This troper is a Vancouverite and rarely uses eh, mainly only as a context-specific word or to make fun of the Torontonians that have become the Canadian stereotype, eh?

This Chicagoan troper has relatives in Canada and when she went up there she could definitely hear the aboot thing (this was in St.Thomas it's by London,ON) yet didn't hear much of a Eh, in fact, she'd say a Canadian Eh accent is much more prevalent in Green Bay, Wisconsin (which is in fact north of St.Thomas)

This Canadian troper assumes it must be a very localized speech pattern then because she lives in London, ON and rarely if ever hears anyone say "aboot" instead of "about"

Actually, if you really slow it down, there is a bit of an "oo" in there. This Canadian troper (who also lives near London), tried it one day. We say about so quickly that we don't even notice it. To others, however, it is much more pronounced. It's like how a lot of Canadians think Americans say "abat"; to our ears, they do.

According to Wikipedia, it's called "Canadian raising", and it never results in "aboot", but in "aboat", and only "among some speakers in the Prairies and in Nova Scotia". I certainly have never heard it. Although apparently Canadian raising is what makes "rider" sound different from "writer".

This Albertan troper once spent several months working with someone who actually ''did'' literally say 'eh' at the end of ''every freakin' sentence''.

This troper did as well, although she wasn't from Canada.

This British Columbian troper admits that he says eh at the end of every sentence. But not when's he's typing, obviously.

This Manitoban troper is quite the opposite, suppressing the eh in verbal communication, but more often than not inserting it into text, which seems to be quite the giveaway regarding nationality, eh?

This Ontarian troper says "eh?", but in the same way that an American would use "huh?" As in, "It's nice weather, huh?", versus, "It's nice weather eh?" Same inflection. Not in that annoying, stereotypical way, with the annoying, stereotypical accent. You would never notice it. An American might use it in the same way, for crap's sake.

This troper is from BC too, but honestly never noticed people saying "eh" growing up. In the last year or so this troper has heard it come from the mouths of potheads a lot, though. Make of that what you will. And this troper has never been able to figure out the reasoning behind whole American notion that we say "aboot." Perhaps because we don't say "abat" in a broad Memphis twang? Or is it a Back East thing?

Well to this British troper's ears it sounds more like "a boat" - the "ow" vowel sounds like it does with a Scottish accent. I imagine the reason it's noticeable is the close similarity of Canadian and northern-American accents ''other than'' that one quirk. Judging from ''Fargo'', they do it in North Dakota as well.

This Alaskan troper has always heard "aboat" as well, especially from people in Vancouver. There's a slight difference between, say, the KidsInTheHall (Ontario) and [=TSN's=] Dave Randorf ([=BC=]), but I still don't hear "aboot".

People in BC tend to use "hey?" instead of "eh?". It drives this troper up the wall.

This troper is from Winnipeg, living in BC, and hasn't really heard it either. He's much more likely to say 'y'all', in all actuality.

This American troper, who visited Toronto twice and loved every second, was surprised that people there really do say "Eh?" all the time and that it's not some media stereotype.

That's because you were conscious of it. Most people don't say it any more than an American would use "huh?", as in, "It's nice weather, huh?"

This troper, who has lived in Toronto for most of her life, has never heard anyone say "Eh" all the freaking time, with the exception of her mother, who speaks English as a second language.

This Canadian troper admits that the "Eh" thing is true... in Ontario. But of course, Ontario sucks. (This opinion is only amplified the further west you go.)

Not necessarily! This Canadian troper hails from Winnipeg and seems to hate Toronto a great deal more than the Vancouverites he lives around now.

Amen. This troper is also from Winnipeg living in Vancouver, and is ''much'' snarkier about Toronto than people here.

This Troper's father actually refuses to travel through Toronto, wanting to "stay in Canada".

This Canadian troper hates Toronto too, despite living in Southern Ontario.

This troper moved to Toronto after college, and was stunned when most of his new Torontonian friends had no idea where anything outside of Toronto was. They can give you specific directions to any corner or neighbourhood of the city, but as soon as you reach the limits of the GTA you hear things like: "Windsor? Is that past Kingston?" "No, stupid, it's north of Hamilton!"

Psh. But who would need to know where Windsor is these days anyways? As this troper can attest to, it's basically a dying city. Wars between the Union and local government, combined with being mainly supported by a dying industry are making it a dead-end town. Besides, we're practically American down here anyways. Y'know, without the stupid.

The real reason why REAL Canadians hate Toronto: the Leafs. That is all. (SeriousBusiness, obviously)

This troper would argue that it's not the Leafs ''per se'' that come in for the hate, it's "Leafs Nation." The Leafs have been Laffs for the last fifteen years. This hasn't stopped Leafs fans from acting like they're gods on ice, though.

But wouldn't that make Toronto Canada's Boston?

No, Boston is ''good'' now. Try New York. (No, for the last time, [=LeBron=] is ''not'' going to be a Knick!)

Boston isn't nearly as self-hating as Toronto is (fully half the city supports non-Leaf teams, more out of hate / protest towards the Leafs than anything else).

This Torontonian Troper hates you all too, so suck it.

As a general rule if your from somewhere besides Toronto in Canada you will have some moments of hatred for that city. That or Vancouver depends which is closer in my experience

This Canadian troper doesn't hate Toronto, but being from Cornwall, it may just be a matter of glass houses. The Leafs still suck, though.

Goodness! This (American) troper has admittedly never been to Canada (and her opinion of Canada changes at the drop of a hat), but she's never seen such harsh treatment of another part of the country in the U.S. Well, except for those damn Californians.

This troper is from Toronto and loves her city, although she does get were a lot of the hatred comes from (compare driving in a small town to driving in Toronto and yes, suddenly our drivers seem like out-of-control maniacs)... also the Leafs still suck

This troper (and her general area) averts the Toronto hate-on. When you come from Southern Ontario cottage country driving several hours to a place like Toronto tends to invoke a reaction more like "OMFG, A CITY! Culture~ Sports~ Things to see and do~~~". Ottawa, on the other hand, is Love It Or Really, Really Hate It around here.

This Troper is an American who went to Toronto for a week for some downtime, and despite spending many hours outside walking around everywhere, heard an average of one "eh" per day, which is certainly within range of acceptability. However, this was averted the day before I left, as a woman who was very obviously from the prairies by her accent and her excitement at being in the city "eh"-ed it up five times in a 90 second elevator ride. Just totally WildMassGuessing, but I blame Manitoba.

