# Determining If Someone Is Canadian... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2014, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072 "2014-10-21T21:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/21 "2014-10-22T03:14:05Z")
see how they like their fries. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/22 "2014-10-22T03:20:30Z")
Side question: In the northern states, is it fashionable to have a Canadian gardener or housekeeper like it is Mexicans in the southwestern states? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/23 "2014-10-22T04:18:08Z")
they show up in snow shoes. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/24 "2014-10-22T04:19:10Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Also other non-pronunciation things that make sense in American but just seem different. Like saying Grade 7 instead of 7th Grade. That’s been my experience as well… the minor differences in pronunciation are barely noticeable, but I do pick up on a somewhat different syntax… or maybe just differences in idiom. ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/25 "2014-10-22T04:21:19Z")
I find this thread funny as most of the words given are those that I as a Canadian can quickly tell Americans by. It’s a two way street, no doot aboot it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/26 "2014-10-22T04:42:38Z")
Ask them what kind of potatoes they’d have with their breakfast. Pepper your conversation with references to “boot to the head,” “no soap radio” and “t’irty point buck.” As a last ditch, ask him if the Winds of November came early this year. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/27 "2014-10-22T05:33:32Z")
Ask them if they’re from Canadia. You’ll probably be able to guess by the reaction if they’re from Canada. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/28 "2014-10-22T05:59:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Sure way to tell who’s Canadian when you’re in a supermarket: The Canadians are the ones with twelve gallons of milk in their carts. Twelve gallons of \*homo \*milk, specifically. ---
**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/29 "2014-10-22T06:32:34Z")
If they sound American, but use the letter “zed”, they’re Canadian. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/30 "2014-10-22T08:18:14Z")
Canadians are more likely to know the lyrics to “Oh, Canada” than Americans are. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/31 "2014-10-22T09:01:48Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Twelve gallons of \*homo \*milk, specifically. _48 litres_ of homo milk. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/32 "2014-10-22T09:19:33Z")
Set up a [Box-and-Stick trap](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BoxAndStickTrap) with some poutine as bait. Whoever you catch is Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/33 "2014-10-22T09:21:35Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > _48 litres_ of homo milk. 🙂 Touche, or however they say that in Quebec. Don’t know how to do the acute on here… ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/34 "2014-10-22T09:53:38Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Jim B. writes: > > \> . . . they are a very discrete . . . people . . . > > As opposed to Americans, who are mushed together into a single continuum. They say that America is a great melting pot. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/35 "2014-10-22T10:14:49Z")
I can pick out in Ontario accent 99% of the time (note: not an accurate percentage, but c’mon, Ontario is easy if they’re not immigrants). [ul] [li]Cutlery instead of silverware (I’ve started to adopt this habit, too).[/li][li]Older Ontarians will have a Chesterfield instead of a couch or sofa.[/li][li]Hoover has been kleenexed and aspirined. Except Aspirin is still trademarked (but you can’t hear that in their voice).[/li][li]They usually ask for a restaurant bill instead of a cheque (although I adopt this, too).[/li][li]Bread is white or brown (not wheat, although it may be written such on the package).[/li][li]They always have to pay Hydro bills (and Ontario Hydro hasn’t even exist since sometime in the 90s)[/li][li]Not a word, exactly, but sentences very often sound like questions with a rising tone at the end.[/li][/ul] Source: grew up across the river when Sarnia was as easy to get to as Marysville. And having lived there for a year (Ontario, not Sarnia). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/36 "2014-10-22T10:27:15Z")
American here. I have a 3 year old child (almost 4), and for whatever reason a lot of television programming for this age group is produced in Canada. I’ve noticed that an even easier giveaway than the “out and about” thing (which varies from region to region and person to person) is the vowel in the word “got.” Almost every Canadian I’ve met or seen on TV pronounces this vowel differently than most Americans (though it may also exist in parts of, say, the Upper Midwest). The vowel is tenser and shorter, with the lips more rounded, than the American one. The American version is more like “gaht” – its extreme form sounds like California surf-speak. Caillou does in (Quebec), and Wyatt of Super-Why (Ontario), and also the heroes of Paw Patrol (British Columbia). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/37 "2014-10-22T10:39:47Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I can pick out in Ontario accent 99% of the time (note: not an accurate percentage, but c’mon, Ontario is easy if they’re not immigrants). > > [ul] > [li]Cutlery instead of silverware (I’ve started to adopt this habit, too).[/li][li]Older Ontarians will have a Chesterfield instead of a couch or sofa.[/li][li]Hoover has been kleenexed and aspirined. Except Aspirin is still trademarked (but you can’t hear that in their voice).[/li][li]They usually ask for a restaurant bill instead of a cheque (although I adopt this, too).[/li][li]Bread is white or brown (not wheat, although it may be written such on the package).[/li][li]They always have to pay Hydro bills (and Ontario Hydro hasn’t even exist since sometime in the 90s)[/li][li]Not a word, exactly, but sentences very often sound like questions with a rising tone at the end.[/li][/ul] > > Source: grew up across the river when Sarnia was as easy to get to as Marysville. And having lived there for a year (Ontario, not Sarnia). You’re from Port Huron? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/38 "2014-10-22T10:46:51Z")
Here’s a few for you yanks. English speakers in Canada pronounce Montreal differently than Americans. The first syllable rhymes with, well let’s say bunt, whereas in US pronunciation the first syllable rhymes with font. Also, we don’t say pahsta. We say pasta, both vowels pronounced the same. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/39 "2014-10-22T11:27:12Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > But there is one thing that always gives them away, I’ve noticed. Their accent. And there is one sound that is the clincher. “Ou”. Just have them say “How now brown cow” and you’ll know at once. This isn’t foolproof. I know many people who grew up in southern NH who have been asked if they are Canadian and the askers always say they think so because of how ou words are pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072/40 "2014-10-22T11:58:52Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > _48 litres_ of homo milk. 🙂 … in bags. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/determining-if-someone-is-canadian/702072.md?page=3)