OCgringo Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 most Californians now sound like Cheech and Chong I wonder how many reginal accents will get lost in the internet age , long time ago you would only talk or listen to people a couple miles from your home , Now its worldwide with internet radio, youtube etc Its hard for me to tell always living in white southern california with no reginal accents from my friends or their parents when I was growing up... Not the same world now.... OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeTime Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 I think the test is designed to identify a Canadian taking it not so much by a general accent as it is by the way we pronounce certain words. The list featured at least two words that are generally a giveaway for those living north of the border; 'about' and 'roof'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted June 18, 2007 Report Share Posted June 18, 2007 << Anyway, it's news to me that any American could tell I was Canadian. >> I have a friend from Toronto who was amazed that I spotted him as a Canuck the first time I met him. Actually, there are only two main differences between the MidWest US and Canuck accents: the "ou" sound and "eh". The Canadian "ou" is sort of half way between the US/UK "ou" and the Scottish "oo". The only other place you hear that "ou" pronunciation is in Tidewater Virginia, and those folks are easy to spot by their overall Southern accent. p.s. In the 1999 PC game of the year, Homeworld, I was surprised to hear that Canadian accent. Every speaker in it must have been Canadian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McBif Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 Freetime & Flash, Certainly working class guys here in Toronto will often pronounce the word roof with a short sort of "eu" sound and not the standard longish "oo", but it just occurred to me that roofers use the standard vowel sound to describe their occupation! Kinda interesting. Maybe I just don't have the ear for accents. And I can't recall any American acquaintance ever telling me he could tell I was from Canada. On the other hand, as it happens the last time I was in BKK I was sitting in an Internet cafe next to some backpacker kid who was yapping on his cell in a whiny, faggy, peevish middle class manner (maybe he was talking to his parents) and I thought to myself, "Hmmm, by his accent I'd swear that smarmy little turd is Canadian..." Sure enough, it became apparent from the rest of his conversation that he was. Lucky guess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soiarrai Posted June 19, 2007 Report Share Posted June 19, 2007 What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)  My Results:   Northeastern  Most people don't know it but this is actually what dictionaries are based on. If you don't believe me, pick up any American dictionary and look up "source" and "sauce" and you'll see they are written with the same vowel pronunciation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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