How funny, Chris. You must be right on. Our friends are from Kirkland Lake, Ontario. Beth Benoit
On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 10:31 AM, Christopher D. Green <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Allen Esterson wrote: > > On 4 April 2008 Beth Benoit wrote [snip]: > > > I have friends from Canada who say "aboot," "hoose" (for house). > > > Don't know if this is relevant to Canada, but it sounds like Scottish > English, as in the well know 'saying', "There's a moose loose aboot the > hoose" > > > > Yes, Allen, it is almost certainly of Scots origin. Scots were the > dominant ethnic group in English Canada for long while (just look at the > names of the early Prime Ministers). But the sound is not really "oo." It is > subtle and hard to render phonetically. It is just a slightly "tenser" (to > use the linguistic term) "ou" (or "ow") than the very "lax" (again, to use > the linguistic term) American version of the same sound (and almost all > other vowel sounds). For Americans, if you set your lips like you were about > to say "oh" and then say "ow" through that apature, you get about the right > sound. But it is not universal across Canada. You hear it now in some parts > of "old" rural and small town Canada (northern Ontario, parts of the Ottawa > valley and back to Kingston, the farmlands of the prairies), and even in > those places, it is not universal. I almost never hear it in and around > Toronto, nor did I hear it much when I lived in Montreal (and it was still > "legal" to speak English on the street) and Vancouver. It is rapidly dying > out, the "victim" of massive immigration into Canada (42% of Toronto is now > made up of "visible minorities") and of imported TV and movies from the US. > > Chris > -- > > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > > > "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or > her views." > > - Melissa Lane, in a *Guardian* obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton > > ================================= > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
