The little local tells

[kool maudit]

Living over here in the world of border closures and shutdowns prompts feelings of isolation and considerations of foreignness.

In a recent conversation, I discovered a few new "American tells" (sorry but that's the resolution level this works at, at least for me here); one of them, which I am told features in Inglorious Basterds, was as follows:

European: Count to three on your fingers.

Me: (unfolds index finger for 'one')

European: Wrong.

Me: How do you do it?

European: (unfolds thumb...)

Now, I mean... what? I would have never even thought to do that! But apparently, children here lead with the thumb when finger-counting. This is of course barbarous and obscene, but we must try and be cosmopolitan about these things.

Scandinavians, for their part, are often overconfident about their US-inflected English, and my interlocutor was surprised when I told them that I instantly knew they weren't from, say, Ohio.

It turned out they thought that pronouncing "jump" as "yump" was a minor discrepancy that next to no one would pick up on!

But moving on...

As above, so below, so these differences between Europeans and North Americans are mirrored on the lower level by little tells and signs within Canada.

As a longtime Anglo-Montrealer, of course, I am given away by constructions such as "close the lights". While my Canadian raising has faded to almost nothing, it was this that once pegged me as 514 by a Vancouverite I met in Copenhagen; until then, I was some sort of Northern Californian (as it was late 2016, I was glad to exit the US sphere of discussion).

What are the tells and signs from your region of the country?

[jonny24]

I knew about the different counting fingers, my dad's side all does that (his dad moved here from the Netherlands). It doesn't make a difference for 1 and 2, but when you get to 3 it's way easier to have the thumb be one of them. It's one of those things you don't pay conscious attention to, but have just tested, I found that I went 1-pointer, 2-middle, 3-thumb, 4-ring, 5-pinky. But leading with the thumb is probably equally as likely if I don't think about it.

I can't think of any tells though, other than just accent in general.

[SignalHillHiker]

The most obvious one here is accent. The only people I've ever met that I assumed were from here but actually weren't turned out to be from Cape Breton, Waterford/Wexford in Ireland, and the Inverness region in Scotland. And even then, most people from those three places do stand out a little - I've only been truly fooled a handful of times.

Without speaking to people... most of the obvious tells here are a little embarrassing. If the person is exceptionally tall or not white, the odds - though changing - still suggest that they're not from here.

Anyone who uses an umbrella ever kind of stands out as a tourist. Locals have near-universally given up on them due to the wind. You really only see locals use them at fancy functions - Memorial Day, state funerals, whatever else. And if I see someone using them for snow, I'll go out of my way to find out what part of Eastern Europe they're from just to keep that association strong in my mind.

My fave one is actually a gay versus straight thing, which of course isn't accurate but still fun. If you ask a guy to show you his fingernails, and he spreads out his hands like he's laying them palm-down on a table, slip him my number. If he has his palms up, fingers curled back almost like a fist, well I mean you can still slip him my number but I won't hold my breath.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Living over here in the world of border closures and shutdowns prompts feelings of isolation and considerations of foreignness.

In a recent conversation, I discovered a few new "American tells" (sorry but that's the resolution level this works at, at least for me here); one of them, which I am told features in Inglorious Basterds, was as follows:

European: Count to three on your fingers.

Me: (unfolds index finger for 'one')

European: Wrong.

Me: How do you do it?

European: (unfolds thumb...)

Now, I mean... what? I would have never even thought to do that! But apparently, children here lead with the thumb when finger-counting. This is of course barbarous and obscene, but we must try and be cosmopolitan about these things.

There is actually a famous movie scene where a German soldier unmasks an American posing as a Nazi due to a "mistake" he makes when counting to three on his fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Ckh80mLlQ

I actually do it the Euro way. No idea why. I grew up and went to school in Anglo-Canada.

Maybe I used to do it the North American way, but adopted the other way after spending some time abroad?

[thewave46]

Northern Ontario:

As you mention, the 'close the lights' phrase can usually distinguish between those of Anglo or Francophone descent, if the accent doesn't give it away initially.

How local city names are pronounced.

Sudbury pronounced as "Sud-berry" (like strawberry) instead of "Sud-buree" is a dead giveaway you're not a local. I think Calgary "Cal-GARY" as opposed to "Cal-gree" has a similar thing going on.

Toronto as "Tor-on-to" as opposed to "Tronoo"

Ottawa as "Ottawa" instead of rolling the t's into d's.

Relative redneck vibe, but that's not necessarily completely indicative of here. The well-fed body type is kind of a giveaway too.

