For me, it works pretty good, especially with folks from Ontario. I could pretty much always tell when a CBC broadcast is on NPR based on that “Canadian raising.” “Aboot” is a pretty piss-poor approximation of it, though, and I have no idea why it’s become the American (US) stereotype for the Canadian accent. I’ve never heard a Canadian say “aboot.” It’s closer to “aboat,” and there’s really two (at least) different versions of it that I’ve heard, one starting the diphthong with more of an “uh” sound, and the other more of an “eh” sound instead of the “ah” sound the diphthong starts with in US English. (For IPA folks, it’s /aʊ/ become /ʌʊ/ or /ɛʊ/). There’s also a tell in the “eye” diphtong, where a similar thing occurs, with the /a/ sound beginning the diphthong is raised from a low vowel (like an /a/) to a mid-low-vowel like /ʌ/ (“uh”) or /ɛ/ (“eh”).
But there are patches of the US that have similar raising patterns, so it’s not 100%, and not all Canadians show this trait of pronunciation, but it is quite common. (Also, it’s not like every “ow” is “raised” in accents showing Canadian raising. It’s only before voiceless consonants, so “about” would become something akin to “aboat,” but “cloud” would stay “clowd.” Which is why “how now brown cow” really isn’t a good test.)
The pronouncing “t” in “often” is an interesting one. It was mentioned in another thread, and I was surprised by that, as I had not noticed it before. Another poster came in to say that it wasn’t true, but listening to Canadian broadcasts since then (mostly CBC radio stuff), I have noticed that the “t” seems to be pronounced there more on the whole than it is in the US. But that could be confirmation bias. Now, it’s not uncommon, in my experience, for people to pronounce the “t” in “often” in the US, especially in deliberate, enunciated speech, but it did seem more prevalent in Canadian English vs American English. I do wonder if this is a feature that can be generalized as a trait of Canadian English, or if it’s more idiosyncratic. (And, yes, of course I realize there are many accents under “Canadian English” as there are under “American English,” but I’m speaking general traits, of course.)
Will Ferguson, in his book, “Why I Hate Canadians” tells a great story about just how Canadian, Canadians can be.
A car leaves the road and falls down an embankment. Sometime later police encounter a woman wandering the road with bumps and scrapes but no recollection of her name or etc. The police have little to go on. But they do notice she seems awfully polite, so, on a hunch they check to see if any Canadians might be reported missing, and sure enough, BINGO, they solved it!
The question he posits is just exactly how deeply is that politeness ingrained in the average Canadian such that, even after a nasty accident and bump on the head that renders one unable to know their own name etc, they still remember their manners?
And should you want to identify a Canadian, there is a very simple and proven method, simply bump gently into them, as though by accident. A Canadian, will, without pause, immediately say, “Oh, sorry!”
Speaking as a recent transplant from the East Coast to Ontario, I’ve noticed that most people here have an interesting way of speaking. If I were to give examples…
It’s true. I figure I out myself as a tourist in the US when I automatically say “Sorry” whether I’ve bumped or been bumped into.
My parents were in the US one time and the store clerk said “Oh you’re Canadian.” My dad asked how he could tell and the man apparently leaned forward, smiled and said “…Eh?”
In the USA, it is pronounced sexy-er. In Québec, which is part of Canada, it is pronounced sexi-é (with the i pronounced as ee), and in the ROC (the rest of Canada) it is pronounced sexy-eh.
If you want to know if a person is Canadian or not, go up to the person and ask “Who is sexier, me or you?” Upon being asked this, a Canadian would not be put out, but instead would put out, so give it a try.
Invite them in. If they take off their shoes they might be. Either way, if they do, you have Really polite guests & should make them food and offer to them something nice to drink.
As I grew up, I noticed that we tend to measure ourselves in Pounds and Feet/Inches while we measure all else in Metres, Litres, Celsius, Kilograms, etc.
So, You need to walk half a Kilometre (not drive since it’s only 15 degrees today) down the road for that 1kg bag of flour and 2L pop, but you’ll choose diet pop cuz you’re a 5’10’’ 230lb fatty.
For me it’s Celsius in the winter and Fahrenheit in the summer, for I took up skiing as an adult after the Imperial system of my childhood was replaced, and I live where there are a great many skiers from northern Europe. I never did learn the whole Celsius scale, so although I understand the significance of the differences between -1C, -5C, -10C, -20 C, -30 C, -40 C (where C and F meet), all I grok concerning the + side of C is that at 21 C I take the Jeep’s top down, at 30 C I overheat, and at 100 C water boils. 50 F I get, 10 C I don’t have a clue about unless I convert it to F.
Very interesting; Celsius is the only system I know because it’s used a lot in all our news media, weather and general conversation. Some of my older peers still think in Fahrenheit (for the warmer days) also, but I’m young enough (under 30) to have never needed to know Fahrenheit at all.
