Indeed. I grew up in Northern Wisconsin, and there are elements of the stereotypical Canadian accent that could pass for Wisconsinese. 
Every Anglo-Canadian I have ever heard has spoken with a standard North American English accent.
The two main non-standard dialects of North American English are Southern-Southwestern US (e.g. “yawl” for “you all” i.e. “all of you”) and what I term Northeast US Cockney (e.g. “youse” for (plural) “you”). SSE and NEC US are also non-Rhotic, and NEC may substitute the “d” sound for “th”.
A hilarious example of non-Rhotic, non-th NEC English occurred when Bronx native actor Tony Curtis, playing Ivanhoe, or some such medieval knight, intoned: “Yonda lies da castle of my fadah”.
Also amusing is when a Southern Belle says something like “come heah deah” (i.e. “Come here dear”).
There are probably more varied dialects within the United States than there are between the US and Canada. Living in a border state (Washington) and interacting with Canadians (BC and Alberta, mostly), either here or there, I can attest that there is a subtle dialect. More of a “clipped” way of annunciation. But for what it’s worth, I’ve never heard ‘about’ as ‘aboot.’ It’s always sounded like ‘a-boat’ to my ears where I pronounce it as . What do Americans sound like to Canadians?
Apart from the south and north east most americans don’t have an accent (in my opinion).
Yes.
Also, there’s not one Canadian accent, there are several, and I’ve never heard anyone say “aboot,” but there are a couple of vowels that aren’t quite the same and there are some words that are dead giveaways (“sorry”). I don’t notice it as much from people from BC (it’s there, but it’s not as instantly apparent) but people from further east (Toronto, especially) have very noticeable accents.
Allegedly in “The Black Shield of Falworth”, though the line itself is apocryphal:
No.
That should read “most americans speak with the same accent I do (in my opinion).”
HGTV runs a lot of programming from Canada, and, amusingly, one of the telltale words is “house.”
It’s not “hoose,” but it is a longer vowel sound Americans typically use. (Something more akin to “how-oose”).
Living in the SE US, I do not have much interaction with Canadians. But when my youngest daughter (19) was very young, she watched a lot of kids TV that was from Canada (Little Bear, Franklin the turtle, and I believe others I do not currently recall). Anyway, back then I definitely heard the different accent and my daughter grew up saying certain things with that accent. It was funny.
A-boat is one of the main ones I recall.
So, she has more of a Canadian accent than my younger daughter (16) that did not grow up watching those shows (the younger one sounds more Southern).
I don’t think that I’ve ever heard anyone say “aboot” or “eh?”, but I have encountered a few people from Eastern Canada who have a certain Irish-like accent, which seems distinct to Eastern Canada.
Western Canada (Vancouver, that is), I couldn’t tell any difference from anywhere else on the Pacific Coast.
Also, on some of those HGTV programs (such as Love It Or List It), the word ensuite is used to refer to a bathroom attached to a bedroom. That word isn’t often used in the US.
I was surprised when I visited Nova Scotia and I expected the “typical” Canadian accent. What I got from many, but not all, was almost an Irish accent. It has been a while, so I can’t pin down any exact pronunciations, but I remember getting the distinct “It almost sounds Irish” feeling. Also, the guy in the video may not be saying Aboot, but when he says about it is just slightly different from what I am used to.
Some decades ago a Canadian Destroyer Squadron made a courtesy visit to San Diego, and the public was invited aboard the “Q’Appelle” to tour the ship. One of the sailors turned to his fellow and said, “Where’d all these people come from eh?”
(Other Navies have ships that memorialize leaders or events, or celebrate heroic qualities. Only Canada would have a Destroyer named “Who Said That?”)
Indeed. After watching the video, in addition to being thinking “what an asshole”, I also noticed that the person said “fucking retard” in a very interesting flat accent that I don’t normally here in the US (maybe it’s common on the border, I dunno).
My French is a bit rusty, but I believe that “apelle” is French for appellation (i.e., “name”). Je m’apelle Sage Rat. My appellation is Sage Rat.
“Q’Appelle” would be equivalent to “What a Name”.
“Eh” is real, don’t deny it, even though it seems to be mainly an Ontario thing.
Otherwise, the dead giveaway for me is hearing you say “progress” or “process” with a long O sound. That’s the mark of not being just another Minnesotan.
There’s not much difference between CA and OH, but there’s a HUGE difference between Northern “Ohio” and Southern “Ahia”.
There’s not even one Ohio accent, people from the north, south and central regions sound different. My husband had a sports talk show on tv one day, while I was reading in the same room. Without looking up I said “that guy sounds like he is from Columbus” (where I grew up), and it turned out to be Cris Collinsworth, who is from Dayton (another central Ohio city).
I think Canadians have a similar accent to my relatives who grew up in Michigan.
Sometimes I can spot a Canadian by their accent. For example, I knew that Rodney Smith and Kaja Sadowski were Canadians.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t have known Harley Morenstein was a Canadian.
