Why do Canadians say "Aboot"? (From a non United statsian)

Dominick Destine·12/18/2014, 6:14:56 PM·2 votes·696 views

Hello. Spanish is my native language, but I learned english when I was very young so I only have a slight accent when I speak... my question is; how come Canadians (Who speak English as their native language) pronounce words in a way that is unambiguously incorrect?

5 Comments

FHMarshy12/18/2014, 6:29:32 PM2 votes

Please DO define "unambiguously incorrect". Who is to say the way of pronunciation is incorrect when a vast population speak it that way? As a Canadian, I can say everyone who doesn't pronounce that way is "unambiguously incorrect" to me.

Okomie12/18/2014, 6:19:49 PM1 votes

Well, as a Canadian, I can tell you a large part of it is because the first 'Canadians' came here from the UK. A lot of how we pronounce words and how we speak is due to our British blood line. Also, not all Canadians say 'Aboot' or 'Eh'. That is like people assuming everyone in the US speaks like a Hill Billy. We have select provinces that do use the staritypical accent that many countries view as the 'Canadian Accent'. I am mostly Scottish, so even though I was born and raised in Canada, I do have a slight Scottish accent. Another part of it all is that Canada is so open to other cultures and languages, so we all just tend to mingle and mix out accents lol

disregardable12/18/2014, 6:19:53 PM1 votes

They're called regionalisms. :) Things that are correct in a certain place but not in the general language. For example, where I'm from, people will often say "The car needs washed". That is perfectly acceptable English there, but if I said it anywhere else i'd immediately be corrected with "The car needs TO BE washed".