" and "about", they are noticeably different.

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

That's the best picture of Saint John I've ever seen.

Indeed very nice city and the core is surprisingly big for a metro area of 127 000 !

I filmed the St-John Throughway in 2014 :

• Video Link

[Procrastinational]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find Americans say "abahht".

It's closer to "a-bow-t" or "uh-bow-t" with bow being pronounced as it would in "take a bow" (not like "bow tie").

[Spocket]

Well, my two cents is that we don't actually realize we say it. What we hear in the media is a somewhat hyperbolic version of what we say so it doesn't help us hear it ourselves. I've been working with other English speakers from various countries and they occasionally catch me out when they think I say "aboot". I don't hear it but I've been made aware of it. What they hear as "aboot" is actually a schwa sound (sorry, for those of you who don't know what a schwa is...it's something like the "e" sound in "the" and it's also the most common vowel in pretty much every language on Earth) When you make the "ou" in 'about' into a schwa and then elongate the sound, it becomes clear that to other native English speakers we do say something that sounds like "aboot".

[Rico Rommheim]

I've lived in this country most of my life and I've never heard anybody, ever, say "aboot". Ever. I guess that's because I'm in Montreal.


I hear "eh" all the time, from Canadians, from Brits, from Australians and especially from my north-eastern US friends.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

They do NOT put hydro pylons on the road during construction. Those are "traffic cones"!

both are pylons. At least in my vocabulary (hydro and construction pylons).

Nobody says Aboot. Everybody says "eh" or "aye".

[FrAnKs]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

both are pylons. At least in my vocabulary (hydro and construction pylons).

Nobody says Aboot. Everybody says "eh" or "aye".

Here we say : Han ??

[north 42]

I find a lot of Canadians sound almost Scottish when they say "about", at least around here I hear it all the time, so maybe that's where the exaggerated "aboot" comes from. I also hear "aboat" quite often as well from Canadians.

Just watch an episode of Big Brother Canada, and you'll hear just how "Canadian" everyone sounds, even though they're from different parts of the country, they all sound very similar. There really isn't a very big difference in how we talk from coast to coast, just some slight local accents for the most part.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by FrAnKs

Here we say : Han ??

ah, the Joual version of hein.

As my ex-GF used to say: Bain...ouin...Fat que....Aweille...Chus dan marde...pantoute

She mostly spoke in Joual

[Acajack]

Yup.

"Hein" or "han" is the francophone equivalent to the English Canadian "eh" or the American "huh".