This Northern Ontario troper is ashamed to say "I'm from Ontario" so she instead says "I'm from Northern Ontario" People like you a lot better after that.

You have just become my spiritual sister; This Canadian Troper has had a similar experience when stating where he is from, preferring "Northern Ontario" or "The North". If his father is to be believed, this Troper's aunt used "Western Ontario" (specifically based on the university she attended) when getting a job as a University administrator in Lethbridge.

This british troper has been mistaken for many different things, but being Canadian and American have been the most popular so far. I think it's the hybrid accent that I recieved through watching many Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

This American troper went to school with a recovering Canadian. We had art class together, so we and the other kids at our table got to talk a lot. You couldn't tell she was Canadian unless she told you, but every once in a while, an "eh?" would slip out. I didn't really see a problem with it, but for some reason she was embarrassed, so we called her out every single time.

This dual-citizenship troper (Canadian parents, but born in the U.S.) was told by the Customs guy that she sounded more Canadian than her father when they were going home from visiting her grandparents in Calgary. We both cracked up. Outside of that, this troper doesn't say "aboot" (much) but she does say "soary." And questions tend to end with "eh?"

This Canadian troper would also like to point out that - as verified during her stint on cash at a popular Toronto tourist attraction - Americans think our currency is absolutely hilarious, and a dollar coin called a 'loonie' [because it depicts, well, a loon] positively Chris Rock-worthy. Typical American customer, staring at his palm after being given change: "This must be what they call a loonie! Hey, look, honey, this is the loonie!!"

This American troper suggests that it is because, despite its worldwide reputation, American currency is generally considered to be the most aesthetically ''boring'' form in existence, even with the "makeovers" of recent years. This is in rather strong contrast to Canadian currency, which is so comparatively colorful that it almost qualifies as a psychedelic experience.

Hockey is actually '''on the money!?''' That can't be real.

You don't know Canadians very well, do you? (Actually, the reference is specifically to the iconic Roch Carrier short story 'The Hockey Sweater.)

This Canadian Troper firmly believes that it's the little things like the above Troper's reaction to our "hockey money" that make Canada the ''greatest country on Earth''.

This American troper has a Canadian five-cent piece with a ''curler'' on it. We didn't have this much fun with our money when ''we'' hosted the Olympics...

FIVE-CENT PIECE? It's a quarter (25 cents) for crying out loud. We also have bi-athalon versions, hockey players, hockey players on wheel-chairs, ski jumpers....

We have so many different versions of the quarter that some people visiting never find out firsthand that it usually has a caribou on it.

No mention of the quaters withe the poppies on them? This troper seems to remember quite a lot of people *cough*Americans*cough* thinking the coloured coin was being used to spy on them.

And the Awareness Ribbons.

The reason why people make fun of Canadian money is that it's like your begging us to. British money isn't plain, doesn't have ridiculous names and one of the coins is a Heptagon! One year, you could even put four different coins (5p, 10p 20p and the 50p coins) together and make a ''Shield''.

To this Canadian Troper, coins in various shapes actually sounds ''hilarious''. Could you make other fun images with them? :D

When this troper made her one and only visit to Canada at age eight she was very impressed that the money had a pretty lady on it instead of Dead White Guys. In fact she still has the Canadian coins she picked up on that occasion - it's not like she could spend them after all!

The catch, of course, is that when that pretty lady finally gives up the ghost (and ends the never-ending debate about what crown she should be wearing on the coins), we're going to have the guy who dumped Diana in favour of Camilla on our money. The problem with being topical in currency....

Tell me about it. Sometimes this Troper will still find very ''very'' old coins with pictures of George VI on them. On the bright side, after "the guy who dumped Diana", our currency will come with a side of EstrogenBrigadeBait...

Sure you can. Canadian coin and American coin are exactly the same shape and weight(barring, of course, the denominations Americans don't have), so you can use them just fine in vending machines. Very useful when the $US is worth 50% more than the $CAN.

Actually, aboot 80-101% exchange depending on the day.

Find me an American vending machine made after... oh, 1980 or so and we'll talk. The Canadian and American governments make sure that the equivalent coins are *just* different enough in weight so that you can't swap them. It's not noticeable in your hand, but a vending machine will get you every time. Why, yes, this Troper did go to school in the U.S. ....

The method vending machines use to differentiate American quarters from Canadian is the latter will stick to a magnet, whilst the former will not.

Kinda odd how Canadian change doesn't work in American vending machines, but from this (Canadian) troper's experience, American change works perfectly fine in Canadian vending machines (yes, even recent ones). And even if you can't use them in vending machines, why wouldn't a cashier take it? They always take it here. How else do you think one finds collectable American quarters without going to America or buying them off someone?

Probably related to the above comment about using Canadian coins in American vending machines because their currency is usually higher. Just guessing here, but this troper figures that taking American change at Canadian rates might be very useful...

This troper's best friend's ex-boyfriend (phew) from Virginia used to joke that our money looked like "Monopoly money."

When this Australian troper was seven, he had an expatriate Canadian teacher who spent a day teaching us about her homeland. When the teacher helping her showed us some Canadian notes, they were ridiculed for being not colourful enough. But then the Canadian teacher pointed out that US currency was even more bland and everyone could agree again.

Not just the loonies...they go nuts over the toonies now too. 'You guys have dollar and two dollar coins?' *sigh*

Not to mention the fact that there are "Two colours on the same coin! Awesome!"

This troper's mother once tipped a waitress in California a toonie and showed her what the five dollar bills look like. She was fascinated. And then she told us she was moving to Canada.

This troper was first made conscious of the difference between American and Canadian money when watching the scene in ''National Treasure'' where Ben puts some money on the counter to buy the real-fake Declaration. I thought they were all one-dollar bills because they all looked the damn same! So when he said something like "$32", I was like, "What?" *freeze frame* *lean in real close*

This troper recently managed to convince some New Yorkers that she rode a moose to school and lived in an igloo.

This troper is a Wisconsinite (...yes, that's what we're called). I've managed to convince people from the East Coast that it is constantly winter with at least two feet of snow. We hide in igloos brewing beer and milking cows to make cheese, dodge incoming hockey pucks from the north (aka, you guys), play nothing but polka (including polka remixes of more popular songs like those by Metallica), and telling stories of Chris Farley and Will Farrell.

