What Exactly Is The Difference Between a Canadian and an American Accent??

Badgermonkey · 28-02-2012 06:35PM

Kristin_87 wrote: »

Additionally using shows like trailer park boys and south park as a reference for a Canadian accent is like using Ps I love you as a reference for an Irish accent. And for the record I've never heard a Canadian person say "aboot" although "eh" does tend to pop up a lot in conversation .

That's a common misconception - many Canadians however will pronounce the word 'about' as 'aboat' and 'out' as 'oat'.

Trailer Park Boys versus PS I Love You is hardly a like for like comparison.

TPB affords viewers an opportunity to hear a distinctive lexicon and phonology present in Canadian English, delivered by Canadian actors. That of course does not mean all Canadians sound like that. It may be Maritime-centric, but it is authentic. As for Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank's Oirish brogue....:eek:

JohnMearsheimer · 28-02-2012 06:37PM

Giv'r!

I lived with an American guy, well he was Hawaiian, in Vancouver and I found it hard to differenciate between his accent and Vancouverites. Generally I could tell if someone was from eastern Canada or the prairie provinces. I think Vancouver and Toronto/Southern Ontario sounded more American to me. One of my friends from Toronto used to do a take off of a culchie Canadian accent, it sounded like a mid western US accent. I got asked a few times by Canadians if I was from Newfoundland.

alastair · 28-02-2012 06:43PM

Newfoundlanders sound pretty much like Travellers. I've yet to hear an American accent that can say the same.

lcrcboy · 28-02-2012 07:04PM

God... wrote: »

Sounds more Irish to me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rIbitJAbQ

A lot of Irish ended up emigrating there and for some reason they were able to hold onto a kind of Irish twang

garancafan · 28-02-2012 07:09PM

To me - the Newfie accent has always sounded as if made up of 1 part Cornwall, 1 part Wexford and 1 part American.

John Doe1 · 28-02-2012 07:18PM

Canadians are the ones that speak french

Sonic the Large Cock · 28-02-2012 07:24PM

ive jus fonished compilin ya spreadshoot with za sole goal of determining whoot exactloy is za dofference betwoon a Conadioon and an Americoon Accent and aport from the pie charts the only answer I can give is aboooot 20

Nerdkiller1991 · 28-02-2012 07:47PM

Well if there's one difference between Canada and the US, it's that they celebrate a different 9/11

http://www.thewrestlingfan.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/119neverforget.jpg

Robdude · 28-02-2012 07:53PM

Mostly it's just how they pronounce certain words. But they also use some phrases slightly different. This is particularly true of slang and less-formal words.

120_Minutes · 28-02-2012 09:05PM

Yanks don't say "hosers"

earpiece · 28-02-2012 09:14PM

Gnobe wrote: »

What is exactly the difference between a Canadian and American accent?

Are they supposed to be different? - - - who said so?

I'b be more worried about the Irish yoof and their little American accents, anyway, I'm off to watch the news noose.

beks101 · 28-02-2012 09:21PM

Canadian accent is a little less in-yer-face, a bit more neutral. They also speak a little slower than your average yank, though I guess it depends who you're talking to.

Colloquialisms can differ too - I hear 'I know, eh?' and 'for sure' at least 20 times a day here.

ajjmk · 28-02-2012 09:31PM

I find that Canadians put more emphasis on T's at the end of words.. thaT, whaT, don'T...

old hippy · 29-02-2012 01:47PM

danslevent wrote: »

I used to not be able to tell the difference but I can a little bit now. I find the American accent immediately very irritating but not Canadian. Canadian accent is almost sweeter or something? All that maple syrup :P

I wasn't aware there was a generic, homogenous American accent. I was under the impression that there are a myriad of different inflections/tones/accents - certainly my family down south sounds very different to my family in the north, or mates from the west coast. My fave accent from the US would have to be Hawaiian, it's such a mix

The King of Moo · 29-02-2012 01:50PM

If you're not sure whether someone is Canadian or American and are too polite to ask, get them to recite the alphabet!

Canadians generally pronounce the letter "z" as "zed," like real people, not "zee."

old hippy · 29-02-2012 02:02PM

The King of Moo wrote: »

If you're not sure whether someone is Canadian or American and are too polite to ask, get them to recite the alphabet!

Canadians generally pronounce the letter "z" as "zed," like real people, not "zee."

LOL. Being American; my mom brought me up to say "zee" - I still get grief for occasionally saying it

The King of Moo · 29-02-2012 02:05PM

old hippy wrote: »

LOL. Being American; my mom brought me up to say "zee" - I still get grief for occasionally saying it

I've always alternated between both, mostly saying "zed." I think most Irish people do, because of the alphabet song. Ending it on "w, x, y and zed" just sounds wrong, so we always said "zee" whenever we sang it in school.

old hippy · 29-02-2012 02:08PM

The King of Moo wrote: »

I've always alternated between both, mostly saying "zed." I think most Irish people do, because of the alphabet song. Ending it on "w, x, y and zed" just sounds wrong, so we always said "zee" whenever we sang it in school.

Since moving to London (12/13 yrs now) I've slowly lost some of the Americanisms I grew up with in Ireland and at long last people hear my accent and they immediately know I'm Irish. Dammit, had to leave my home country to get to that stage :rolleyes:

grenache · 29-02-2012 05:37PM

The Canadian accent tends to be more neutral. Where it isn't, it is more heavily influenced by European accents than the American one is.

admiralofthefleet · 29-02-2012 05:39PM

thats it buddeh

du Maurier · 29-02-2012 05:47PM

The further north you go the more Fargo sounding it gets: "Oh heya, Margie! Howya dooon, Margie!"

Duggys Housemate · 25-03-2012 08:53PM

old hippy wrote: »

I wasn't aware there was a generic, homogenous American accent. I was under the impression that there are a myriad of different inflections/tones/accents - certainly my family down south sounds very different to my family in the north, or mates from the west coast. My fave accent from the US would have to be Hawaiian, it's such a mix

There is a standard American accent unlike other countries - so common is this that I have heard Americans who were born 1000 miles apart ask each other where they were from, in this case it was Idaho/Wyoming and Indiana. A tipp man never has to ask a Cork man - distance 100 miles. The standard American accent is the accent of the large middle groups, and is the accent of TV, most movies, News reporters, radio and so on. The South and East, and rural parts everywhere have regional accents, but most people have very similar accents, as do Canadians.

NewFoundland is not the standard Canadian accent.

People are playing a bit dumb here. If I could find recordings of people - who weren't already famous - and ask where in American they were born, I don't think anybody would get it.