Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau
I would argue that accent works in Canada the way it does most everywhere else: marks you as either an insider or an outsider. It's really the UK that takes class to the next level. Is there anywhere else like it?
If I hear a standard Canadian accent indicating that someone grew up here, then I know I can engage in certain types of banter that I can't otherwise. I've been caught out a couple times, though. Meaning that sometimes paths cross, and an immigrant with whom I'm acquainted and have cheery conversations will see how much more freely and not altogether understandably I interact with born-and-raised Canucks, and I can't help but detect a faint glimmer of disappointment when that happens.
It's not a rigid and all-encompassing "you'll never really be Japanese" dynamic, but it's still there to some degree.
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I can definitely see that happening to a lot of people.
It doesn't really happen to me because I am often subtly "quizzing" people to see what registers with them culturally. So I will drop homegrown references all the time when speaking with someone I know reasonably well. (As such no one who isn't originally "from here" would necessarily think I am filtering my conversation due to them not qualifying for in-group status.)
Been doing this for decades. I even did it when I lived outside Quebec.
It's only happened once or twice that someone actually picked up on it. Even so it was just a bit of suspicion as opposed to "aha! gotcha! you're testing me!".
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