Speech pattern and typographical variations across Canada

[Doug]

Every Toews I have known has been a crazy NHL player like big person. Mennonites in general are tall and built.

[SignalHillHiker]

Tall?

I felt like a midget in Winnipeg. I'm 5'7.5" exactly barefoot, 5'8" in shoes as most people see me.

I was horrified. Here, I'm a LITTLE bit taller than average. I go to the mall, and I can see over most people's heads. Winnipeg? I was up to everyone's shoulder.

And SO THICK. I look big compared to most Newfoundlanders. Wider, thicker, bulkier. I looked tiny compared to most Winnipeggers.

With Winnipeggers (on the right pic, I am literally on my tippy toes. Everyone else is bending at the knee):

http://i60.tinypic.com/9fute8.jpg http://i61.tinypic.com/nxm8eb.jpg

With Newfoundlanders:

http://i59.tinypic.com/2jfgho4.jpg

[softee]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I don't really agree with his entire point, but that's irrelevant. What I found interesting is the traditional urban/suburban divide that I always thought was an American thing. I've talked about this in another thread, but it was funny to hear him refer to Toronto as "the hood" and then the suburbs as the safe, affluent communities kind of like you see on TV.

Here in Vancouver, the city proper obviously has gang activity and crime, but I'd say it is predominantly wealthy and safe, and even iffy areas like East Van (NOT to be confused with the downtown eastside) have slowly started to get safer as property values rise. The "Vancouver address" is a frequent marketing slogan. The real municipalities with significant gang activity are Surrey, Langley and Abbotsford, far outside Vancouver, due to being cheaper and having a border with the US.

I don't really have a point to make, it was just something that really jumped out at me. The entire video just seemed to remind me of cities you see in movies, something that never seemed to apply to Vancouver.

That's because at 630 sq. km. Toronto's city proper includes a lot more than just the wealthy inner core (old Toronto). Many of the "hoods" he's talking about are far away from downtown in parts of Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke (Rex), but are still within Toronto city.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Tall?

I felt like a midget in Winnipeg. I'm 5'7.5" exactly barefoot, 5'8" in shoes as most people see me.

I was horrified. Here, I'm a LITTLE bit taller than average. I go to the mall, and I can see over most people's heads. Winnipeg? I was up to everyone's shoulder.

And SO THICK. I look big compared to most Newfoundlanders. Wider, thicker, bulkier. I looked tiny compared to most Winnipeggers.

With Winnipeggers (on the right pic, I am literally on my tippy toes. Everyone else is bending at the knee):

http://i60.tinypic.com/9fute8.jpg http://i61.tinypic.com/nxm8eb.jpg

With Newfoundlanders:

http://i59.tinypic.com/2jfgho4.jpg

The Prairies are taller, especially Saskatchewan. Lots of people with German and Scandinavian heritage.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by softee

That's because at 630 sq. km. Toronto's city proper includes a lot more than just the wealthy inner core (old Toronto). Many of the "hoods" he's talking about are far away from downtown in parts of Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke (Rex), but are still within Toronto city.

Oh, good point. I suppose with amalgamation a lot of the definitions change.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Doug

The Prairies are taller, especially Saskatchewan. Lots of people with German and Scandinavian heritage.

Hey, edited your post. Changed my pics to just links. Hope that's O.K.

[SpongeG]

do all newfies talk like this or just the undereducated ones?

say things such as: where does this belong too? ie where does this go?
my sores throat. ie. my throat is sore

this guy just started at work and 99% of the time i can't understand a word he says i just stand there and have no clue so i say yes or i don't know usually in reply

[esquire]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

do all newfies talk like this or just the undereducated ones?

say things such as: where does this belong too? ie where does this go?
my sores throat. ie. my throat is sore

this guy just started at work and 99% of the time i can't understand a word he says i just stand there and have no clue so i say yes or i don't know usually in reply

14 years ago I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bonavista. The owners were an unbelievably nice couple but I couldn't understand half of what the gentleman was saying. I just nodded and smiled most of the time. He had more than an accent... it was like some kind of different dialect.

So I'm guessing your colleague must also be from a small town well away from St. John's...

[SpongeG]

yeah somewhere on the west coast i think, there are 3 women and 2 guys all from the same area and when i sit with them all its like being in another world lol

its cool and all but me and a few others always leave having no clue what is being said

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by esquire

14 years ago I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Bonavista. The owners were an unbelievably nice couple but I couldn't understand half of what the gentleman was saying. I just nodded and smiled most of the time. He had more than an accent... it was like some kind of different dialect.

So I'm guessing your colleague must also be from a small town well away from St. John's...

Had a funny experience the other day, overhearing a woman speaking with her (very limited English) mother-in-law. Her accent was "East" to my ear, but then she took a phone call from her mother and the accent instantly became totally Newfoundland. Best line: "Oy loves Bernice, but oy just cayn' tolerate 'er. She's so nosey!"

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

yeah somewhere on the west coast i think, there are 3 women and 2 guys all from the same area and when i sit with them all its like being in another world lol

its cool and all but me and a few others always leave having no clue what is being said

There are ton of dialects on this island. There are places where the accent is so thick I can barely understand a word of what is said, and some of those are literally 10 minutes from downtown St. John's. Even different neighbourhoods in the city sound slightly different from each other. I'm from the west coast and have, at different times, been thought to be from both PEI and northern Ontario. Go into Corner Brook and they have a weird thing where the language is normal Canadian vocabulary/grammer construction, but a heavy accent laid over the words. As for use of "my sores throat", I'm betting on maybe Northern Peninsula, hard to really guage without hearing it.

