WHAT DO CANADIANS HAVE TO BE PROUD OF?

'Are Canadian and US accents different? Bah!! That's like asking if people from New Zealand and Australia have the same accent!!! Noo!! We pronounce sooo many things differently. We even say the letter 'a' differently.

Me: 'How come every time we talk, the subject of my mum using drugs comes up?'

James: 'It doesn't.'

Me: 'It does though.'

James: 'Yeah, it really does.'

(Ten minutes later.)

James: 'Ha! Your mum on drugs!!!' '

OUR ACCENTS!!! WE CAN BE PROUD OF OUR ACCENTS!!!

Damn, I'm so bored.

Me: 'How come every time we talk, the subject of my mum using drugs comes up?'

James: 'It doesn't.'

Me: 'It does though.'

James: 'Yeah, it really does.'

(Ten minutes later.)

James: 'Ha! Your mum on drugs!!!'

 
alright, i'm willing to believe that but can you ive me some examples?

~A little less conversation, a little more action~
 
Standard Canadian English (except in the province of Newfoundland) is very similar to General American, and it doesn't vary much from place to place. Two features that can help identify Canadians are their pronunciation of /ay/ and /aw/, and a tendency to use rising pitch at the end of some statements as well as questions.

To American ears, the Canadian pronunciation of about often sounds like aboot, but this is only an illusion. Because the more familiar pronunciation of /aw/ is articulated with the tongue in a low position, and because it raises to a mid position in Canadian English when the vowel precedes the voiceless obstruents listed above, speakers of other varieties of English will immediately detect the vowel raising, but will sometimes think that the vowel has raised farther than it actually does, all the way to /u/, which is a high vowel--hence the mishearing (and not-quite-right imitation) of this pronunciation as aboot.

Canadian raising is especially rampant among natives of Toronto, who also have a unique way of pronouncing the name of their city.

For some sound clips lol you can go to:
http://www.yorku.ca/twainweb/troberts/raising.html

Me: 'How come every time we talk, the subject of my mum using drugs comes up?'

James: 'It doesn't.'

Me: 'It does though.'

James: 'Yeah, it really does.'

(Ten minutes later.)

James: 'Ha! Your mum on drugs!!!'

 
French is so awesome... so are French Canadians... It's all good.

'Jenna, trust me, the lightning will not bite you.' - Robin
 
Yeah, but it's cool that you knew! I'm surprised at how many people don't know anything about Canadian history... It's sad.

'Jenna, trust me, the lightning will not bite you.' - Robin
 
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