Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Nathann

I wanted to say I think the Canadian accent is something we develop at a certain age, especially Canadian raising. It seems to manifest at the end of our late teens. I didn't start raising vowels until I was at least 19.. Before that my accent was more American sounding. I find this also occurs in other people. We don't really get our "raise" until we get to a certain age and then our accents gets stronger and stronger as time goes on.

Precisely, at 19, that's when you stop watching Sesame Street, Disney Show, Smurf, American teenage bopper programmes, etc. and actually start talking to, well, other grown-up Canadians and even your own grandparents. A little bit of the "Britishness" starts to kick in.

[Blader]

Today, purchasing wine, the employee, called it wuine, the u sliding into the i, subtle but discernable. She was from a Nova Scotia fishing village near Cape Breton.

[Trevor3]

Phone conversation I just had with the service department at the garage:

Marie: Good mornin' darlin', this is Marie calling from Downtown Motors
Me: Yes, good morning, how are you?
Marie: Good darlin'. Just calling to confirm your oil change tomorrow morning at 10
Me: Got it. Tomorrow at 10.
Marie: Thanks darlin' *click*

Like fingers nails on a chalk board.

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Phone conversation I just had with the service department at the garage:

Marie: Good mornin' darlin', this is Marie calling from Downtown Motors
Me: Yes, good morning, how are you?
Marie: Good darlin'. Just calling to confirm your oil change tomorrow morning at 10
Me: Got it. Tomorrow at 10.
Marie: Thanks darlin' *click*

Like fingers nails on a chalk board.

that's so sweet, though! i like that sort of thing. a lot of working-class dialects in both the uk and north america throw in terms of endearment like that.

my mom always has to remind my english dad not to call waitresses "love".

"she doesn't love you, you know."

"well she might if she got to know me!"

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

that's so sweet, though! i like that sort of thing. a lot of working-class dialects in both the uk and north america throw in terms of endearment like that.

my mom always has to remind my english dad not to call waitresses "love".

"she doesn't love you, you know."

"well she might if she got to know me!"

Like you, I find this more endearing than anything. Certainly not offensive.

Francophone Canadians do that all the time to people they know and even strangers. Not with "my love" (which would be "mon amour"), but with mon cher, ma chère, mon cher monsieur, ma chère madame...

It's most common from older ladies who work in the service industry, but you even get it from young men sometimes. I had a twentysomething bearded guy with a nose ring calling me "mon cher monsieur" and touching me on the shoulder and back last week in a restaurant.

Not everyone here likes this I suppose but it would be weird to hear someone complain about it.

It's kind of part of the scenery.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Phone conversation I just had with the service department at the garage:

Marie: Good mornin' darlin', this is Marie calling from Downtown Motors
Me: Yes, good morning, how are you?
Marie: Good darlin'. Just calling to confirm your oil change tomorrow morning at 10
Me: Got it. Tomorrow at 10.
Marie: Thanks darlin' *click*

Like fingers nails on a chalk board.

Newfoundland would be a less interesting place without those finger nails on a chalk board...

[Architype]

Originally Posted by lio45

Newfoundland would be a less interesting place without those finger nails on a chalk board...

I just read a book which claims that traditional Newfoundland English could be considered a separate "language" in its own right, and is just as valid a language as mainstream Canadian Standard English. (Most Canadians cannot understand the outport dialect as it's commonly spoken.) This is based on the fact that both Canadian Standard English and Newfoundland English evolved separately from the languages of the British Isles.

[kwoldtimer]

It would be interesting to know more about the reasons for considering it a language. I've always considered it one of many English dialects, at least at the level that is shared across the island.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

It would be interesting to know more about the reasons for considering it a language. I've always considered it one of many English dialects, at least at the level that is shared across the island.

I would also consider it a dialect. However, perhaps the large number of words, meanings, and pronunciations that are unique and extant in modern usage make it more than a dialect. The book was written by a linguist, who compares it to Lowland Scots, but the supporting criteria are not well documented for the layperson, and the conclusion seems subjective.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Architype

I would also consider it a dialect. However, perhaps the large number of words, meanings, and pronunciations that are unique and extant in modern usage make it more than a dialect. The book was written by a linguist, who compares it to Lowland Scots, but the supporting criteria are not well documented for the layperson, and the conclusion seems subjective.