"Where does this belong to" is universal across the island. It's a pretty rational way of speaking in my opinion, though mainlanders get lost in it. Something belongs to something else (ie: This post belongs to me), so no matter where belongs falls it takes "to" with it. You are inquiring who/what the item belongs to.

"What are you going at today" = What are you doing today. Generally if you do something, you go somewhere, and you're at that place to do that thing, so one is going to be at a location/activity, and thus, one is "at something". So we get the phrase "Whaddaya'at?" = What are you at = What are you doing.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

do all newfies talk like this or just the undereducated ones?

say things such as: where does this belong too? ie where does this go?
my sores throat. ie. my throat is sore

this guy just started at work and 99% of the time i can't understand a word he says i just stand there and have no clue so i say yes or i don't know usually in reply

It doesn't really have anything to do with education. Perfectly upper class, well-travelled people here may also talk like this - depending on their religion and region.

"To" is simply how we denote place, whereas "at" denotes action.

What are you at = What are you doing
Where are you to = Where are you located

"I don't know what she's at or where she's to" = I have no idea where she is or what she's doing

*****

"My sores throat" I've never heard. Ever. Or anything even close to it. They were probably just drunk or joking. That's not a local dialect.

*****

Everything here can be traced directly back to some part of Ireland or the United Kingdom. Just put it in quotes, Google it, and see what comes up. You'll get hits from Dublin and St. John's, or Waterford and St. John's, or Bristol and St. John's, or whatever else. It's really easy to find where these things came from/are still common.

*****

This week, for example, is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. In Newfoundland, we put items in the pancakes - if you get a coin, you'll be rich. If you get a ring, you'll be married. If you get a thimble, you'll be single. If you get a nail, you'll marry a labourer, etc.

And we were trying to figure out whether that tradition began in Newfoundland or Ireland and it looks as though it MOSTLY began here, which is unusual. Almost everything can be traced directly back to somewhere else.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

there is a player called toews - but cbc pronounces it taves

anyone i've ever met or known by that surname has pronounced it tows

I've only heard it as Taves.

Just like the name Kroker - pronounced Kray-ker.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

"To" is simply how we denote place, whereas "at" denotes action.

What are you at = What are you doing
Where are you to = Where are you located

"I don't know what she's at or where she's to" = I have no idea where she is or what she's doing

That is so nonsensical to me, I love it!

I'd say, informally,

What are you up to = What are you doing
Where you at = Where are you located

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

.........
*****

This week, for example, is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. In Newfoundland, we put items in the pancakes - if you get a coin, you'll be rich. If you get a ring, you'll be married. If you get a thimble, you'll be single. If you get a nail, you'll marry a labourer, etc.

And we were trying to figure out whether that tradition began in Newfoundland or Ireland and it looks as though it MOSTLY began here, which is unusual. Almost everything can be traced directly back to somewhere else.

I've not seen that tradition associated with Shrove Tuesday, but baking an item into king cakes is a Mardi Gras tradition in some places and some of the same items with the same meanings (eg button = bachelorhood; thimble = spinsterhood) used to be baked into Christmas puddings, including long ago here in Ontario, so I suspect it's adapted from British traditions.

It reminds me of the old custom of baking or inserting a coin into a birthday cake. Do people still do that?

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh, awesome. KW! Thank you.

Erin, our friend from TO, she has already let me know that her Irish Catholic grandparents did it. No connection to NL that we know of, and they did just the coin IN the pancakes.

Most of the Irish superstitions with Shrove Tuesday are more generic - i.e. first three pancakes are sacred, girl who can catch the first in as flip from her pan will get married, etc. Not quite as specific as fortune tokens.

I never thought to explore Mardi Gras traditions! That could perfectly explain where the blending came from!

[SignalHillHiker]

This is a good way to explore the speech pattern variations cross Canada.

Wherever the host is from, she says "house" some weird:

http://bigbrothercanada.slice.ca/watch

The rest, the ones to watch, are Andrew from Calgary, Jon and Kenny and Allison from Newfoundland, and the francophone girl Anick. She's awesome. But these accents are the most different from each other.

Kyle from Nova Scotia and Arlie from (I assume) Ontario have strong accents as well.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

This is a good way to explore the speech pattern variations cross Canada.

Wherever the host is from, she says "house" some weird:

http://bigbrothercanada.slice.ca/watch

The rest, the ones to watch, are Andrew from Calgary, Jon and Kenny and Allison from Newfoundland, and the francophone girl Anick. She's awesome. But these accents are the most different from each other.

Kyle from Nova Scotia and Arlie from (I assume) Ontario have strong accents as well.

I didn't flinch at the woman's "house" (slightly Americanized? black Toronto?) but the narrator's exaggerated version at 1:12 makes him sound like he's swallowing his tongue!

[GlassCity]

I don't know, they say house pretty normal to me. Similar to how I'd say it

[GlassCity]

Hey Signallhillhiker, is Republic of Doyle accurate when it comes to speech and accents?