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Old Posted Jan 26, 2014, 4:20 PM
P. Alouishous P. Alouishous is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 136
Quote:
Originally Posted by kool maudit View Post
every time we have a thread about canadian accents, a large number of canadians protest that they don't understand the "about" thing and that it must be due to other canadians from other parts of canada, because where they are it's totally normal.

to me, this only reflects the fact that the canadian "about" is viewed as undesirable. this makes sense in light of its class- and education-related connotations. what giallo said is also true: it's jarring, and doesn't seem to "fit."

were peter mansbridge hired by cnn, they would ask him to flatten out that word, even though his version of the "about" thing is subtle and non-intrusive.

for whatever reason, the canadian "about" is a thing that nobody wants. if you are a canadian in canada, though — and i mean you, not just people-in-your-city or other-canadians, but you — it is extraordinarily likely that you pronounce this word differently than the people you see on tv.
This is true for many Canadians in the US and at home, though few will admit it.
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