# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [March 23, 2014, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/21 "2014-03-23T11:38:36Z")
Yup, vowel-raising. And, yup, it varies across Canada. In case it comes up, note that the typical pronunciation of “progress” as PROE-gress in Canada vs. PRAH-gress in the US is _not_, I think, an example of this (though it may be influenced by it). It’s just a case where a particular word is straight-up pronounced _differently_ – the “o” is seen as representing a different sound in one’s sound inventory, and is\* not\* due to different pronunciations of the same sound (which is the phenomenon that has been discussed so far in this thread). ---
**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 23, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/22 "2014-03-23T13:23:23Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > …I’ve definitely heard the Torontonian “about” and it absolutely is very different from “a-boat”. I don’t have the best ear for accents, though I think sometimes I can hear a Toronto accent. > [@suranyi](#): > > 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. We English-speaking Montrealers don’t sound like the “NYC Accent,” though yes, when I went to NYC I did encounter many people whose accents sounded just like mine. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/23 "2014-03-23T14:57:43Z")
I’ve mostly traveled in British Columbia, though I’ve been to Ontario as well and I’ve noticed this in both places. I also notice “up” is pronounced like “op” and “had” is pronounced like “hod”, both of which sound more British to me. ---
**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 23, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/24 "2014-03-23T15:31:17Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > 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/): > > I’ve definitely heard the Torontonian “about” and it absolutely is very different from “a-boat”. An option I included in my post. It’s the first few words in my post, even. Why not try reading what people write before jumping on them? The fact remains that we have no way of knowing the if **EmilyG** uses vowel tensing or not just from her saying she doesn’t say those words in that way. People are lousy at recognizing how they say things. I know quite a few Canadians who do not recognize their vowel tensing. And I even pointed out that I didn’t recognize how I say things sometimes, so there was no implication that Canadians were especially stupid about this. I don’t know what in the world I said that offended you, as my post was filled entirely with facts. If they offend you, you are offended at the world and not me. The facts remain that Canadian vowel tensing is common, goes unrecognized by many who use it, and is commonly heard as saying “aboot” or “about” to those with a general American accent. The only rational conclusion is that you cannot trust someone just because they think they do not speak with a particular accent feature. I’m sorry reality doesn’t match up with your expectations, but it’s a basic truth of phonetics. ---
**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 23, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/25 "2014-03-23T15:47:21Z")
> [@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. The standard symbols would be no more accurate. We’re talking here about how words are perceived, not how they are actually said. There are quite a few pronunciations that will sound like “a boat” to American ears, few of them actually being [əˈboʊt]. Yet the standard way of writing it would still be /əˈboʊt/, as that’s what is perceived. Canadian vowel tensing just isn’t that regular, and varies considerably across the various accents that use it. Even if we had a linguist who could pin down the exact pronunciation of a particular person, the answer would still be the same. It’s still Canadian vowel tensing. I linked the Wikipedia article in my previous post, if you want to know more. IPA and other standardized phonetic symbols are great tools, but they aren’t always necessary, and often get in the way, especially when you are relying on transcriptions performed by laypeople. They imply a precision that just may not be present, or that the transcriber may not be able to hear. (And IPA isn’t even all that precise. There are many minute variations that it does not cover. You can easily read a perfect IPA transcription of a language and still have the completely wrong accent.) ---
**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:** [March 24, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/26 "2014-03-24T02:27:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > An option I included in my post. It’s the first few words in my post, even. Why not try reading what people write before jumping on them? > > The fact remains that we have no way of knowing the if **EmilyG** uses vowel tensing or not just from her saying she doesn’t say those words in that way. People are lousy at recognizing how they say things. I know quite a few Canadians who do not recognize their vowel tensing. And I even pointed out that I didn’t recognize how I say things sometimes, so there was no implication that Canadians were especially stupid about this. > > I don’t know what in the world I said that offended you, as my post was filled entirely with facts. If they offend you, you are offended at the world and not me. The facts remain that Canadian vowel tensing is common, goes unrecognized by many who use it, and is commonly heard as saying “aboot” or “about” to those with a general American accent. > > The only rational conclusion is that you cannot trust someone just because they think they do not speak with a particular accent feature. I’m sorry reality doesn’t match up with your expectations, but it’s a basic truth of phonetics. Well put. I was gong to respond with a similar post, but you said it better than I could. In ABTM, there was a thread (closed by moderator Colibri, I guess for good reasons) about whether untranslated “business-speak” should be tolerated on this board. Someone pointed out that jargon from, say, mathematicians or plumbers or lacrosse players is tolerated just fine, so why not? It occurred to me that “business speak” feels uncomfortable for many of us because, while we don’t (most of us) identify easily with mathematicians, plumbers, or lacrosse players – so we let them talk their jargon, and we’re not bothered – most of us _have_ had jobs, so when someone uses contemporary biz jargon we’re not familiar with, we kind of feel like it doesn’t belong – it feels “unnecessary.” A similar thing is going on with language. We all speak a language (many of us, more than one), so we all think we’re better than we are at understanding how languages work, and what our own speech patterns are. Not exactly the same thing, but there are parallels, I think. (PS – I think you meant to write “aboot or aboat”) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/27 "2014-04-02T22:57:53Z")
Canadian accent: [Jumpin' Jesus - YouTube](http://youtu.be/dB5cgwTY5ME) ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/28 "2014-04-23T22:56:24Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > 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. Do you have youtube video? I have never heard people speak like that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271/29 "2014-04-23T23:33:57Z")
The ones in Quebec speak so poorly I can’t understand a word they are saying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-canadians-say-sorry-about-and-right-differently/684271.md?page=1)