No bratwurst? Blasphemer!

This troper has been to America three times for marching band tours. The second time, I wanted to smack the idiot who asked me if Canada was someplace in Alaska.

The rest of us apologize sincerely for that.

This troper has an ongoing phenomenon on Fanfiction.net where if he likes a fanfic, it is inevitable that the author is from outside the USA (except for the one that was Puerto Rican, because that's sort of part of the US, even though they compete on their own in international competition). There have been Canadians, Australians, Brits, ''English-Speaking Germans''...just a few days ago, a Dane wrote me to ask if he could use one of my fics as a basis for one of his own.

That's odd. For this Canadian troper, it's essentially the opposite. Six Americans, one Filipino, and the rest don't specify.

Not common to all of Canada, but people who live in the North really do wear ridiculous giant parkas with fur trim in the winter. (Real fur, by the way - synthetic fur isn't warm enough. Political correctness goes out the window at forty below.)

This troper lives in the Canadian Arctic, has two of those parkas, has slept in an igloo and ridden a dogsled and once ate a chunk of still-warm caribou heart out on the tundra after it had been shot, has two cousins who are Mounties, grew up fishing in the Maritimes. Why yes, I am a walking Canadian stereotype. Shame I can't skate worth crap.

This troper thinks that's awesome. I only have one mountie relative and I live in Toronto.

Isn't forty below FATAL?

Forty below is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

In fairness, -40 is the ''only'' number that's the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.

No, not really. I walk through it all the time with gloves + coat (light, not heavy parka) for 40ish minute walks to work or school, but then, I enjoy the cold way more than my countrymen. It's the frigging snow I hate.

I'll do that, too; in fact, I've been known to go outside at forty below in a T-shirt and jeans, as long as the wind isn't up. I don't stay very long, but if I have to get something from the garage, it's entirely doable.

NOTHING is below F.A.T.A.L.

This Canadian troper once went on vacation in Florida with his family. When we asked someone for directions, the person was able to guess that we were Canadian after a two sentence exchange. Keep in mind that none of us say "Eh" or dress particularly Canadian. Is there some sort of obvious tell? If we do have an accent, it can't be ''that'' obvious, can it?

This troper has had a similar experience with a cross-border trip to New York, within 30 seconds of talking with a mall vendor, he asked what part of Canada was I from.

That depends when did you go? and what were you wearing(This a bigger deal then you might imagine)? If the answers were in winter and you were dressed to go to the beach then there you have it. Your clothes gave you away. I was down there in summer talked to a few and they said that it was to cold to go swimming in winter (guess there used to the summer heat. Which might also give you away in summer if you show signs that you aren't used to the heat) and that it's mostly Canadians swimming in winter.

Gotta be that. I've lived in both Cali and Florida for significant lengths of time, and they both get reasonably cold though they don't freeze. Here in Santa Cruz CA we always have tourists from Russia and Canada and Britain who get mad because it's 65F and overcast in the middle of July. Our summer starts on Aug 23rd and lasts until October 2nd, thankyouverymuch.

It's possible it was the accent (since I can't tell what you were wearing, I really can't go by that). As an example, I'll use myself. Until I went off to college, I didn't even know I had a Chicago accent (I'm from that area) and I had people telling me I had one. I even met one guy from the South Side of Chicago who said that he didn't even know he had an accent, and he had a very noticable accent. It's possible that when you live in an area where people speak with the same accent/dialect as you, you never notice the accent. The guy you talked to could clearly tell you were from Canada, because, wuite simply, you didn't sound like you were from there. Yes, I know that sounds confusing, but it's a good explanation if you ask me.

Same here. This Troper from central Missouri always felt like she had absolutely no accent because she didn't have the sharp twang that all her schoolmates had, yet when she visited Vancouver for the first time everybody commented on her Southern Accent. To this troper's ears, Canadian accents are marked mostly by the over-pronunciation of the U in words with an "ou" (it's never sounded like "aboot" to me, but there is a difference), and to Canadian ears, my accent has overly sharp "A" sounds that tend to add in an extra syllables (their favorite word that they made fun of me for was the word "stamp", which to them sounded like I was saying "stay-yamp"). Marginal differences, but enough to be noticeable even if you're not running around saying "eh" after every sentence.

This Troper would like to note that it isn't only the "eh" that gives it away. Certain pronunciations, even subtle ones, are distinctly Canadian. "oo" instead of "ou" for example: "About the house" being pronounced "aboot the hoose".

It is not "aboot", it is "aboat"! And most of us do ''not'' pronounce it that way!

While we are at it: All about Halifax.

...That was quite possibly the weirdest thing This Troper has ever seen.

Erie, PA might not be in Canada, but it's probably as close to half Canadian as an American town is going to get. Canadian coinage is accepted in place of American, our biggest sports team is a hockey team, I don't think I can name a single person who grew up there that hasn't been to Canada at least once, and we pride ourselves on our blase reaction to cold weather and six feet of snow in a night.

Actually, there are at least three US/Canadian towns where the border not only runs through the town, but right through people's ''houses''. ''THAT'S'' as close to half and half as it gets, period! ''(Derby Line - Vermont/Stanstead - Quebec, Estcourt Station - Maine/Pohénégamook - Québec, Fort Covington - New York/Dundee - Quebec)''

This troper is SHOCKED that at this site of ALL PLACES, that statement wasn't backed up with the fact that there was a television show set in a border town. The show was called, well, Bordertown. Since the Bordertown entry here references something completely different, the Other Wiki has an article about it I don't remember it too well, but I remember liking it.

Most of the northern US is as blase about snow as most Canadians. There are only about a hundred miles of difference between the two, so the climates are the same.

Pretty much all of western Washington from Bellingham on north to Blaine is this way to some extent. Except Point Roberts, which is resolutely American, to compensate for the fact that they are, geographically, part of British Columbia, and even more widely separated from the rest of the state than any of the islands. Issues with Canadian Customs and transport regulations have not helped that attitude any.

Michigan, to many visitors from outside the Midwest, is like a part of Canada that Americans do not need a passport to visit. Not only do we get the snow, forests, the accents (in the Upper Peninsula, mostly) and the gratuitous love of ice hockey, but we've even had a Canadian woman as our governor for years. This Michiganian Troper wouldn't have it any other way, as she can be mistaken for Canadian if desired. Growing up watching as much CBC and ice hockey as possible from an early age only aided learning Canadian customs by osmosis.

