# Why do Canadians say sorry, about and right differently? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2014, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271 "2014-03-22T08:56:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/1 "2014-03-22T08:56:12Z")
They say these words roughly like “soary”, “aboat” and “reet” or “rate”. My theory is it’s due to extensive Scottish and Northern English settlement in Canada, but then again some people in the highly Scandinavian northern Midwest also pronounce these words like that. A fully realized Canadian accent ala Bob and Doug McKenzie shares a lot of similarities to a Lowland Scottish or Geordie accent. The way Cheryl Cole (from Newcastle upon Tyne) talks is actually very similar to the way some older rural Canadians speak. Thing is most Canadians sound closer to the generic American accent than they do to Bob and Doug but certain Canadian individuals sound clearly foreign to my American ears. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/2 "2014-03-22T09:52:48Z")
Accents are really hard things to get an objective view on - there’s a strong tendency to perceive your own speech as having no accent at all (not saying you’ve fallen into the usual trap of saying this, but the perceptions underlying that common mistake are hard to escape). Also, while Canadian accents were evolving, so were Scots and English ones - and before the advent of sound recording, we can only make educated guesses on the sounds of regional accents (based on how they constructed rhymes etc). The similarities you perceive might be remaining traces of original accents, but they may also new ones (on either side of the comparison) that merely resemble traits in the other - convergent evolution, as it were. To my (southern English) ear, there are some similarities between (some) Scots and Canadian accents - and I perceive what seem to be similarities between some Irish accents and some American accents, but it’s really hard to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/3 "2014-03-22T14:34:15Z")
I’m Canadian, and I say “sorry” as “soary,” but I don’t pronounce “about” as “aboat” or “right” as “reet” or “rate.” And I find that there are some different accents in Canada, not just one accent. When I went to Halifax, I encountered a few people with Nova Scotia accents (though not everyone had them.) And there’s a definite Newfoundland accent. I find that English-speaking people west of the Maritimes tend to sound the same, though. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/4 "2014-03-22T15:16:23Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’m Canadian, and I say “sorry” as “soary,” but I don’t pronounce “about” as “aboat” or “right” as “reet” or “rate.” > > And I find that there are some different accents in Canada, not just one accent. When I went to Halifax, I encountered a few people with Nova Scotia accents (though not everyone had them.) And there’s a definite Newfoundland accent. I find that English-speaking people west of the Maritimes tend to sound the same, though. I agree. “Sorry” pronounced as “Soary” is the only one I agree with (how do you folk south of the border pronounce it?). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/5 "2014-03-22T15:34:57Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’m Canadian, and I say “sorry” as “soary,” but I don’t pronounce “about” as “aboat” or “right” as “reet” or “rate.” > > And I find that there are some different accents in Canada, not just one accent. When I went to Halifax, I encountered a few people with Nova Scotia accents (though not everyone had them.) And there’s a definite Newfoundland accent. I find that English-speaking people west of the Maritimes tend to sound the same, though. You may not, but those with the accent in question would say the same thing, as they don’t seem to notice it. It’s not exactly the same as those words. The point is that it’s more narrow than the way Americans say those words. It’s a known feature of the typical Canadian English: [vowel raising](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raising). My accent actually does something similar, but only in the specific case of /æ/ (a as in cat) before a nasal. It raises to become quite close to [eə] (eh-uh, with “eh” being pronounced like the Canadian word). Yet most people will say they are just saying [æ]. Heck, even though I noticed the difference, it took a while before I could accept that it changed that much. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/6 "2014-03-22T15:36:02Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’m Canadian, and I say “sorry” as “soary,” but I don’t pronounce “about” as “aboat” or “right” as “reet” or “rate.” How about: There’s a _moose_ in the _hoose_ and it wants to get _oot!_😛 (I keed! I keed my northern neighbours!) > [@Canadjun](#): > > I agree. “Sorry” pronounced as “Soary” is the only one I agree with (how do you folk south of the border pronounce it?). ‘Sah-ree’ (more or less). What’s up with ‘fill-um’ for ‘film’? My Summer neighbour says it that way, and a Salish filmmaker I met says it that way. . ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/7 "2014-03-22T16:06:54Z")
Why not? ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/8 "2014-03-22T16:31:43Z")
