Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Honestly I've never heard that and that. In fact one of the very first questions I find Americans ask someone is
" where y'all ( in some cases LOL ) from? "
Y'all is a Southern/Texan word. It's become popular in California only recently. Just like the word howdy, it's understood to be a kind of cowboy word that you use when you want to sound a bit Texan and cowboy.
Otherwise, Californians say you guys. Not all Californians say hella, either. Only Northern Californians and Southern Californians mocking San Franciscans.
If you hear a Californian drawl his vowels then chances are, he is either originally from the South or he's from Bakersfield. Bakersfield is that one linguisitc outlier of California where people actually sound a bit like Texans because during the Great Depressions hordes of Oklahomans, and some Texans and Arkansans, fled to Bakersfield.
As a New Yorker, I will chime in to say that no one I have known has considered the Quebecois accent (of spoken English) to be the default Canadian accent. If anything, that would be the accent of the GTA east to Ottawa*.
To me, most Canadians tend to sound like Canadian counterparts to the regions across the border (and vice versa), which is to say that while Canadian accents are distinct from American accents, there is also an East-West accent continuum of the shared greater Anglo-North American accent paradigm.
*edit: Not that I am saying GTA and Ottawa are the same accent!
Last edited by ABQConvict; 08-25-2020 at 12:33 PM..
I find most Americans say Fra Jill and most say foy Yer. However like I said, both are said in the US, but I have never heard a Canadian say Foy Yer.
True, I was homeschooled by my mom for five years, and she's from Hong Kong. Probably picked up some subtle UK influenced speech patterns from her that my public school educated peers didn't have.
There are certainly words that Canadians say differently from Californians but like I said, I also say quite a few words differently from my peers in California, despite having grown up in California. Still, the differences are very subtle, and in a typical 30 minute speech, distinguishing words like sorry, drama, mum, may only appear once or twice, if at all. The difference would.be so subtle that they could easily be mistaken for individual idiosyncratic pronunciations that commonly exist in any large population.
I find most Americans say Fra Jill and most say foy Yer. However like I said, both are said in the US, but I have never heard a Canadian say Foy Yer.
LOL. My boss and I were just talking about this word last week! I told her that the first time I heard "FOY-ER," I had no idea what it was. And then it clicked. There are Americans who pronounce it the way Canadians do, though.
Mind you, years ago when I was going to "cahledge" in Ontario, I worked as a tour guide at a Niagara winery. We always served wines, and one day I served a Merlot. As I talked about the wine, a guest (Canadian) asked me in a slightly annoyed tone why I pronounced it "Mer-LOW" and not "Mer-LOT."
In my experience, virtually no one who grew up in Canada says "orientated". At least under a certain age - and I'm pretty sure you'd be under that age Nat!
LOL. My boss and I were just talking about this word last week! I told her that the first time I heard "FOY-ER," I had no idea what it was. And then it clicked. There are Americans who pronounce it the way Canadians do, though.
Mind you, years ago when I was going to "cahledge" in Ontario, I worked as a tour guide at a Niagara winery. We always served wines, and one day I served a Merlot. As I talked about the wine, a guest (Canadian) asked me in a slightly annoyed tone why I pronounced it "Mer-LOW" and not "Mer-LOT."
Wait, I'd say it as Mer LOW as well, try to imitate the French pronunciation more, even though I don't speak French.
That's also a vocabulary difference between Canadian and American English.
In Canada going to college is basically going to a community college, where you might learn a trade for example.
People who go to U of T or UBC don't think they're in college. They're in university.
Whereas in the U.S. in informal (and sometimes even formal) speech, college and university are used as synonyms.
Yes. People say "college," whether they're talking about ABC Community College, or Harvard University.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