Subversion! This troper just who goes to university just returned from a class with a guest teacher and he said eh?, every other sentence. This happened in Chile, the teacher is spanish and he was talking about USA.

This troper was once telling an American friend about how his brother almost locked him out of the house at -35, I was helping my mother clean the snow off our van, and when I got to the part about my mother starting to drive away with the van still plugged in, my friend was confused and asked "plugged in?" I was actually taken aback that I had to explain the process of plugging in a vehicle so it will actually start in the morning. Unfortunatley my brother left to bike to work at the same time and locked the door, leaving me outside in a turtleneck. Luckily I was genre savy enough to check before my mother drove off.

It's true; engine block heaters and remote starters are quite common in Canada and Alaska, occasionally seen in the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota), and unheard-of in the rest of the States.

This troper is from Vermont, and upon visiting Ottawa for the first time a few years ago after having made frequent visits to Montreal since childhood was pleasantly surprised to find not only signage in English in Ontario, but also normal traffic lights instead of the weird horizontal Quebec ones and a much higher standard of road upkeep.

This Ottawan troper dislikes driving in Gatineau (just across the river) because of those wacky lights.

This troper isn't canadian, but dated one for about a year and visited the country at one point. While there, he met a family that really DID tack 'eh' onto every sentence. It got annoying fast, even more so than being constantly asked what part of australia he was from (this troper is british) while in america. In general, he found the non-french bit of canada charmingly american (compared to britain), and the french bit completely insane yet awesome, mostly because of poutine and everyone being friendly and polite, even if he got mistaken for the cliche ignorant american tourist while reading signs slowly and carefully due to having learned european french rather than canadian.

This troper once met a member of a forum who claimed he was from Canada. Guess what his avatar said. He turned out to be a fake, obviously, and had 8 other accounts with annoying foreign country stereotypes. And he didn't even bother using a different Photobucket account to host his pictures, frequently posted in the same threads, didn't bother to format his posts differently or even hide his damn IP. And would roleplay with himself. When this troper became aware of the first four accounts, she contacted a mod, who confirmed her suspicions. 4 more accounts popped up and the mods were too lazy to do anything about it, this troper [=PMed=] the guy about it. Said guy accused this troper of being a stalker and flounced before she even got to explain herself. Good riddance.

This troper can fool Northern Ohioans into believing she is Canadian, just by throwing in a couple of 'eh's and 'That's some boring's.

What? "That's some boring's"? What does that even ''mean''?

This Albertan Troper would like to say this, Winter Blows, no it is not the snow, it is not the shorter days, it is not the fact that you get sick more easily (he enjoys this fact), it is the cold, hellish cold that refuses to subside until march/april, the kind of cold that makes you wish that you were in a oven at 450F. If it was just warmer, then he would enjoy winter.

This Albertan Troper would like to wholeheartedly agree with you, and mention that the cold doesn't even subside until May or early June sometimes. Holy mother of...

This Saskatchewanian (it's an awesome demonym, isn't it?) would like to add the slice-right-into-your-soul minus-fourty fifty-kilometres-per-hour wind to that. There's a reason the nicknames "Manitoba Maulers", "Saskatchewan Screamers", and "Alberta something-or-anothers" are in existance for those sorts of winds.

This Quebec Troper once had a friend visiting from Texas. On the metro, he overheard some young women chatting, and he turned to me in astonishment and said, "Those Chinese girls are speakin' French!" ...yes, yes they are, and if this were Rome, they would be speaking Italian.

This troper once had his American girlfriend come up to visit. She giggled every time I said eh. :( I never realized I said it so much before then

This ex-pat Canadian troper was passing for American very well in New Mexico until he called the things on the edges of roofs that collect rainwater "eaves troughs". Apparently that term is not only a blatant Canadianism, but is completely unheard of south of the border.

Its used almost exclusively in Ohio.

This Ohioan's never heard that before.

This Albertan troper found it quite easy to pass for Californian while living in Santa Clara. People would frequently be puzzled upon learning he was Canadian, exclaiming "But you don't have an accent!". Though he did get caught once when he asked where the nearest washroom was.

Why's that?

This Troper has two tales to tell. First off, I visited Canada recently and was very amused by the money (why can't American money be more amusing?! I want a combo of Cayman Island tropical color waves and funny images on my money damnit!)... I was also very confused as I couldn't figure out where four of my dollars went after buying some delicious candy bars for the trip home. Turns out they have dollar coins! Imagine my amused bewilderment when I payed the dippin dots lady with what to me looked like three quarters for the three dollar bowl of ice cream dots.

Also, my boss/friend at the church I do daycare help with loves to go on and on about tales of Canada (she's from Stratsford). She's properly educated me on the use of the term "eh" and many little social quirks from up there. (Like the polite friendliness and this seeming obsession of wanting a cottage by the lake)

This troper has discovered that most Americans are utterly baffled when he uses the word 'phone' instead of 'call.' He didn't actually realize that people outside Canada don't use 'to phone' as a verb. In addition, he worked at a gas station near the border for a while, and will nth the sentiment that Americans are utterly fascinated with our money. Of course, he expected this, having seen sketch comedy material (from Canadian comics) on the material... ('this one's a quarter...that's...another quarter...')

It's hard to generalize the speaking habits of Americans because there are so many differences from region to region! You can "phone someone up" in the chunk of the Midwest where this troper lives and get no odd looks.

You can also phone people up in any English-speaking part of the Commonwealth.

I read "Anne of Green Gables" and one of my many complaints was that despite being set in Canada,nobody says "eh?",eh?

It was published in 1908, when Canada as a country was only 41 years old, and set in 1878, when Canada was only ''eleven'' years old. You can hardly blame L. M. Montgomery for not predicting what Canadian speech would look like in a century.

This Troper once had a young Canadian man and his parents come into the Men's Dept. of J C Penney's where she worked, asking for advice on lighter coats for the warmer weather down here (Tennessee). Although they said "eh?" but rarely, it was rather the softly, politely cheerful tone of their voices and the slight accent that cued her in on where they were from. And she must say it was quite charming. One of the giveaways, however, was the way they said 'about'... "Aboot" is very cute! :3 (Also, as her grandmother and two uncles are from Canada.)

