Saturday night Miss Aislinn and Miss Ange headed up to Salt Lake City to see Good Night, and Good Luck. An excellent time was had, with the exception of the pesky person who chose not to turn off their cell phone. Not only did it ring twice, but it rang and rang and rang. As Miss Aislinn exited the theatre, she stopped in at the ladies room, or should I say the
Yes, read it folks, it does say "washroom." While my Canadian readers might be confused as to why I would need to blog about this, my American readers will understand. I have been teased relentlessly while living in the States for saying washroom instead of restroom or bathroom. The common response is "what is it? A laundry room.. hahahaha." Oh so funny, because, um, yeah, do you really "rest" in the restroom? And seriously, if you do, can I ask why you don't just flush and go when you are done your business. That seems a novel idea to my brother and father, but it is hard for me to fathom why people willingly stay in a bathroom longer than necessary. Okay, back to washroom... so you can imagine my surprise when I saw a sign in a public place in the USA that said washroom. I feel vindicated in my word usage! So shove it all you that mocked me. Now if only I could find public displays of "toque", "holiday" (meaning vacation not a day), and "garburator." As well, I'd like to push the spellings of theatre, behaviour, rumour, and travelling (etc). Oh, and one more thing, perhaps I could ask you all to pronounce it foy-yah, not foy-yer for that word that indicates a lobby. Cheers!
*Before you all jump on me for being a hater, I do prefer the American pronunciation of bag, sorry and drama
27 comments:
There's another way to pronounce drama other than draw-ma? I get mocked for pronouncing it foy-yah but they can't break me down. I will be strong.
I would add to your list of words "queue". I am on a personal crusade to get it into common circulation in my next of the woods.
Oops. Neck, not next of the woods.
yeah i am with you on drama, pasta, bag and all that. I will however continue to call it portaging and not portawging as the french do, as i just feel pretentious when i do, and i am quite used to it by now. i have canoed with more americans at this point than canadians. they have broken me, and i am fine.
sawrry? Oh, aislinn say it isn't so.
of the british lexicon, these are some of my favorites (note the spelling aisy larry - the superfluous "u" alters the pronounciation, like sour, hour, or our, be reasonable):
fortnight - two weeks
knackered - tired (from having sex)
knicked - stolen
pinched - stolen
dear - expensive
daft - silly
canny - good
mint - nice, good condition, desireable
fancy - to like someone
snog - to kiss
shag - having teh (sic) sex
and so on and so forth
elisabeth: it's "garbage disposal"... they've never heard "garburator" and think it is hysterical.
david: thanks to our mother, we have carry-over british words. i often hear my sister's say "daft." it makes me smile. how do you feel about nappy for diaper? i know you're won over on theatre... so we'll split the difference on the "u"
bryce: please forgive me, but really, i enjoy the hybrid of sawry and sore-y. i guess i'm a halfsy on that one (it does sound so much nicer)
graham: i remember the first time you discussed the different pronounciations of portage and i was like "well, what the hell is that anyways?" so thanks for increasing my vocab.
sara: a lot of CDNS say the A in drama like you'd say the A in my name. (i couldn't figure out the phonetic spelling on that one)
Garburator? Are you serious?
And what's a toque?
And I can't believe that there's more than one way to pronounce "bag."
I guess you can just call me the Ugly American!
hahaha... toque is a beanie (winter hat)... and most canadians say bag with a long A sound.
Well how do Americans say "bag"? I can't figure it out.
My American friends make fun of how I say "mom", which I guess I pronounce "mum".
Also, I better stop using the word "knackered" if it means being tired from having sex. I'm generally tired, but not for the reason noted. Kids wear ya down.
Whenever we go to the States I always have to ask my husband, "What do they call bathrooms? Washrooms or restrooms?" Every time. I never remember and always ask for the wrong thing and get the "huh?" look.
Oooh, how I could really get on my soap box about America's phonetically challenged, but I won't because I am still laughing at the word 'garburator'... sorry, ais, it conjures up a really ugly gremlin like creature...eew!
So Canadians pronounce "bag" like it's the beginning of the word "bagel" ???? We Americans pronounce it with a short a, like "cat."
And Canadians wear beanies? This is getting better and better.
yup, that's usually how we pronounce bag, tag, nag etc... beanies as in this kind, NOT this kind
Little sis, I don't know anyone who pronounces bag like the start of bagel. That makes it sound like "beg". I think I need an American and a Canadian to get on a conference call and phone me. I really need this cleared up.
dani, i "beg" to differ... we'll see what we can do. any volunteers who would like to conference call with me and my sister? i promise good times!
Sure, i would be glad to if you want... seeing as i have lived on both coasts.
I promise not to bag on your garburator!
Another Canuck weighing in here...
I don't know anybody that says bag like bagel without the el.
I do think it's funny how Americans say "roof" - with the oo sounding like the oo from look or book, instead of like the oo from boob.
Also funny to me is what happens when I visit my relatives in Kansas. They have *really* strong accents. For some reason I pick it up within fifteen minutes of arrival, but my inner monologue still sounds Canadian, and as a result I develop a speech impediment where my error checking detects that what's coming out of my mouth doesn't sound right and I start stammering.
And then when I go home I have to lock myself in a room with CBC Radio One for several hours to reset myself before I'm willing to talk in public.
