[kafkaesque]

I'm in LA and every time someone finds out I'm Canadian, they say, "But you don't have an accent" or "You don't sound Canadian", and on the rare occasion, people refer to my Vancouver accent as "fake Canadian accent".

I just half-smile or say "I don't know", instead of explaining how provincial their "typical Canadian accent" sounds to Vancouverites.

[sandworm101]

I've been told that my accent isn't so much a sound, but a mode of speech. You can spot the Canadians in LA because they are the ones using complete sentences.

There is a certain neutrality to the western-canadian accent, much like that of Minnesota. Take the word Going or anything else ending with ing. In much of the US it is pronounced "goin", dropping the g. In the UK it has become "going-g" ... they add an extra g sound. Right in the middle are the canadians and minnesotans who pronounce the word as written.

Canadians, watch this vid to see the similarity with minnesota: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-BCxjYoOl0 (I know this guy)

[a3n]

> There is a certain neutrality to the western-canadian accent, much like that of Minnesota.

??!? I don't think any American who isn't from the middle Northern tier can watch Fargo without at least noticing the accent, or cracking a mild smile. The accent was practically a character in the movie.

However, TBH, I don't know if I know any Minnesotans, and I've never been there.

[marincounty]

I've worked with Canadians and just thought they were Americans. This one guy told a joke, an the joke ended with, "It will cost you two loonies!" We looked up and asked, "What are Loonies?" (Their dollar bills)

I asked how come you don't have an accent? (I did apologize about our educational system--we weren't taught anything about Canadians?)

Well, he started to get mad about the accents. He said most of us don't have accents. I won't say what he said next, but from the few words I can repeat; he was burned in his formative years by a French woman, and didn't like Quebec accents? I asked, "I just thought the French accent would sound beautiful?" He said there's nothing beautiful about a Quebec accent! (We were both tired, working construction, and hated our jobs.) I was suprised how Conservative he was though--always complaining about Canadian taxes. That changed one Monday morning when he got the bill from the hospital he took his wife to for a suspected Panic Attack? He couldn't believe we pay the amount we do for medical care. (That entire summer's wage, and then some went to that bill.) His last words to me were, "I'm never coming back. It's not just because I was "jacked" by the hospital, but the amount of stress you have here is just not worth it. If those blood suckers are going to charge this much, why don't they hand out price lists in the lobby?" I agreed, and gave him half my anxiety pill.

[sandworm101]

Not bills. Loonies are dollar coins with a loon on the back. "Twonies" are the two-dollar coins with a polar bear. Canada traditionally uses animal imagery on money, a sort of reconciliation gesture given the french-english-native splits in the country. Animals were common ground.

Fyi, the band Nickelback was Canadian. The non-wikipedia joke behind that name is the animal on the back of the canadian nickel.

[mmastrac]

The beaver is considered to be the "front" of the coin.

[jgh]

I'm also a Canadian in LA.. It tends to be other Canadians who can pick out my accent (from Toronto originally).

[sandworm101]

Toronto? Not Trono?

[ekanes]

> I just half-smile or say "I don't know"

Can confirm, kafkaesque must be Canadian. My most Canadian moment was apologizing while jumping out of someone's way while they were barreling down the sidewalk on a skateboard.