I’ve never heard “film” as “fillum.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/9 "2014-03-22T16:50:04Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’ve never heard “film” as “fillum.” My seasonal neighbour lives in the Vancouver area. The filmmaker lives on Vancouver Island. I’ve heard one or two other people say it that way in BC. I also heard a British actress say it that way on an episode of (I think) _Foyle’s War_. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/10 "2014-03-22T17:10:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > You may not, but those with the accent in question would say the same thing, as they don’t seem to notice it. It’s not exactly the same as those words. The point is that it’s more narrow than the way Americans say those words. It’s a known feature of the typical Canadian English: [vowel raising](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_raising). > My accent actually does something similar, but only in the specific case of /æ/ (a as in cat) before a nasal. It raises to become quite close to [e] (eh-uh, with “eh” being pronounced like the Canadian word). Yet most people will say they are just saying [æ]. Heck, even though I noticed the difference, it took a while before I could accept that it changed that much. Ooooorrrrrr… Maybe the actual Canadian knows how they pronounce things better than a random non-Canadian person on the internet who’s never even heard them speak? :rolleyes: It may shock you to find out that Canadian linguists have studied their own speech patterns! :eek: And yes, [there _are_ different Canadian dialects](http://dialectblog.com/2012/08/28/yes-canada-has-regional-dialects/): > [@](#): > > Almost all Canadians have Canadian raising (whereby the vowel in ‘about’ can sound slightly like American ‘a boat’). **But around Toronto** the diphthong tends to be fronted (bt or ‘a-beh-oot’), while in **Western Canada and the Prairies** it tends to be back (bt or ‘a-buh-oot’). I’ve definitely heard the Torontonian “about” and it absolutely is very different from “a-boat”. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/11 "2014-03-22T18:01:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What’s up with ‘fill-um’ for ‘film’? I hate that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/12 "2014-03-22T22:03:05Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I’ve definitely heard the Torontonian “about” and it absolutely is very different from “a-boat”. There’s a danger here - unless we use standard phonetic symbols, any comparison like the above is prone to being misunderstood - because people also say “a boat” differently depending on their accent. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/13 "2014-03-23T00:35:53Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > I hate that. yep, “We’re going to watch a fill-um in the lie-bare-ee” ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/14 "2014-03-23T01:36:42Z")
you talk funny when your lips are frozen. ---
**Author:** ![Melchior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/15 "2014-03-23T02:14:39Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I’m Canadian, and I say “sorry” as “soary,” but I don’t pronounce “about” as “aboat” or “right” as “reet” or “rate.” > > And I find that there are some different accents in Canada, not just one accent. When I went to Halifax, I encountered a few people with Nova Scotia accents (though not everyone had them.) And there’s a definite Newfoundland accent. I find that English-speaking people west of the Maritimes tend to sound the same, though. You should hear a strong Kentucky or Tennessee accent, someone saying those same words. Hardly sounds like they are speaking the same language! ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/16 "2014-03-23T03:04:56Z")
I’m a Winnipegger and have been told that I have a somewhat British-sounding tone yo my voice, or, mire specifically “You speak English the way people should sound…” No aboot or oot. My current favorite Canadian “accent” is Cape Breton, it’s like singing. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/17 "2014-03-23T05:07:31Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There’s a danger here - unless we use standard phonetic symbols, any comparison like the above is prone to being misunderstood - because people also say “a boat” differently depending on their accent. Oh, definitely. I really wish that IPA was a lot easier, or that there was a simplified version to make it easier to pick up and use in accent discussions. But I do think my overall point is still reasonably clear even with that issue. Essentially, I know the pronunciation the OP is talking about and agree it’s widespread, BUT I have definitely heard the clearly different - and apparently Torontonian - pronunciation my link describes. So I was disagreeing with the sentiment held by some in this thread that all Canadians pronounce “about” the same way. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/18 "2014-03-23T05:20:17Z")
I’ve spent time in both Montreal and Calgary, and to me the (English speakers) of Montreal sound quite different from those of Calgary. The stereotypical Canadian accent was much more pronounced in Calgary. English-speaking Montrealers sound like New Yorkers. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/19 "2014-03-23T05:37:02Z")
I think lower-class English people may have sounded ‘film’ as ‘fil-lum’ in the very early 20th century ( and presumably up to their deaths in the 1960s or '70s ); but I’ve never heard it myself; and I’ve lent my — 1920s — copy of _Ukridge_ out, so can’t verify. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/20 "2014-03-23T08:22:27Z")
Film pronounced ‘fillum’ is still common in Irish dialects, also northern England and Scotland - there rich/poor or class divide thing happens to include those regions coincidentally. (that is, poor, working-class manufacturing industry was concentrated in the north. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271.md?page=2)