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Albertans have Canadian accents, but they may not be the same Canadian accents as people from Ontario have.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by starLisa: You must not know many Chicagoans. Most of us actually do pronounce it shi-KAW-go. It's other people who aren't from here who more often say shi-KAH-go. Some of them even pronounce Florida as FLAHR-da.
All the Chicagoans I've known (which, granted, is not very many) have pronounced it with the aforementioned Northern Cities Shift, so it either has the vowel in hot or is slightly further forward, about halfway between hot and hat.
Well, a strong city-type accent in Chicago (which I don't have) is sort of the stereotypical mobster kind of thing. It'd be shi-KAWWW-go. And they turn all their "th" sounds into "d". Da Bulls. Da Mayor.
Most natives I know (including me) don't do it to that extreme, and can pronounce "th" just fine. The accent you seem to be describing sounds like more of a midwest twang. Kansas, maybe. Even Wisconsin.
Think of the vowel in the word "form". It's a very light "aw" sound (at least in Chicago <grin>). That's what I always heard growing up, and what I generally hear now.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Hm. I'm trying to remember the Chicagoans I've known, and I can only come up with one, it seems. But he very definitely said "Chicago" with a vowel between cat and cot, which means that he had both the cot-caught merger and the Northern Cities Shift. That doesn't really make sense, though, because apparently most people in the Upper Midwest pronounce cot and caught differently. He must've just been weird or something.
Solo: I didn't mean that Albertans have no accent, just that it's closer to a general American accent (whatever that may be) than the stereotypical Canadian accent. There are still some distinctly Canadian features, though, from what I've heard.
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I totally agree that they (I have been told that I still sound like I am from B.C.) are much closer to U.S. accents than the rest of Canada.
I think the stereotypical Canadian accent is definitely not coming from the west. Think Bob and Doug McKenzie.
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North Cities Shift? Wow, is that just pretensious or is it something big?
I wonder what my accent is. Maybe I should get one... Say, Pakistani? The one way to tell a Pakistani is if he or she talks about getting "wuckets".
Posts: 2978 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Teshi, watch Strange Brew and you'll know exactly what it is.
The first time I saw it I thought the actors were Americans pretending to be Canadians because the accent was so much more extreme than my Canadian relatives' accents. Like, they did all the same things but much more often and much more obviously.
Typical Canadian things are pronouncing the first syllable of pasta and Mazda like gas and has, respectively. Also saying eh a lot and saying out and about funny--though their pronunciation is not "oot and aboot." It's actually closer to "oat and aboat," but even that isn't quite right.
Then there are vocabulary differences: "chesterfield" for "sofa," "toque" for "beanie," etc.
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Two of my housemates are Canadian, one of them definately says pasta like that, as well as java and drama. It always catches me off guard.
Posts: 2867 | Registered: May 2005
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Well, I was born in Chicago, spent some time near Cleavland and most of my teens in St. Louis. The only time my husband makes fun of my accent is on words like Mom and Tom, and those are usually a reflexive thing. Like when I say something about my brother "Tahm". I don't generally say the word Tom in my daily life, or mom for that matter either. So when it does come out, he laughs. You'd think after 17 years, he'd be over it, but he's not.
I'm perfectly capable of saying them correctly, and most often do (no t in often) however, when I'm relaxed or just not thinking, it just kind of pops out. Kind of like a how some people speak perfect English till they are hanging out with friends or get really upset then start swearing in Spanish. You know.
I'd be perfectly able to say hi to Tom Davidson without anyone even noticing. Well, if I were able to meet Tom Davidson, I could say his name without raising eyebrows.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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You know, I've never heard anyone talk about "chesterfields" in my life! It must be an eastern thing or an older thing. "Couch" I believe is preferred, or "sofa". I use "setee" when I forget the other words, but I'm not sure if that's used in Canada.
The other words must be regional accents except for the "Pasta/Mazda/Drama/Java" thing, which I believe is more of a
pasta, Mazda, drahma, jahva thing.
But isn't the italian way of saying pasta the short 'a' way?
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: n. A single- or double-breasted overcoat, usually with concealed buttons and a velvet collar. Chiefly Northern California & Canada. A sofa.
[After a 19th-century earl of Chesterfield.] Regional Note: Chesterfield, a term for a sofa, especially a large one with upholstered arms, was probably brought down from Canada, where it is common. In the United States, it was largely limited to the trade region of San Francisco in northern California. According to Craig M. Carver in American Regional Dialects, the word probably comes from the name of a 19th-century earl of Chesterfield and originally referred “specifically to a couch with upright armrests at either end.” It appears to have come into use in Canada around 1903 and in northern California at about the same time.
posted
I always like divan and davenport myself. Gram had a davenport. I always thought it was the three-season patio, but apparently, it was the couch on the patio. Who knew?
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My grandmother always called her couch the "daveno" (I have no idea how you would spell it) and I've never heard anyone else use that word. I knew that divan and davenport were used for couch, but they seem very strange to me, and I've never known anyone who actually used them. Davenport sounds like it should be a city in New England or something.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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My partner says "aunt" to rhyme with "font". I say it the same as "ant". She insists that the spelling proves her right. So I ask her what you call a piece of paper our daughter has colored on, and the argument ends.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: But isn't the italian way of saying pasta the short 'a' way?
