The joys and differences between US/CAN spelling...

[Sprailenes 47]

I have always called them sneakers... but I just really like that word.

[trailmix 77]

most people don't bbq, they grill food outside. Bbq is slow cooking the meat for hours, not throwing food on a grill and eating it in 15 minutes with bbq sauce on it. That is the meaning most people I know go by.

I grill food outside - I call this barbecuing - it's a regional thing.

[The_Dude 1,142]

I have always called them sneakers... but I just really like that word.

I always called them kicks. Never really heard the word outside oldsters using 'sneakers" until a friend started a company as a sneaker pimp. Yeah, It took some getting used to the terminology.

[Sprailenes 47]

I have always called them sneakers... but I just really like that word.

I always called them kicks. Never really heard the word outside oldsters using 'sneakers" until a friend started a company as a sneaker pimp. Yeah, It took some getting used to the terminology.

I love the sneaker pimps.

[coldwatersurf 5]

I knew there were different words for runners so I called them sneakers when I got here. I thought it was a neutral word that everyone should know. But i hear my friends say tennis shoes more than any other word.

Yesterday, my Husband & MIL were arguing about how to say Lever b/c i used it in a sentence and they said that's the wrong way to pronounce it. I said it like rhyming with "fever". They said what the F is "leeeeeever???". lol. they said it like rhyming w/ Never. haha. it was a pretty immature argument. But they sounded like they were really really really convinced that the Canadian/British pronunciation is wrong and doesnt exist. So i was starting to doubt myself and looked it up online. thank god i was not crazy & told them they should just accept that I am from another country and Canadians have different accent & words & we say "eh" just like how Australians have "mate" as their distinctive "thing". lol

[Kathryn41 3,205]

hehehehe, I have always called it lever to rhyme with fever as well. Lever rhymed with never sounds so pretentious!l

[Sprailenes 47]

I say "close the light" all the time and my husband gets mad at me... I have heard this more in Quebec than anything else, perhaps I picked it up from my family members who live there... I dunno. It bothers both my husband and my son.

It always slips out though.

[Allie and Nigel 2]

I'm Canadian and I immigrated here to the USA 16 years ago and get that problem all the time...be proud of who you are and how you do things and how you say things and your accent...DO NOT CHANGE IT. You may have to change the way you spell stuff when ur at work or something but dont do it just to please anyone or make yourself BLEND in. I like being known as "the Canadian" even though i am now a US-Citizen...I always say that I am a "PAPER YANK" and always a CANADIAN. I am now immigrating my British fiance and I tell him the same things....be proud of who you are and how you sound and how you do things on EVERY LEVEL.....btw.. I travell ONLY on my Canadian passport and just use the Yankie passport for getting home!! So I hope thats good advice for you...

From someone who's been there...and back again,

Allison.

[coldwatersurf 5]

I'm Canadian and I immigrated here to the USA 16 years ago and get that problem all the time...be proud of who you are and how you do things and how you say things and your accent...DO NOT CHANGE IT. You may have to change the way you spell stuff when ur at work or something but dont do it just to please anyone or make yourself BLEND in. I like being known as "the Canadian" even though i am now a US-Citizen...I always say that I am a "PAPER YANK" and always a CANADIAN. I am now immigrating my British fiance and I tell him the same things....be proud of who you are and how you sound and how you do things on EVERY LEVEL.....btw.. I travell ONLY on my Canadian passport and just use the Yankie passport for getting home!! So I hope thats good advice for you...

From someone who's been there...and back again,

Allison.

I agree with you! I refuse to say Lever like Never. lol. And i am going to continue to say "about" with "oooo".

I wish we actually have a distinctive accent so I dont have to keep defending Canadian words. lol

[Allie and Nigel 2]

You know, after being here in the states so long, I find that people find my accent starting to fade and I start hearing the Canadian accent clearer being I have a Canadian tv here in the states with me...(hehe)and still talk to my family back home....its really funny cause you really dont notice it when your in Canada but when your here...you REALLY notice the difference....very strange....I find that the east coast of Canada has the most distinctive accent more than the west coast....but you can sometimes catch a few things I say thats distinctly Canadian...but I think I can fool American's quite nicely....hehe....but when I come back to the states from visiting family, the accent thickens or when I'm mad or upset however, I find that I speak that way too....odd stuff...:-)

[Sprailenes 47]

When I go back to Canada and listen to Canadian radio or tv I can definitely hear the difference.

Edited June 13, 2009 by Sprailenes

[TimandJoyce 1]

hehehehe, I have always called it lever to rhyme with fever as well. Lever rhymed with never sounds so pretentious!l

LOL I have no idea what I say with this one!! I don't think I use it often enough...but wow...you all sure have me thinking now. I'll be on the lookout for it. Er, or maybe I should say, "hear"out.

Ok..not sure if this one's a big deal or not...vase....I thought I had always pronounced it with a long a sound, but I don't. It's more of a short o sound. Vos. Haven't a clue if that's just me...

[thetreble 19]

When I go back to Canada and listen to Canadian radio or tv I can definitely hear the difference.

It's true. I had friends over a few weekends ago and my brother was here visiting me. Once they heard him talk, they were all like.."Holy #######, he is WAY more Canadian sounding than you!"

And, well, they are probably right. I've been here for 2.5 years now and it's probably starting to fade a little. When I go home, I hear the accent so clearly now. I can spot a Canadian program on tv a mile away. It's really bizarre when you start realizing your own accent.

You start realizing how thick it probably was before you ever met your American spouse.

[TimandJoyce 1]

You know..the main topic of this thread has slipped a wee bit...the spelling differences. LOL..

But actually it's just unique to see all the things that are different. Between State to State, but also Province to Province.

I curious to know if those that have been living in the States for a time now, get told by their family and friends back home, that they have picked up the accent of their surrounding areas. Tim's pretty sure I'll probably pick up a wee bit of a Southern one. I'm sure for the most part, it's possible I may start saying "ya'll" like I was born with it!