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I remember teachers changing their pronunciation of words when I was in junior high. Suddenly "shed-ule" became "sked-ule," etc. The worst part of it for someone whose first language isn't English is that no explanation was given for it. I had no clue they were switching from British English to American English nor do I know to this day why they did that. Did they think it made them sound more sophisticated?
I also remember Mao Tse Tung changing into Mao Zedong without explanation. I just hated that.
Would you agree that the difference in accent between Seattle and Toronto is far less than the difference in accent between Seattle and Alabama? I think the case for that is self evident, but do we have any dissenters?
Honestly I doubt that most people care about that sort of thing since it's trivial. I'd be more concerned about what kinds of things people are saying, not how their accent sounds when they're saying it.
I don't know how anyone in Canada could be personally acquainted with any Americans for any length of time and not figure out really quickly where they are from right off the bat. It's because of what they say, not how they sound when they say it.
I don't know how anyone in Canada could be personally acquainted with any Americans for any length of time and not figure out really quickly where they are from right off the bat. It's because of what they say, not how they sound when they say it.
With some Americans, it's difficult, because they tend to move around the US a lot more than Canadians move around Canada.
My ex-wife was American (well, I guess she still is), and her family moved from Florida to California to Alaska to Washington to Colorado. And all this before she was 16. What this meant, was that she had picked up so many influences, that it was impossible to pin down where she was from, based on her accent. (Interestingly, she always considered herself to be from Colorado, since that was where she lived more than in any other state). She ended up sounding fairly neutral, like a US newscaster.
But you're right; her vocabulary and pronunciations would sometimes give her away as an American. Our house had gutters, not eavestroughs; she'd buy soda, not pop, at the supermarket; and a certain Toyota car was a SELL-ika, not a se-LEE-ka. The Sunoco chain of gas stations we had in Ontario was SUN-o-ko (like CON-o-ko, properly spelled Conoco in the US), not sun-O-ko, like we said it in Ontario. But while these things gave her away as an American, they didn't pin her down to any particular state. She had lived in too many.
I'd suggest that you have a point, Z, but that it doesn't hold in every instance. Some Americans move too much.
I remember teachers changing their pronunciation of words when I was in junior high. Suddenly "shed-ule" became "sked-ule," etc. The worst part of it for someone whose first language isn't English is that no explanation was given for it. I had no clue they were switching from British English to American English nor do I know to this day why they did that. Did they think it made them sound more sophisticated?
I also remember Mao Tse Tung changing into Mao Zedong without explanation. I just hated that.
There wasn't any formal change to schedule when I was in school. I'm not even sure what pronunciation we were taught actually. I blame ageing brain cells.
It is one of those words that you very rarely hear pronounced "shed-ule" except maybe on CBC radio, but even that is rare now.
Like lieutenant, growing up it was " left-tenant".
Ask for a " serviette " in a diner here now, and you'll get strange looks.
There wasn't any formal change to schedule when I was in school. I'm not even sure what pronunciation we were taught actually. I blame ageing brain cells.
It is one of those words that you very rarely hear pronounced "shed-ule" except maybe on CBC radio, but even that is rare now.
Like lieutenant, growing up it was " left-tenant".
Ask for a " serviette " in a diner here now, and you'll get strange looks.
I don't know that there was a formal change - I just took note of the pronunciation changing without explanation. When you're trying to get the language right you notice things like that. Now I would not be embarrassed about getting a word wrong or be shy about asking why the change but back then things like that really embarrassed me.
Yes, serviette - another one of those words that changed. My husband who is older still says serviette.
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