urbandreamer
recession proof
Do you say "eh" often, eh?
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- Thread starter Mystic Point
- Start date
People I know from Calgary say "hey", not "eh". That's always really stood out to me. I've asked them about it, but they don't notice they do it, so they don't know if it's truly a Calgary-ism or not.
nfitz
Superstar
hmm ... you rhymes with few for me ... as does new ...
... not sure how y'all differ between you and few (I don't have a Canadian accent BTW).
Redroom Studios
Senior Member
thats a good observation... my sister lives in Calgary and I've noticed her friends say that too! I think it sounds kinda goofy. I think I've also noticed some friends from Winnipeg using it so perhaps its a more broadly "Prairies" thing.
Dan416
Senior Member
"new", "you" and "few" can't all rhyme at the same time.
"new" can be pronounced "noo" or to rhyme with "few". no one says "foo" for "few".
Although "you" is probably a bad example actually. My mistake.
"to" would be a better example.
"to" / "new" / "few"
victor
New Member
How would you pronounce 'eleven'? 
[video=youtube;5FFRoYhTJQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ[/video]
[video=youtube;5FFRoYhTJQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FFRoYhTJQQ[/video]
EVCco
Senior Member
Fascinating thread!
Speaking as someone originally from London, Ont. - only a couple hours away - I could always detect a distinctly different accent from GTA natives. As has been mentioned earlier, since so many people in Toronto are not originally from Toronto it is hard to detect any distinct accent just from listening to random people on the street. But among people born and raised here there is certainly a different voice (or voices depending on cultural/ethnic background), though perhaps not unique ones.
Speaking specifically of the stereotypical "Gino from Woodbridge" type accent (heard mostly among white folks of often, but not exclusively, Mediterranean-ish extraction), I also notice a very similar accent, to my ears anyway, among many Anglo-Montrealers. I'm wondering if this is an influence of the large anglo exodus from that area, or if it arose here independently?
Someone asked earlier to provide examples of. One for me would deffinitley be Al Waxman (Polish-Jewish Toronto native) from King of Kensington. Although at times he could lay it on a little thick (acting?) In this clip it seems at times to border more on and American eastern seaboard kind of thing:
[video=youtube;CfJec3aY2Mo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfJec3aY2Mo[/video]
At any rate, nobody I grew up with in London ever sounded anything like that. But I hear it - or variations of it - around Toronto all the time.
To a lesser extent another example would be that Mike Holmes guy. Not sure of his specific background, but he seems pretty blonde-hair/blue-eye, Anglo-Anglo. But of course, being a contractor, I'm sure he could have picked it up, if he didn't have it already. I once worked with a Portugese-Torontonian and, after a while, found myself often talking like him!
After 10 years I still feel like sort of an accent-outsider here, but I recently heard myself on radio and thought I was starting to sound quite Torontonian. But, to a native, I probably still sound like a southwestern Ontarian - or some weird hybrid.
One last thing on the California similarity thing: is it just me or was Bob & Doug McKenzie using "like" as a hedge-word quite a bit - even before Zappa's Valley Girl or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc. was popularizing it around North America in the early 80s? Or was "Like" in fairly common at that time already? I was only born in 1980 so I can't speak to how people were speaking before then.
Speaking as someone originally from London, Ont. - only a couple hours away - I could always detect a distinctly different accent from GTA natives. As has been mentioned earlier, since so many people in Toronto are not originally from Toronto it is hard to detect any distinct accent just from listening to random people on the street. But among people born and raised here there is certainly a different voice (or voices depending on cultural/ethnic background), though perhaps not unique ones.
Speaking specifically of the stereotypical "Gino from Woodbridge" type accent (heard mostly among white folks of often, but not exclusively, Mediterranean-ish extraction), I also notice a very similar accent, to my ears anyway, among many Anglo-Montrealers. I'm wondering if this is an influence of the large anglo exodus from that area, or if it arose here independently?
Someone asked earlier to provide examples of. One for me would deffinitley be Al Waxman (Polish-Jewish Toronto native) from King of Kensington. Although at times he could lay it on a little thick (acting?) In this clip it seems at times to border more on and American eastern seaboard kind of thing:
[video=youtube;CfJec3aY2Mo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfJec3aY2Mo[/video]
At any rate, nobody I grew up with in London ever sounded anything like that. But I hear it - or variations of it - around Toronto all the time.
To a lesser extent another example would be that Mike Holmes guy. Not sure of his specific background, but he seems pretty blonde-hair/blue-eye, Anglo-Anglo. But of course, being a contractor, I'm sure he could have picked it up, if he didn't have it already. I once worked with a Portugese-Torontonian and, after a while, found myself often talking like him!
After 10 years I still feel like sort of an accent-outsider here, but I recently heard myself on radio and thought I was starting to sound quite Torontonian. But, to a native, I probably still sound like a southwestern Ontarian - or some weird hybrid.
One last thing on the California similarity thing: is it just me or was Bob & Doug McKenzie using "like" as a hedge-word quite a bit - even before Zappa's Valley Girl or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc. was popularizing it around North America in the early 80s? Or was "Like" in fairly common at that time already? I was only born in 1980 so I can't speak to how people were speaking before then.
adma
Superstar
EVCco
Senior Member
Crazy man, crazy........
Dan416
Senior Member
I don't know why there's so much talk about the Woodbridge accent. We're talking about the Toronto accent. I guess it's more easily identifiable than an accent to all of us would be neutral. The only way to identify a Toronto accent for a lot of us would be to hear someone talk and hear no accent.
Maybe we should all make youtube videos of ourselves so we can hear how we talk? We'd need something standardized to stay though, otherwise it'd be hard to compare. We could do our own version of the following:
from http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php
But that paragraph is rather boring so we should make something more interesting.
Maybe we should all make youtube videos of ourselves so we can hear how we talk? We'd need something standardized to stay though, otherwise it'd be hard to compare. We could do our own version of the following:
from http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php
But that paragraph is rather boring so we should make something more interesting.
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Jonny5
Senior Member
Last night I had dinner with my Great Aunt. She is in her late 70's, was born and raised in rural Halton, as were her parents. I don't know much beyond that except that all of her family lines trace back to England and Scotland. She was a high-school English teacher for 35 years after getting a BA from Queen's and an MA from Western. Needless to say, she is a stickler for correct grammar and pronunciation. Schedule is pronounced "shed-jule", not "sked-jule". "Adver-tis-ment", not "Adver-tize-ment", etc. Which is why I was surprised to hear her order for dinner "Ar-tik" Char (which is a fish, in case you don't know). After asking she happily explained that she never heard it pronounced "Arc-tic" until around 1970. She thinks "Ar-tik" is a genuine Canadian pronunciation and "Arc-tic" only came into use once American TV had penetrated into Canada.
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I've always understood the first c to be silent in Arctic.
kool maudit
Active Member
these usages are not examples of "correct" english in a north american context. they are fussy Anglicisms. they're archaisms, affectations.
Depends on your age. That's how I talk and always have. It's not an affectation.
urbandreamer
recession proof
More likely, your accent is determined by where you originally came from. Descendants from English families will more likely insist on the correct English pronunciation. And why not?