JRM visits Southshields

[Valka D'Ur]

I've seen you look at the candidates and reason your way through them, even though you never vote Conservative. I would never ever vote conservative either, because they're crazy, they care more about their ideology than making Canada work, and they stand for values I don't support.

I'm talking about people who stick to their party and are driven by ideology. I suppose it makes it hard to not get caught up in the silly left vs right distraction in countries where there are only 2 parties.. so maybe that wasn't a great generalization by me... but.. meh..

Okay, sorry for being snappish - I guess I'm spending a bit too much time on the CBC comment boards where there are far too many people who trot out the phrase "loony left" or "lefty/leftist loons" and as soon as I see generalizations that even hint that I'm basing my votes on "my parents voted this way, my grandparents voted this way, my great-grandparents voted this way, so this way is good enough for me" I tend to lose my temper.

Well, yes. An accent indicates what region a person is from in the UK too.

But the major social divide is between those with a regional accent and those who speak in RP. And the stronger the regional accent the more likely you are to be considered, and to consider yourself, lower class.

As for your "eh", I don't know quite what you mean. I write "Eh?" quite a lot instead of "Wut?" But I fancy you don't mean that.

It means something like "right?" and indicates either a statement or is asking if the listener agrees.

For example, if someone were to make a comment about the weather, he might say, "Nice day out, eh?" The tone of voice would indicate whether it's a straightforward comment that yes, it's a nice day, or if the person is being sarcastic the tone of voice would imply a kind of attitude that clearly indicates that he thinks it's anything but a nice day.

Can you tell whether someone is from the Maritimes, versus Ontario, versus the Prairies, versus BC? I've never noticed any accent differences among Anglophone Canadians - or really much difference between Canadians and Minnesotans, for that matter - but maybe a Canadian can pick up on them.

There are some areas of Newfoundland where the accent is so strong that I can barely make out what the person is saying.

There are other accents in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - I've never heard Aimee speak, for instance, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if she and I have distinctly different accents.

As for Ontario, you'd have to ask warpus about that. I've never been there, and my major exposure to how people speak there is "CBC English" - the way most of the anchors and reporters talk in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation newscasts.

There's not much difference that I've been able to tell among the Prairie provinces. The "eh" thing tends to be something more common with farmers, ranchers, rig workers, and various other blue-collar workers and tradespeople. But it's not necessarily a matter of income - some rig workers and hockey players are very well paid, but they use "eh". But not once have I ever heard any of my teachers or college instructors use "eh."

As for British Columbia, it's a tossup. The interior isn't really distinguishable from the rest of Western Canada. Toward the coast, there will be a variety of accents. And all over the country and in the territories especially, there are plenty of people speaking with Cree, Inuktitut, and other FN accents.

Oh, and "a boot" is what is worn on the foot.

 

[dutchfire]

The guy was on HIGNFY recently as well. I didn't consider him particularly charming.
He goes to South Shields and doesn't visit the Pier?

 

[abradley]

Way back when I was young there were strong regional dialects in the US, not so much now due to mass media and maybe the draft.

 

[Camikaze]

The guy was on HIGNFY recently as well. I didn't consider him particularly charming.
He goes to South Shields and doesn't visit the Pier?

I think it at least takes a degree of sincerity for a politician to go on HIGNFY (or similar shows, for that matter). He struck me as a genuinely well-intentioned idiot, blissfully unaware of how his Etonian existence differs from the norm.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I had to turn on close caption to understand the conversations. I found the video mildly amusing and not dissimilar to what I would expect of Ted Cruz took a walk through flint Michigan to promote his cause. In Flint, though, they might be meaner.