[CosmicShadow]

Yeah, there are lots of little things out there. My wife and I were just discussing how as Canadians, we don't perceive ourselves to have any accent and sound just like "normal" people on American TV, however after she speaks with US based co-workers or folks she meets when she travels, they instantly know after only a simple Hello or maybe 3 words that she is Canadian (and they point it out!). There are just certain words that we pronounce just a tiny bit different that we don't notice because we can say it the Canadian or American way interchangeably, but to Americans who aren't inundated with Canadian TV like we are with American media, we believe they can instantly detect any deviation from their culture's norms. It's kind of maddening because we can't detect the other way around nearly as easy.

She said she'd been caught on words such as Hello, Syrup and Being, to name a few. Perhaps it was just that she said Hello in a happier tone or with different emphasis? I'm not sure, that one seemed ridiculous.

Imagine trying to change all those words you don't even realize you are saying different unless you repeat it with the person multiple times.

[carlmr]

>She said she'd been caught on words such as Hello, Syrup and Being, to name a few. Perhaps it was just that she said Hello in a happier tone or with different emphasis? I'm not sure, that one seemed ridiculous.

I lived in Canada for a bit, and I would have guessed sooorry, tomooorow, oout, aboout. At least that's what Ontarians sound like to me. They really stretch those o sounds.

[CosmicShadow]

I've lived in Ontario my whole life, North Western and South Western and I've never heard anyone sound like that. It seems like that's such a stereotypical Canadian accent, but I've never heard it and assumed it only existed in the maritimes, although on my recent trip to Halifax I did not hear it. Maybe it's a bit longer and I don't notice, but at least not like the overly portrayed version on TV.

[carlmr]

It's very distinct from what you hear on TV. TV doesn't even do the right sound, nevermind the length, but it's definitely noticeable for an American.

It has some similarity to some oh the northern mid-west accents.

[CosmicShadow]

It's just so interesting to hear that I have an immediately identifiable accent when I don't even think I have one, so weird. It feels like you have a competitive advantage that I cannot easily copy or get back at you with :)

Perhaps this is also how folks with "real" accents think too (that they can't hear it), but I gotta feel like they can recognize that they sound different from the "people on TV". My wife did however tell me that in a phone conversation with a US colleague that she immediately heard herself sound obviously Canadian after saying something, but I think it was more phrase based, a question followed by "eh?". "Ok, I definitely heard it that time" she immediately said.

[carlmr]

I think Australians and so on they know. The Canadian accent, compared to standard American, is much more subtle, but even after living in Canada for 2 years I got so used to it that I wasn't thinking about it in daily conversation. However when I left and came back a year later on vacation it was back to being obvious.