Canajan, eh?

xitomatl

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Oh I saw the thread and had to check in.

Western girl through and through here. I've never been east of Winnipeg (not for any particular reason, just haven't gotten around to it yet). Raised on the prairies, moved to Vancouver, then moved to the kootenays, and now I'm headed back to the coast. Because goddamnit, I left Edmonton for a reason (too damned cold), no sense being in BC and still suffering through snow and 7-month long winters when there's a perfectly good mild winter waiting for me a little further west.

Also, once I got told I type with a Canadian accent. Still trying to figure that one out.
 

crazynance

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hey guys... checking in from just east of T dot, halfway to Kingston. It is May 2-4, you can buy a 2-4 of beer, and if there's a sale, look for a two fer...
If anyone says "Toronto", we know they're not from here. Definitely Terronna, T.O., or T dot, or Town. "I gotta go into Town." I used to think it was big noisy and crowded, but now I've been to London UK and I know better :D.
 

Charles Farley

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hey guys... checking in from just east of T dot, halfway to Kingston. It is May 2-4, you can buy a 2-4 of beer, and if there's a sale, look for a two fer...
If anyone says "Toronto", we know they're not from here. Definitely Terronna, T.O., or T dot, or Town. "I gotta go into Town." I used to think it was big noisy and crowded, but now I've been to London UK and I know better :D.



Trahno :D
 

YukonMike

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I love this thread!
I was born and raised in Toronto and when I moved to the Yukon, I had to lose my Toronto accent. (Everyone laughed at me when I said I'm from 'Taranna'). I've also lived in Thunder Bay and Sault Ste Marie, but now I call Kingston home.

It's nice to know there are a few other syrup suckers in this Cooler.
 

DeaK

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I became a Canadian citizen when I was 14, but was born and raised in Denmark til I was 12. Moved back to Scandinavia for a few years and now I live in the States, but I always miss Canada, 'cause Canadians'll welcome you in with open arms where ever you came from. Eh?
 

Carmy

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Count me in, too.

How do I get out of this one? I'm Welsh and speak Welsh but the accent disappears unless I'm talking to someone with a Welsh accent. Then I revert.

I lived in London, England for a year before moving to Liverpool. The Liverpudlians thought I was Londond born and bred. Then I moved to Bristol six months later and Bristolians thought I was Liverpool born and bred. Now I'm in Calgary, Canada. When I went to the States on holiday, they thought me Canajan born and bred.

I must pick up on accents fast, without being aware I'm doing it. Either that or I'm a darned good mimic. (Must be why, when I'm talking to someone, they give me odd looks. They must think I'm taking the Mick.)
 

Witch_turtle

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Carmy--that whole accent thing is strange but not uncommon. I know plenty of Newfoundlanders (my mother included) who've left the island and whose accents only return when they are speaking to other Newfoundlanders. :D
 

Sheryl Nantus

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Best recent Canadian/American moment with my husband:

Watching "Haven", a show on the SyFy Channel and seeing a new character arrive - female, French-Canadian. With major accent.

My husband turns to me and says, "You were born in Montreal but you don't have that accent." (Note: while I was born in Montreal I'm not F-C. Hungarian-Scot heritage with family fleeing down the 401 in the Great Exodus in the 1970's.)

I start kvetching in my best Jean Chretien accent. A half-hour later, he surrenders.

I still have a hankering for TimBits and poutine.

:D
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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I'm just south of Pittsburgh and the only Canadian for about three counties, I reckon.

My hubby finds my accent "cute". I find his "incoherent".

;)

My husband and I met over the internet. When we first talked on the phone, we laughed at each other's accents. He said I say "buuuuk" and "cuuuuuuk" (for book and cook).

He said "sothewest" for southwest. And out here in Alberta, it's abote instead of aboot, eh?

He's spent so much time in the states with me, he picked up some interesting Texanisms, so that when he returned home, people chuckle at him.
 

Hip-Hop-a-potamus

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Best recent Canadian/American moment with my husband:

Watching "Haven", a show on the SyFy Channel and seeing a new character arrive - female, French-Canadian. With major accent.

