Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

:O I'm offended.

First names are for people you've just met.

Friends should get AT MINIMUM buddy or missus.

Keep in mind, I still say "How do you do?" when I'm first introduced to someone. Even I think it sounds like I'm living in the 19th century!

[SignalHillHiker]

I say, "Wha?"

Kidding. I actually clean up quite well. Me mudder had aspirations, wha. Very respected lower-class family (lots of plasterers, nuns, and religious school teachers). So 1/3 of the way there.

But I usually do break out the "How are ya, love?" in formal settings. It breaks the ice, disorients just enough to stand on the other side of their facade for the rest of the evening. Makes the pompous tolerable.

[kwoldtimer]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYMSvyqHHwA

and of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gX3lPSd8Xc

[GlassCity]

brah was just a fun phase we all went through. Bro is forever.

Signal, I actually will start calling my friends homebrew. I will let you know if it becomes a thing.

[Stingray2004]

If the following hasn't yet been posted in this thread... it may 'splain a few thangs...



https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com...84055da85f.jpg

[BretttheRiderFan]

I like how the only Francophone bubble that appears in western Canada on that map is around Falher, Alberta (just an hour from where I grew up).

There are definitely places in the west that are more francophone than Falher.

[SignalHillHiker]

It's a great map - but they obviously didn't put much effort into the Canadian portion. Newfoundland has dozens of dialects, let alone accents. There's no way anyone would ever mistake someone from Marystown for someone from St. Anthony.

Also, Labrador doesn't have the same accent. Even white people there speak with a Newfoundland accent that is heavily influenced by First Nations - and once you're up as far north as Nain, it's all First Nations, and no Atlantic at all.

But the broad strokes of this map are certainly accurate, and fascinating.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by BretttheRiderFan

I like how the only Francophone bubble that appears in western Canada on that map is around Falher, Alberta (just an hour from where I grew up).

There are definitely places in the west that are more francophone than Falher.

Yeah, and the area in northeastern Ontario around Timmins-Iroquois Falls-Matheson isn't really predominantly French-speaking, even though it has a good-sized francophone minority.

The Hearst-Kapuskasing area in the northern part of that region might be qualified as a French-speaking area, though.

Also, northeastern New Brunswick should be a French-speaking area as opposed to mixed. That's more the reality there.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It's a great map - but they obviously didn't put much effort into the Canadian portion. Newfoundland .

There are also inaccuracies with some of the U.S.

For example, south Texas (around Weslaco - the only city shown even though there are several bigger ones) is much more a Spanish speaking area than the area around El Paso and S NM and SE AZ is.

[MonkeyRonin]

It's pretty clearly done from an American perspective.

[SignalHillHiker]

Paddy Daly and Danny Williams having a chat on Open Line.

Two of the most populous accents in the St. John's region.

• Video Link

[kwoldtimer]

So, my word for today is "respiratory". The local CBC Radio guy keeps talking about local cases of the new "res-PIE-ra-tory" virus in young children. I say "RES-pih-ra-tory".

Does anybody else pronounce it with the second syllable emphasized and with a long "I" like that? It's new to me.

[Boris2k7]

Never heard it pronounced like that. They way I say it is like you do, except that it comes out closer to Resper-tory.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm closer to Boris, except it's definitely respre-tory, not resper-tory.

[kwoldtimer]

I checked Oxford on-line and they give the British pronunciation as "Res-PEER-a-tory" and the American as "RES-pe-tory", so maybe this is one where standard Canadian is somewhere between the UK and the USA. But the CBC guy was definitely off.

[BretttheRiderFan]

I say it like "resp-ra-tory".

[Trevor3]

I eliminate the middle "r", RESS-pe-tory.

It seems incredibly cumbersome to try and squeeze that middle "r" in there, I can't make it fit into the flow at all unless I try to speak with a British accent, haha.

[BretttheRiderFan]

My lips and mouth do some sort of weird squeeze when pronouncing it. lol. It's too quick to tell if it's more like "repretory" or "respertory".

What does this even mean about my accent?

[BretttheRiderFan]

I've been told my accent is very much the standard Canadian, almost to a fault. I've interned at radio stations and told my voice is more like a CBC Radio than an FM voice. But I've also been told it's noticeably Albertan, but faster than is typical in the rural area I grew up in.

[GlassCity]

I pronounce every syllable in it RES-pih-rah-toh-ree though I hear that's something most Vancouver speakers do.