The problem with discussing phonetics in English on a message board is that we have five vowel characters to represent more than a dozen distinct sounds. The letter a is especially problematic because it can represent seven or so different sounds in English. The short-long distinction just doesn't cut it, especially when one speaker may have a vowel shift. I think you all should just learn IPA so we can be sure that we understand each other. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Yeah, I should really get on learning that phonics stuff, because, for example, saying that aunt (ahnt) sounds the same as font is ludicrous to me, although I know what you mean...
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I thought that's what you might be getting at . . . My parents are from the Chicago area and Brooklyn. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Huh. Small world. I grew up in Skokie (until I was 9) and then in Highland Park. I went to high school at Ida Crown. I wonder if I know your Chicago relatives.
Btw, did you know anyone from Versaware in Jerusalem? I worked there for about three years, until it folded.
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quote:Originally posted by starLisa: Huh. Small world. I grew up in Skokie (until I was 9) and then in Highland Park. I went to high school at Ida Crown. I wonder if I know your Chicago relatives.
Btw, did you know anyone from Versaware in Jerusalem? I worked there for about three years, until it folded.
I don't have many relatives left in the Chicago area. The few I do have live in Schaumburg. (Oh unless you count R' Stein and his wife. They're cousins of cousins.)
My mom grew up in Downer's Grove.
I assume Versaware was a software developer, but I don't think I even know of them.
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quote:Davenport sounds like it should be a city in New England or something.
I believe that the name comes from the Davenport Furniture Company, which operated first in Boston and then in Cambridge in the mid to late 19th century.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Now, I always figured that "drawers" as in "a chest of drawers" is pronounced "draws". That's the only way I've heard people around here say it. But when I visited Kansas earlier this summer, I was actually laughed at because of this pronounciation. A "draw", I was told, was a low-lying area on the prairie. A "draw-er" is what I am keeping my socks in.
My family went to Kansas for a family wedding. Straight off the plane, we went into town to the Western Wear outfitters to buy ourselves "cowboy" hats and boots. (We were corrected by the folk who work there. It is not PC to call it "cowboy boots"; they are "Western boots"). So all my New Yorkish family were sitting around the ranch in our hats and boots (my brother even had a vest and neckerchief). Some other out-of-town guests arrived later that evening and came up to us "You must be from the groom's side -- Kansas folk". As soon as we opened our mouths to talk to them, they burst out laughing. We might dress Western, but we tawk pyew-ah Noo Yawk.
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Where in Kansas were you? I can confirm that in NE Kansas, in any case, "drawer" is indeed pronounced "dror" (or in some cases "djror"), but I can also confirm that not everyone wears cowboy boots or hats.
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: We might dress Western, but we tawk pyew-ah Noo Yawk.
Oh, you pretty much do. You have a little of the slightly modified accent of someone who lives in NJ, but the NY accent is still there.
And it's a "draw-er" most places other than the Tri-State area, yes. (Betcha say "locka" too, doncha? As in, "Meiya, put the soder in the locka.")
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
We were just outside Kansas City, in Lawrence KS. We stayed on a ranch, with real buffalos, and real cowboys. In fact, the vest and neckerchief that by brother was sporting were lent to him by a real live cowboy, so they were bona fide!
And, rivka, I speak perfectly normally. Same as everyone else (at least from around here). In fact, I have shed the "worst" of my New York accent. What you were hearing was the "improved" version.
And folk who are not from New York, think that a "New York Accent" is one thing. Genuine New Yorkers, though, are able to distinguish Brooklyn from Bronx from Manhattan, Jewish Ancestry from Italian Ancestry from Irish Ancestry, Black from White from Hispanic, Upper Class from Lower Class. It is much more nuanced than you might think.
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I know that! And I still have a bit of the central NJ accent, but only on a few words.
And never tell my dad he sounds like he comes from the Bronx . . . although watching him react is kinda fun. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I'm from Lawrence--lived the first 30 years of my life there. Was the groom from there also? Where was this ranch?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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The Circle S Ranch in Lawrence Kansas is where all the out-of-towners stayed and where the wedding was. The groom and most of his family are from Missouri, just outside of Kansas City. Name of "West".
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How strange--I've never heard of that place, but it's actually pretty close to a commune I lived on for a little while in the early 90s.
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I've yet to determine exactly what a typical PEI accent is. It seems to be a cross between rural Northern-ish Ontario farmer speech, and Irish descent Newfie speech. Sort of a faster, muffled Bob and Doug.
I would also like to jump in very late and agree that in my opinion the Northern Cities shift "mahm and Tahm" is *not* present in Canada (at least the eastern half). We may say "mom and Tom" with slightly more of an A sound than Americans, but certainly not to the same degree as people from Chicago or Michigan, for example.
And as for the original point of this thread, I've always said ofTen. It seems perfectly normal and unpretentious to me.
Posts: 624 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Kayla: You're mocking me, aren't you.
Well, just a little, and without malicious intent. I hope you're not offended. If you are, please know that I intended no offense, just a little humor.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Then there are vocabulary differences: "chesterfield" for "sofa," "toque" for "beanie," e
I have a friend who is a Minnesota expat who always refers to his Sofa as a "Davenport". It took me forever to figure out what he was talking about but other people from the midwest and Canadia all seemed to know.
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As in, "Meiya, put the soder in the locka.")
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