This Troper from Vancouver Island feels that the BC granola-chewer sterotype is severely under-represented ;) As well, not many other places on earth can you surf at a world-class beach (Tofino) and after a few hours' drive arrive at the mountain the atheletes trained on before Vancouver 2010 (Mt. Washington), without even leaving the island. It's also the one part of the country where the weather is mild - said Troper's dad has joked that they should call it the Great Grey North. Y'know, cause of all the rain, eh?

This Canadian Troper has been told by many an English relative that they can tell we're from Canada because when asked how far apart two places are, we'll answer with how long it'll take to drive, not the actual distance.

Perhaps this is more of a North America vs Europe thing, as this Missourian Troper has always measured distance in the time it takes to get there rather than actual distance. There doesn't seem to be much of a point telling someone the distance if you don't know how long it will take to get there.

This Dutch troper also measures it in travel time. North America vs. UK, perhaps?

This Newfoundlander has heard someone end a sentence with 'eh' exactly once, and not ever come across 'aboot' except in joke form.

That's because Americans say 'abut,' and just get confused when we pronounce 'out.'

This American Troper would like to know what the hell you're talking about; I've never heard it pronounced as anything but "about" with the "out" pronounced. o.O

Same here from this Canadian troper.

This Canadian troper was visiting relatives in America once when an earnest kid working at [=McDonald=]'s started asking her about Canada after she told him she came from there. For some reason he wanted to know if she had suede carpets? Weird. Anyways, she jokingly told him no, but she did live in an igloo and regularly went polar bear wrestling in her backyard. To her surprise he seemed to take her seriously, and she had to explain that she was just kidding.

This Canadian troper works in a call centre for AT&T, dealing with Americans from the south-eastern states. I was once asked if we have barbeque. That was probably the weirdest question I ever got about Canada. On another occasion, I was talking to a Canadian living down south, and she commented that she missed Smarties. I was completely unaware you couldn't get Smarties (they're like M&Ms without the letters, for the American tropers) in the US. And I get asked A LOT if it's cold.

There is a candy called "Smarties" in the States. It is the American brand name for what are called "Rockets" in Canada (to avoid confusion with real Smarties).

Also Coffee Crisp is completely unavailable.

This Canadian troper was very surprised that "iced tea" in America is literally just ice-cold tea. If you want ''real'' iced tea you have to ask for sweet tea! I consider it rather ironic, considering that Americans are stereotyped as being obese and eating lots of junk food and sugar products. So you'd think that Americans more so than Canadians would take something and just put sugar in it as a matter of course. My mother also encountered some confusion when we ordered breakfast at a roadside diner, and she found out that to get the egg she wanted to had to ask for an egg "over-medium" (which we'd never heard of) instead of what she'd initially asked for (I forget if she had asked for "over-easy" or "over-hard").

...This Troper feels ''extremely'' sympathetic towards Americans. She LIVES on Coffee Crisps.

Actually, while this Canadian troper's family was living in Wisconsin, we found a place that for a short time sold Coffee Crisps. We were ecstatic! And weirdly enough, at this British store that sold British candy, they had a Canadian section with Coffee Crisps. So you can get them... in obscure places. Such a shame.

This English troper, who's never to her knowledge spoken to a Canadian-from-Canada (though a disproportionate number of her friends are Canadians-from-America) and doesn't really know what the accent sounds like, keeps seeing all these 'aboots' and 'eh's and is currently imagining you all speaking like Scotsmen. You're quite welcome.

According to some Americans (and Scots!) Canadians sound like "Scottish people trying to act polite"

This Cape Breton troper can tell you that Cape Breton accents are funny Scottish accents. For people who were not aware, we speak funnily (though rural Newfoundland is worse than rural Cape Breton thankyoukindly) and can be conveniently phonetically spelled out. For instance "Who is your mother/father" is roughly 'Whoo's yer fodder/muder?" and "I was going to do it, alright?" is, in some parts, "I wuz aboud'a do 'er, eh/b'y?" B'y is actually boy. The accent can be, frankly, completely unintelligible if it's thick enough, not to mention the add an H drop and H rule.

This (Northern Californian) troper once took a Canadian history class (taught by Michael Behiels, no less), and he really did pronounce 'about' 'aboot' and end all of his sentences with 'eh?'

This Toronto troper's high school subverts the 'Canada is full of white people and Inuits' stereotype. Half of this school's Chinese and the other half either Indian or African. (and none of them say 'eh?' at the end of their sentences.) I don't think I pronounce 'about' as 'aboot'...

This British-Canadian troper lived in England for 8 years before moving to Canada for a while. When he came back from Canada, most of the questions asked to him went along the lines of: "Wait, you lived in Canada? How come you don't say eh after every sentence?" They have little annoyance to this troper, but he does find it rather amusing how so many people think all of them speak like that.

This English troper spent eight months at university in Vancouver. I counted fifty uses of "eh" within about two weeks before I stopped counting, but most of those came from people from Alberta and Saskatchewan, not BC. It eventually got to the point when I started saying it. The "aboot" thing came up as well, but only from one prof who was from Nova Scotia. I also quickly learned to tell the Americans from the Canadians, as they are more impatient, radiate a sense of smug superiority over the Canadians, and feel the need to talk about themselves constantly. These are Americans who claim Canadian nationality just because they go to university there, and they took it so seriously that they cheered for Canada in the big hockey gold medal game at the end of Vancouver 2010. By the end, I was fed up with the fact that, apart from during the Olympics, the Canadians seemingly wallowed in self-pity about how disjointed their country is. That, and the difficulty faced whenever ordering food from a non-native English speaker because of my "thick" English accent which they just could not comprehend. Now I've got people in English [=McDonald's=] looking at me gone out when I order my food "for here" rather than "take out", but that's a different subject entirely.

I have lived in both Saskatchewan and Alberta and i have never once heard someone say eh unless it was a joke.

This British troper who happens to be dating a Michigander would like to request that Canadians -or at least Southern Canadians- cut the rest of the world a little slack if we mistakenly assume they're from the US instead, because if you're born within about a hundred miles of the border it's genuinely hard to tell.