I had Scots in mind as I believe it is widely (but not universally) accepted as a language rather than a dialect, but this is based on differences in grammar and hundreds of years of divergent development from standard English.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I had Scots in mind as I believe it is widely (but not universally) accepted as a language rather than a dialect, but this is based on differences in grammar and hundreds of years of divergent development from standard English.

So that makes it a grey & foggy area; even though most would concede that not being able to understand a version of one's own language doesn't make it a separate language.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Phone conversation I just had with the service department at the garage:

Marie: Good mornin' darlin', this is Marie calling from Downtown Motors
Me: Yes, good morning, how are you?
Marie: Good darlin'. Just calling to confirm your oil change tomorrow morning at 10
Me: Got it. Tomorrow at 10.
Marie: Thanks darlin' *click*

Like fingers nails on a chalk board.

I'm spending the week in west Texas and I have started to notice that I get called "sweetie" by (female) cashiers, etc. By now it's happened often enough that I think I can safely declare it's a thing.

I'm actually wondering, and maybe you Newfies will be able to answer this...

... my girlfriend, at home, has two standard words for me, it's either "sweetie" or "cutie". (She's an Anglo, our default language together is English.)

But if "sweetie" is the basic word you use to address random strangers, you kinda have to have a stronger word, no?

I mean, it would be kind of lame -- from that guy's point of view -- if Marie from Downtown Motors calls her lover darlin'. So what's the word you think she uses?

[SignalHillHiker]

I think, overall, it doesn't change much within the home or without to strangers. That's kind of the point, really.

But there are certain words that... fit better either way.

Here, it depends on the couple. I call most women "dear" or "love", and most men "buddy" or "b'y". If they're elderly, then "skipper" for a man.

In a relationship, could be anything... "ducky", "me ol' cock", etc. But usually just "buddy" or "b'y" still. I've never dated a "skipper". So dunno there.

For straight people, "maid" and "pet" used to be pretty common for a man to say to a woman, but that's faded for obvious reasons. "Missus" and "woman" are still very common in a teasing way; but if it's to a stranger, then it's normal and not teasing.

"Girl" is really common too, though mostly between women (not lesbians, but friends). But you do hear guys call their girlfriends that as well.

And if you want to use a local variant of calling your lover "sexy", it's:



(We write a instead of o', but it means o').

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

I'm spending the week in west Texas and I have started to notice that I get called "sweetie" by (female) cashiers, etc. By now it's happened often enough that I think I can safely declare it's a thing.

I'm actually wondering, and maybe you Newfies will be able to answer this...

... my girlfriend, at home, has two standard words for me, it's either "sweetie" or "cutie". (She's an Anglo, our default language together is English.)

But if "sweetie" is the basic word you use to address random strangers, you kinda have to have a stronger word, no?

I mean, it would be kind of lame -- from that guy's point of view -- if Marie from Downtown Motors calls her lover darlin'. So what's the word you think she uses?

I am the U.S. as well and in the South at least, have been getting "honey" from female service staff fairly regularly.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am the U.S. as well and in the South at least, have been getting "honey" from female service staff fairly regularly.

Shortened to "hon" in Baltimore.

[SignalHillHiker]

Thought of this convo:

[lio45]

Now that my statistical sample is larger, I must say I've gotten a bit more "honey" and a bit less "sweetie".

I will also say that when I take a second to think about it, it makes it crystal clear why Canada is "a racist country" based on the fact that that black guy will "get hit on" a heck of a lot more by random white female cashiers and waitresses.

Were I less socially aware, I could easily think that everyone is hitting on me here.

[kwoldtimer]

[QUOTE=lio45;7096073]Now that my statistical sample is larger, I must say I've gotten a bit more "honey" and a bit less "sweetie".

I will also say that when I take a second to think about it, it makes it crystal clear why Canada is "a racist country" based on the fact that that black guy will "get hit on" a heck of a lot more by random white female cashiers and waitresses.

Were I less socially aware, I could easily think that everyone is hitting on me here.[/QUOTE]

What ARE you on about, lio?

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

What ARE you on about, lio?

Lio is poking fun at a now trashed thread.

[Xelebes]

Saw this word used by a local.

crapaknacky