Parlez-vous canadien?
Posted by Michael on 28 Feb 2007 at 11:54 pm | Tagged as: Stuff
A little cross-Canada phrasebook
http://www.geist.com/phrasebook/index.php
My favourite is “eltswhere” for “elsewhere”. If someone were to ask me whether I pronounced it with a t, I probably would have denied it, but actually, it feels natural in the mouth. How do you say it?
I definitely don’t say “eltswhere”. Not sure how you manage to get a t in there — you’ll have to demonstrate next time you’re here.
There was an interesting show on CBC radio last weekend — Russell Smith interviewed a number about “Canadian English”, does it exist. The ultimate answer was, as will surprise no one, no… there are words, such as those collected in the Geist handbook, but many of them are so regionalized that most Canadians don’t use them (or know what they mean, in many cases). There are certainly one-off turns of phrase, etc., but not so many. And the hybrid spelling… is also extremely flexible.
And who in Toronto says “DunDAS?” I live on Dundas and grew up in the city — I’ve never heard it said that way.
I grew up next door to DUNdas, Ont. - same deal.