Pfft, that's the equivalent of us confusing you guys and Ireland. :P

This Northwestern-Ontarioan troper recently went on a band trip south of the border and a group of her bandmates, when chatting it up with some Americans, learned that apparently the only one of the lot that has a Canadian accent is our drummer. No, none of us could tell the difference. (Incidentally, she admits to using the word "eh" on occasion, although she personally thinks that the truth behind the stereotype is that most Canadians only say "eh" sometimes but non-Canadians almost never do, so the word just jumps out at them every time they hear it and it ''seems'' like a lot. She also can honestly say that she cannot recall ever having met somebody who says "aboot" in her entire life, although one of her classmates swears she knows someone who says "a''boat''".)

Thank you! I have never heard anyone say 'aboot' either, ever, at any point in my Canadian life.

Same goes for This Troper.

And for this one.

While in an Internet Argument, I was once accused of being a "pot-smoking limp-wristed bleeding-heart communist liberal faggot hippie" due to being Canadian. Yeah. Look, I'm just repeating what was said. It's also one of the best things anyone's ever said to me, I'm not even kidding. I will never forget the moment that such a thing was spat at me in a blaze of anti-Canadian fury. It made my day.anyone cares, I was arguing with someone over WWII history, in which they claimed that WWII didn't officially start until December 7, 1942, and I strongly disagreed. How me being a Canadian (and apparently therefore a PSLWBHCLFH) had anything to do with the argument at hand is beyond me.

Please tell me that some American set this idiot straight. I'm Texan, and a computer geek, and I don't pay much attention to any history that isn't directly related to computer technology, but even I know the officially accepted date on which World War II started was on the day Hitler's forces invaded Poland in 1939, ''three whole years'' before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And where he came up with the PSLWBHCLFH part is beyond me, too, unless he had you mistaken for one of the American citizens that fled to Canada to avoid the draft, which didn't happen until the Vietnam war, anyway. I might know this only ''because'' I'm a geek, and a StarTrek fan, but during the landings on Normandy, it was the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade that landed on Juno Beach. James Doohan was part of the 3rd Infantry Division... he lost his right middle finger due to friendly fire on the first night after the landings.

This troper is from a rural town in the deep backwoods of BC and for the ''longest time'' believed that American and Canadian accents were indistinguishable. Then I actually ''went to the US.'' This troper doesn't say "eh" incredibly often or even the recent BC regional variation of "hey?" either, but I've discovered that yes, we do say "aboot" instead of "about". Well, its actually more like "aboat", but to American ears it sounds like "aboot". I also noticed that Americans generally speak with more exuberance in their voices. Although of course, I could have a country accent rather than just a Canadian accent as my hometown is isolated from anything even remotely resembling civilisation due to being ''literally surrounded by trees.''

This Calgarian troper was very amused to learn that it apparently snows in the summer here, sometimes. I've seen some crazy weather, but snowing in the middle of summer wasn't one of them. Recently we were struck by a blizzard on the first day of spring, but to be fair, I once went to the corner store in a t-shirt one hot Christmas eve (actually hot, not 10-above-(something like 41F)-hot. Snow isn't the only precipitation here.

This Calgarian troper would like to know if you're sure we live in the same city. I admit, I've never seen it snow in August, but I've had snow in July (admittedly only a couple times) and I remember a couple years where it kept blizzarding regularly well into May.

I, an Australian, remember accidentally slipping out an 'eh' to one of my ''very'' patriotic Canadian friends. She spun around and looked like she was going to cry tears of joy, shrieking "You're Canadian too?!"

Sorry for this rather puerile, pompous post right here as I usually hate self-arse-pleasuring things like this, but this Canadian troper is pretty much a RealLife female version of Canada from AxisPowersHetalia, and I'm not saying that because I'm some kind of daft 13 year old douchebag weeaboo or something. (I'm actually a daft ''16 year old'' douchebag. haha. Yeah, I know I'm not funny) I'm serious. I'm incredibly meek to the point of being pathetic, I ''never'' confront people, I rarely ever actually get angry, and, due to some weird, deep-rooted psychological trauma, ''I actually whisper when I talk to people.'' Well, only when I talk to strangers. However, occasionally I ''will'' give a long, harsh, well worded, profane ReasonYouSuckSpeech to someone who has been pissing me off for a long time. Although it's always on the internet, because as I said, I'm pathetic and non-confrontational. Also, I'm a pussy and can't fight worth shit. ''In addition'', I'm a pothead. I suppose stereotypes are based on truth, eh? Alright, taking the finger out of my pretentious arse, now.

Variation. This American troper has a habit of saying "Hm" or making a noise before or after sentences..She's also moving to Canada soon.

This Troper lives in New Brunswick, and is rather polite.

Hey, me too!

Myself as well!

This (Canadian) Troper used to say "Eh" so many times in normal conversation without realizing it, his friends yelled at him for being so stereotypical. Apparently, it grew on them, because now THEY say it too. #QUOTE#'''First Guy:''' Did you just say 'eh'? #QUOTE#'''Second Guy:''' ''[hesitates]'' ...No! #QUOTE#'''First Guy:''' I heard an 'eh'...! Anyone know that commercial? It made me laugh!

This Canuck Troper found herself laughed at because her American friends found out about milk bags and found it to be hilarious. I still find it weird that Americans ONLY have milk bottles.

No, we don't. We have milk cartons. Personally, this American troper doesn't care what you carry your milk in. If you use bags, I'm assuming that they actually hold the milk without breaking. Why do we care what other countries use to hold their milk, anyway?

Americans don't have milk bags?? ''Weird!'' And I honestly didn't know that they still have milk bottles. I thought that was only in old movies and shit.

This British troper finds that she actually says "eh" more than all the Canadians she knows.

Subverted for any European country. We generally think Canada is a nicer, less violent, more sophisticated, less batshit crazy version of America. AND you made Anne of Green Gables. Which makes us think your country is friggin lovely and filled with boats and lakes and general loveliness.

Good to know you can only think of nice things to say about Canada and Canadians by comparing them to us ''dreadful'' Americans. ''Really'' makes this American troper feel good about herself.

This Canadian/American (dual citizenship for the win!) actually has a quote that co-relates to this: ->Canadians are notorious for wondering about who and what we are, and inevitably seem to define our own identity by comparing ourselves with Americans. More than a few observers have suggested that, in fact, Canadian identity is very difficult to describe or explain, except as a negative. In other words, whatever Canadians are, the one certainty is that they are not Americans. - Edward Grabb, sociology professor at the University of Western Ontario

Along with this: -> Canadians have been so busy explainting to the Americans taht we aren't British, and to the British that we aren't Americans, that we haven't had time to become Canadins. -Helen Gordon McPherson

Were all those typos present in the original quote? Goodness me!