When I was first down at school in the states (we call it "The States," and not "America."), some friends got really confused when I was talking about the Canadian flag, because they though I said "Canadian Flake" on account of the hard A.
Here's another one that Americans aren't as familiar with: Gaunch. And on the subject, there's debate among Canucks about whether you say Ginch, Gaunch, Gotch, Gitch, Gonch, or anything like that. I once heard a monthlong debate about it on The Roundup on CBC. Apparently Easterners like Gitch and Gotch, and Westerners like Ginch and Gaunch. Anyone want to weigh in?
Okay, as a Washingtonian that has lived in various states throughout my meager life...New York, being one of them...I feel the need to straighten out those of you that have been poorly informed by some of our more illiterate Americans. (And yes, this is where Rebus gets on her soap box)
Yes, there are many, many, dialects of our language here...but firstly, as an artist, Rus, I can assure you I have never called "colored pencils= pencil crayons". Firstly, they are completely different objects. Pencils being of wood and graphite. Crayons (also a name brand) made of a waxy substance. Secondly, wwwwhat?
Okay, now for the East/West coast derivations:
Bag=(east)bAg-with a short A (west)bag- with a long A
Bag= usually a carrier for groceries made of paper/plastic.
bag= urban slang- to jokingly criticize
Sack= a reusable CLOTH carrier for various items; originates from the old days, when we used them to carry grain or rice. (BUT, both terms are used while grocery shopping these days.)
Queue= International Internet lingo for those of us that play online.
Bagel= (east)bag-el (west)bag-el
Pasta= (east)pasta (west)paw-stew
(East coast)Names: Dawn (female)= Dawn-n Don (Male)= DA-n
dinner=is dinner...
lunch= is lunch...
brunch= a late breakfast/early lunch (I think it is a coastal thing- East/West only, not central states)
supper= only a southern/central states expression
napkin=napkin (Russ-where did you live in WA?)
Soda= soda...sometimes you will come across a POP drinker in WA, but its rare.
(Upstate NY)Juice=Soda. Don't ask...I never figured it out. (They also start and end their sentences with a "s" sound...very strange...then add which ever NYC influence they originated from to the mix...crazy!)
Elementary=(east)ele-men-terry (west)ele-men-tree
Drama=(phonetics=vowel-consonant-vowel) phonetically, we say it wrong as Americans.
Anyway, the list could go on and sorry for the length, just thought I would clarify. Yes, Americans are strange. Who can say which coast is influenced by what. Just as the French and British influenced Canada, our various cultures have created a melting pot of lingo. I think our lingo is more of a melting pot because there were more cultures involved in the beginning. They all had to figure out what everyone was saying. Either way, it's fun to see the differences.
Oops, so sorry rus, you are right about the crayon bit...I was thinking about 'Crayolas', I guess that's another US-thing. We just say crayons. Hmm, so crayon is french for pencil, well what do ya know!
Now i feel all international/french-ish... as I wipe my face with my serviette, secure my toque, and scribble with my crayon! etc. i's been ed-u-kated.
Speaking of pronunciations, whenever i think of canadian pronounciations, i think of minnesotans treatment of the english language. i've got a coworker and some friends from up there and its always interesting talking to them.
mmm poutine, rus, that gives me some cravings. seriously folks, do your heart a favour and get some... cheese, gravy, fries, how could one go wrong?
we're still debating the bag pronounciation amongst my family. i've been asking my transplanted family members who are now living in boston. so ms.kaz, bag may be a bit of an iffy one, but flag (as FJ pointed out) is with a hard A in canada, as is typically nag etc.
rus, good point on the name brand thing that canadians use. one small interesting tidbit is that in calgary we say multinova (name brand) whereas most edmontonians say "photo radar"
RG-do you have some interesting MN pronunciations to share with us?
Apparently only Canadians say "shit disturber," I found rally shocking for some reason.
really? i think shit disturber is a good one.
rally? what is shocking in that?
I meant it was shocking that only Canadians say it because it's so damn good. : )
PurrpleGrrl (sorry, forgot to sign the last one)
plus, excuse the "rally" typo. The whole thing was supposed to read "...which I found really shocking..."
With the political climate in the U.S. I wish to distance myself from the pronunciation in the states.
"bag" and "beg" apparently have what lingists call the "Canadian" shift in vowel sounds.
might i just say that i'm not exactly too sure how, but i somehow came across this site and have spent the last bit of time reading through all these posts and it is quite amausing actually. I'm a Canadian myself and so I'll just let you know a couple of things that I can think of where i'm from....
bagel is pronounced bay-gul
while i know that technically a napkin is called a serviette, nobody ever calls it that
we do wear "beanies" in the winter but we call them "toques", pronounced as "took" (with the same sound for the o's as you would fine in the word
tube").
i might be mistaken but I don't think that anyone has mentioned how, in fact, we do use the expression "eh?"...VERY often.
One thing that really confuses me is that nearly all the Americans I've met, assume that we constantly use the expression "out and about", pronouncing it like OOT and a BOOT. Sooo not true.
Lastly, I found it extremely hilarious. the other day, an american tourist actually came up to me (i was wearing a furry eskimo-type hat because it was extremely cold and windy) and they offered to pay me ten dollars to be videotaped for a split second saying "I'm canadian, eh?".
How random.
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