My husband turns to me and says, "You were born in Montreal but you don't have that accent." (Note: while I was born in Montreal I'm not F-C. Hungarian-Scot heritage with family fleeing down the 401 in the Great Exodus in the 1970's.)

I start kvetching in my best Jean Chretien accent. A half-hour later, he surrenders.

I still have a hankering for TimBits and poutine.

:D

And hubby does a mean Jean Chretien that always sends me into massive giggles. I think it's required if you're from here, isn't it?
 

anne_holly

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I use "eh" a lot, and am not ashamed. It's really a wonderful word - turn any sentence into an interrogative in one small sound. That's efficiency for you. :)
 

Xelebes

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Eh, looking back, I only use it to start off a sentence. Never to end it.
 

anne_holly

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Eh, looking back, I only use it to start off a sentence. Never to end it.

That might be an east/west difference, perhaps... I am an anglo, but from French country (in the Maritimes), so "eh" is like an interrogative (or a "don't you agree?") at the end of the sentence.

I.e.: "Sure is cold, eh?" or "The quickest way to get there is down Westmont, eh?" "Eh", for me, is only at the front if I am being gregarious, as in, "Eh, it's how I roll!"

Not sure about this... Anyone else from east/west want to weigh in on this?


Also, funny story - I like to include Canadian content in my writing, though I publish south of the border, and have an American husband and American friends, including my beta readers. My full length is set in Canada, and I used "eh?" in the dialogue, only to be told by an American beta reader that I was stereotyping Canadians, and it seemed hoaky, and that "Canadians in real life" don't actually use "eh"... I had to respond: "B-b-but... I do!" :(

I have had to face the fact that I may be a caricature and not a real person, after all.

Since then, I try to avoid it unless I am having someone make fun of Canadians. It seems easier.
 
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Xelebes

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The key is using other words:

Gitch/Gonch
Skookum
Bismarck
Bunnyhop
Sasquatch
Chongo
Urro/Urrow
 

anne_holly

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The key is using other words:

Gitch/Gonch
Skookum
Bismarck
Bunnyhop
Sasquatch
Chongo
Urro/Urrow

haha - yes! I was worried about using regional dialects, as my novel has both Canadians and Australians, which is a lot of dialect to cover, but I find my American readers were pretty savy - and quick to Google what they didn't get. My aim was to not include things that would never baffle to the point of disrupting the flow, but to give some "colour."

ETA: My novel was set in Winnipeg, and my Canuckisms are all eastern, so that took some doing - luckily, I had some kindly westerners willing to help me with that. :)

Also, I have given up trying to spell in American - I just convert in proofing. My publisher didn't ask me to do that, but I figured it was polite to do so since they were kindly hosting me.
 

Xelebes

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If it's set in Canada with a Canadian narrator, it's best to use Canadian spelling. Gives the book more authenticity to the reader, yanno?
 

anne_holly

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If it's set in Canada with a Canadian narrator, it's best to use Canadian spelling. Gives the book more authenticity to the reader, yanno?

Yes, I thought about that, and will talk it over with my editor, but I didn't want the Yanks to think I was just a bad speller. I think I am the only Canuck author there who actually places my books in Canada.

But you may be right... Will consider it, and see what my editor suggests. TY.
 

BardSkye

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I think I am the only Canuck author there who actually places my books in Canada.

Nope. Carmy's latest is set in Calgary (and a terrific read, too). My last one is set on a Western Canada circuit - Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Regina. My three trunk novels are all set in Montreal.

I use Canadian spelling. If a publisher wants the spelling Americanized I'll do it, otherwise I spell the way I was taught.
 

anne_holly

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Nope. Carmy's latest is set in Calgary (and a terrific read, too). My last one is set on a Western Canada circuit - Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Regina. My three trunk novels are all set in Montreal.

I use Canadian spelling. If a publisher wants the spelling Americanized I'll do it, otherwise I spell the way I was taught.

I meant at my specific publishers. I think most of them are Americans there, aside from maybe another, who I think usually uses American/UK settings. (Not 100% sure, though, as I don't know all the authors.)
 
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