The point that I'm getting to is that Canadians are creating an unofficial campaign to distance ourselves from the US as our identity is so vague that we can be easily compared to Americans, which is one of the few things that is concrete. And to be fair, US foreign policy has not been exactly been understanding of other nations.

This troper lives in bloody cold Winnipeg, eh? And loves poutine and bacon, eh? Has a slight Canadian accent, eh? Also fishes off a lake, eh? And wears mom jeans, eh?

This troper is from Alberta, doesn't drive a truck, only has a single over-sized belt buckle, can't ride a horse, only has a single straw cowboy hat, and has actually seen a form of precipitation other than snow.

An Inversion of sorts: this American troper says "eh" a lot and calls people "hoser", while my Canadian friends don't. Make of that what you will.

This Gay Canadian Troper from the Vancouver, B.C. area has been told by his boyfriend whom is from P.A. in the US and by the various people in his and this tropers casual raiders guild(most of which's members are also from in or around P.A.) that he infact 'has' an accent, but it's not what you'd think. This troper was told he some how, completely naturally I may add, a SanFrancisco accent. This troper has never been there. On a side note this troper plays straight the maple fixation of Canadians via a newly discovered love of Maple Creme cookies.

This Canadian troper idolizes maple syrup. Not because it is Canadian, but because it is ''fucking delicious''. I sometimes drink it, I'm not gonna lie. My stepmom prefers table syrup. I believe she is ''clinically insane''.

This Civilian American Troper has an online friend serving in the Canadian Forces. As a veteran of Afghanistan, he was understandably upset when another American civvie told him that "Canada has no military."

As an aviation enthusiast, this same troper also learned that if you mention the Avro Arrow in passing to your average Canadian, said Canadian will almost immediately curse the name of John Diefenbaker, the Prime Minister who canceled the Arrow project.

My father was Canadian, and I've managed to get up there quite a few times. I've noticed a few accents and the occassional use of "eh". Also, I'm from Maine, and there are people who seriously think Maine is part of Canada. (I wish. Working on moving there, starting with grad school.)

This troper's sister was almost passing among the Americans at her school in Glasgow, Scotland until she made the mistake of referring to a friend's hat as a toque. Apparently she has no 'Canadian' accent but her vocabulary and like of things unknown to Americans (double-doubles, ketchup chips) mean she sticks out as a Canadian as much as if she was waving a giant flag over her head while blaring "o, Canada"

Americans don't say "double-doubles"? ''They don't have ketchup chips?'' I have a lot to learn, apparently. I know nothing about America.

Ketchup-Flavoured Pringles actually aren't bad. I tasted one, was like "EEEEEEW....Hey can I try another? Hey this isn't bad!" I wish we had 'em out here.

This Troper feels sorry for you. That's one of her favorite flavors.

This troper used to like ketchup chips, but they "grew off" of her. Like bananas.

My American friends (I'm Canadian and spent most of my life in the U.S before moving back) think that it's weird that we have ketchup chips, but a few people get really excited when I tell them and are extremely jealous. My Canadian friends think it's weird that the U.S. DOESN'T have ketchup chips, to them it's just a normal chip flavour. But I've noticed that there's a lot more chip flavour varieties in Canada. And more junk food in general. So much for the idea that Americans are unhealthy and love junk food. They don't have poutine, Beaver Tails, Tim Hortons donuts, sugar pie, Nanaimo bars, etc.

They also don't have sugar in their "iced tea". You have to ask for "sweet tea". I mentioned it up above, along with the irony of Americans being stereotyped as junk-food-loving obese people, whereas ''we're'' the ones who decided that iced tea should automatically have sugar in it!

This troper actually hasn't heard a lot of canadians say "Eh?" or "Aboot" unless they were joking or Scottish Canadian (and had an accent). His mom works with canadian clients and customers for a software company, and granted; many of them ''are'' Quebecois, none of them act stereotypical. (Well, the one who's from Montreal ''does'' speak Franglais and apparently didn't pay attention to English) Except for one time where he was deliberately joking: #QUOTE# "Oh, so you think we all say Aboot oot here, eh? Well, I think I'll have some Kraft Dinner with a Poutine for lunch, with some back bacon, eh? And then maybe I'll go oot to Tim Hortons for some coffee - oh crap there's a ''moose'' outside my Igloo! I'll have to distract it with a beaver or throwing my Toque, eh?"

This troper is under the impression that the further to the west in Canada you are, the less pronounced the Scottish-Canadian (i.e. "eh", "aboot") accent becomes. Related is how easy said accent is to perform--we'd simply go into it whenever someone from the U.S. was near, mostly for laughs. Speaking of, this troper's family stuck out as Canadian like a sore thumb on vacation California because it was December at the time. Thus, everyone was (ironically) wearing scarves, toques, and hurrying through the chilly streets...even though it was still quite sunny and pleasant, leaving us the only ones in shirts and shorts. Granted, it had snowed recently, but still.

This Troper is from the Maritimes, and grew up watching American TV and Movies. I have almost never noticed a difference in the local accents and the ones is hear in Movies and TV. (There are, of course exceptions). However, I worked in a call center for several years, talking mostly to Americans, and often had great difficulty with the words South, North, and house. A typical conversation would have me giving directions, saying "go south." being interupted, "What?" "South!" "What was that?" "South. The opposite of North." "Huh?" "S-O-U-T-H" "Come again?" "Down on a map." "I don't understand you" and so on. It seemed to happen most often with people from the southern states.

You should post these conversations on "Not Always Right".

This troper's boyfriend is Canadian and very rarely says "eh." But he does say a-boat (NOT ABOOT.) and has to be informed when he lapses into French.

This troper knows that the "eh" thing, while not generalized, is quite real. He used to work for a company where his boss was physically incapable of forming a sentence that did not end without a Fargo worthy 'eh?'

This troper is a Hamiltonian and a dual citizen and never relized that she had an accent until one of her American cousins asked her to say "out" and then when she did so her cousin turned to her boyfriend and said "see she does have an accent". On the flip side of that this troper was also asked right here in Hamilton if she was an American because she has an American accent thats right she has both an American accent AND a Canadian accent she is still confused as to how this happened.