Canadians/Americans: Washroom versus bathroom/restroom.

Fumbling with identically coloured US bills trying to pay for a coffee has prompted the "You're from out of the country" remark.

Depending on generation of the individual: the use of certain metric/Imperial/US units requires additional processing depending on who you're talking to. A fluid ounce can mean at least two different volumes to me and is rare enough to come by in daily life here (career choice works exclusively in metric) so that can be a giveaway.

[kool maudit]

I prefer washroom, but have defaulted to restroom as it is better understood in Scandinavia. On the Continent, "WC" vay-say is the way to go.

[jamincan]

I know about the counting difference, but the european way seems so much harder to me. When I lift my middle finger my ring finger always wants to follow along. By doing the thumb last, the thumb can hold the ring finger down.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I prefer washroom, but have defaulted to restroom as it is better understood in Scandinavia. On the Continent, "WC" vay-say is the way to go.

It's WC out in Asia as well. I've used the term in Canada by accident, and the waitress looked at me like I was from Neptune.

[MonctonRad]

I'm a Euro-counter myself.

[hipster duck]

Two Southern Ontario subtleties that gave me away in other parts of the country:

When I first moved to Vancouver I was having brunch with a friend and they asked me what I wanted as a egg and bacon combo, so I asked for “eggs over easy and peameal bacon” and the waiter informed me that they didn’t have peameal bacon and then asked if I was an Ontarian.

A long time ago I had a student job in Alberta and asked some of my roommates if they knew how to play Euchre. This outed me as someone from “Eastern Canada”.

[SignalHillHiker]

Never heard of Euchre.

Euro-finger-counting feels strange to me. I can't even raise my ring finger with the thumb already up unless my pinky is already up too But this convo makes me fear I am weird. I count on my fingers by touching my pinky with my thumb (1), then ring finger with my thumb (two), and so on until just thumb is out too (5). My other hand I keep loose and each multiple of five I press one finger against my palm, starting with pinky through to thumb lol

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I'm a Euro-counter myself.

Me too, no idea why.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Me too, no idea why.

It seems to be the intuitive way, to me at least. If you start with the thumb (one) then you just keep moving in one direction. If you start with the index finger, then you have to backtrack to your thumb when you hit five.

[niwell]

I had never heard of Euchre until moving to Ottawa for University. Crochinole seems to be an Ontario thing too, and a particularly Southern ON one at that.

WC is probably a much better term but I can't help but say washroom. Gotten made fun of in the States a few times for that. The type of American who will immediately strike up conversations in "the local" type of bar and loves the fact they met a Canadian also loves to poke fun of Canadianisms (in a good way).

This is a rare one to come up but it's also apparently an immediate tell - the pronounciation of "decal". Americals say "dee-cal" whereas most Canadians will say "deckal" - a source of much amusement.

EDIT: just realized I'm a thumb counter.

[urbandreamer]

Which hand do you count on? Thumb is always #3.

The cool kids played euchre in public school. I've played crochinole with Mennonites in Perth County. (And randomly in Toronto I met a girl who played it, we went on a few crochinole dates.) How about Dutch Blitz!?

[Acajack]

Gatineau is the only place in Quebec that does not use the Montreal-inspired "X et demi" ("and a half") appellation for apartment sizes.

Basically, the bathroom is the half room, and then all other individual rooms are counted as one room each, so you have an "un et demi", "deux et demi" and so on. I believe anglophones in Montreal also say "one and a half", etc.

So this is the rule all across Quebec. Except Gatineau where we use Ontario-style "one bedroom apartment", "two bedroom apartment" etc. Generally shown as "1 CC", "2 CC", or "appartement à X chambres à coucher".

Of course, due to media, culture, family, many or even most Gatinois are familiar with how such things are referred to elsewhere in Quebec.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I'm a Euro-counter myself.

I can't write out the number '7' without putting a horizontal line through the angled portion and I tend to do the same in a 'Z'. Also by default use the 24 hour clock when reminding myself of things or putting an appointment in my online calendar. I haven't gone full fledged euro by referring to addresses as Rideau 99 instead of 99 Rideau or by putting the $ sign after the #'s.

Is that euro enough.? Born in a recently departed member of euro land.

[esquire]

I never understood the point of putting a stroke through a 7 or a Z.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by esquire

I never understood the point of putting a stroke through a 7 or a Z.

It disambiguates 7 and 1 and Z and 2.

[urbandreamer]

Always stroke through a 7 or Z, especially if you do a lot of paperwork. So many people have doubts if it's actually a 1 or 2.