This troper's circle of friends on Skype includes a big Canadian guy from Toronto. Fun to be around, says "eh" a lot.

This Nova Scotian troper rarely hears anyone (especially those from the Atlantic region) use "eh"; but his father does use it occasionally when he rapidly shifts to Newfoundland and Cape Breton accents when talking to the guys he works with. Its a bit uncanny.

This American troper would like to kindly point out some of you Canadians are all too happy to reinforce the stereotype; she once was behind a car with a Canadian flag sticker on the back and a ''North Carolina'' registered VanityLicensePlate that read "EHCANADA". Canada pride, I guess?

We're allowed to poke fun at ourselves. YOU are not allowed.

Alternately, the "eh" can be replaced by "uh" if your first language happens to be French.

Is this troper the only one who believes that EPCOT's Canada pavillion to be the most culturally insensative of all the Pavillions because of its adherence to this trope?

No you are NOT the only one! I thought ''I'' was the only one! I actually wrote an über-long rant about it in my journal! The whole pavilion consisted of a chalet, a totem pole, and a stand selling t-shirts with idiotic beer jokes on them!

This troper lives in the Pacific Northwest (specifically, Washington) and as such, lives pretty close to the border. He also has quite a few friends on the internet that reside in Canada, although talking to them on Skype and such, they don't appear to have distinguishable accents nor say "eh" a lot. The most Canadian they get is bragging about having milk in ''bags''. I do admit, amidst all the stereotypes and basic facts, I find Canada to be an awesome place.

This troper was born and bred in BC, and for much of his early life was completely unaware of the supposed existence of the "Canadian accent" until he heard it used by an apparently Canadian character on a TV show he can no longer remember the title of.

This New Brunswicker has dealt with this sterotype more times than she can count, given that she works in a museum. While I do use the word eh on ocassion (only when asking a question), never to the amount that's suspected. I actually had a group of Americans get upset with me that I didn't say eh while I gave them a tour of the museum. Then they peppered me with questions like 'is Canada a democracy' for half an hour....

This American troper has a friend from high school originally from around the London, Ontario area. He noted that said friend (who moved to the US when he was around 10) only had a very light Canadian accent and didn't use the VerbalTic at all, and his three younger siblings just spoke with the local corruption of the Noo Yawk accent. His parents, though, had a distinct accent, and his grandfather (who only occasionally visited, still residing near London) sounded just like the stereotype. What's really funny is that said friend didn't even notice his family members' accents and verbal tics until it was pointed out to him. Said friend started taking notes on it after that, and then apologized for denying said accent/tics even existed in previous conversations. They then proceeded to talk about hockey (the one part of the Canadian stereotype said friend embraced).

This Canadian Troper was once down in the States with her family, and laughed at the confusion caused when we tried to tell our name to a waitress, spelling it with a 'zed' instead of a 'zee'. It took 3 tries before we realised what was wrong and why she didn't understand.

This British Columbian troper lives a few hours north of Seattle, and has what is described as a ''Northwesterner'' accent--essentially, the closest tangible accent to "no accent at all". In spite of this, I still pronounce 'Z' as 'Zed', pronounce 'Sorry' as 'Soary', and occasionally use 'eh'. People can still identify me as Canadian, but ''never'' through the accent (usually by asking how far away something is, since I answer in time rather than distance, or by realizing I use the metric system).

This American troper honestly has never heard a Canadian say "eh" or pronounce Z as Zed before, despite living in close proximity to the border and having been to Vancouver. In fact, he actually gets kind of annoyed when he sees somebody further the "aboot" stereotype, not to mention being baffled as to where the hell it comes from in the first place. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about Canada : I followed the recent election, support NDP, know all the province and territory names, know a good deal of the history, can name lots of cities (especially ones in Ontario), desperately want to get a Double Double at Tim Horton's, call Toronto T.Dot, etc.... I'm basically a poseur Canadian. Also; GO STROMBO!!!! [[BiTheWay He's so hot. Same Michael Seater, my eternal celebrity crush. *drool* ]], mostly due to A.) Getting CBUT on my TV, B.) Having consumed predigous amounts of Canadian Television from a young age, and C.) Reading lots of Wikipedia. So when I imitate Canadians, I due try to do it right: Pronounce "Sorry" as "Sore-e", "Against" as "Uh-Gain-st", "Process" as "Pr-OH-cess", and "About" and "House" however it is you guys say it (I'm not sure of the proper name for it, but I assure you again, I'm not talking about the "ou" sound as "oo"). Although that maybe a solely Ontario accent; I'm not sure. Speaking of Ontario; Why do you Canadians dislike it so much? I want to go to University of Toronto, and wouldn't mind living in Ottawa, either.

Same reason we dislike the US: it's politically and economically powerful (relatively speaking), and sometimes throws its weight around without so much as noticing.

The whole Zed Zee thing depend of who you talk to and what you're saying i say my name with a zed because it sounds stupid with a zee but depending of the word i say zee but considering the scarcity the letter come up in conversation i mostly say zed

I mostly use "zee", I don't really like "zed". I think it sounds too bland. Try saying "World War Z" that way. I mean, c'mon. "World War ''Zed''"? Yuck.

This troper is an Acadian from New Brunswick, grew up bilingual and has nary an accent in English to the point of other Canadians ask where I'm from. Meanwhile an ex of mine from Kingston Ont. exemplified the Canada accent, even I giggled at "I'm aboot to go oot of the hoose."

This troper had a couple of Canadians in his art class during high school. One was from around Alberta I believe, whereas the other was from Newfoundland. I didn't notice any accent from the Albertan nor did he pronounce about "aboot" or say "eh" at any point, but the Newfie on the other hand... hoooo boy, was he ever a walking stereotype. No offence to any Newfies out there, though.

This Canadian troper honestly could not care less about hockey and does not know a single person who loves it as much as our Useful Notes page claims we do.

This troper is in an online tabletop game group where all but one guy is Canadian. The American guy is constantly saying I'm saying aboot which I know is false since I worked in a call centre dealng with only American customers for 4 years and the only time anyone knew I was Canadian was wen I said Eh, which I actually do say, but not often. He also got into a math argument with the DM and when the DM turned out to be right, he said it was due to "crazy Canadian math."