I did not intend to imply that *you* had heard anything Earl. Nor did I
intend to *imply* that *I* had heard anything. I DID hear what I described,
on several occasions, from the lips of several people who turned out to be
of Canadian origin, though my intent was not to create a stereotype, any
more than my choosing to spell colour that way emphasizes another stereotype
(I chose to spell 'emphasize' that way too).
However, your description of what the sound is and isn't seems perfectly
fine to me, and we have the difficulty of using the alphabet to represent a
variety of subtly different sounds - a bit like using a 4Ti to drive in
Robertson screws (!), a job it could accomplish, but wasn't designed for.*
I see your point about the possible Scots origin, which wasn't previously
obvious to me, perhaps because the rest of the spoken context was not
obviously Scots either. But I don't doubt that Scots rather than English is
the greater part of the English speaking Canadian heritage - they didn't
stop at Nova Scotia, as several place names testify - Banff and Calgary come
immediately to mind as being a little to the west.
;-)
--
Piers
* NB preposition at end of sentence! Let's live a little.
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Earl Dunbar
Sent: 01 December 2004 03:54
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: Philips; cross-point; posi-drive; Robertson
I have NEVER heard a Canadian pronounce it "uh-BOOT", as several have
implied. A common pronunciation is to add just a bit more "u" vowel sound,
so it =sounds= more like "uh-boot" (or "hoose") to those who are used to
hearing "uh BOWT", as in "ouch". But it is actually just that the duration
of the "u" sound is very slightly longer. What non-Canajian speakers do is
over-emphasize the difference so as to create a stereotype.
I think the influence is Scottish more than anything else, eh? People think
of present day Canada as being founded by the English and French, which in
actuality from a cultural viewpoint it's closer to Scottish and French. I
won't go down the road of the real founding cultures, the aboriginal nations
of Canada, lest I stir up major OT traffic.
Earl
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 11/30/2004 at 11:39 PM Piers Hemy wrote:
>I had never heard of Robertson heads either until the reference here a
>week or so ago (thank you List)
>
>But on the other hand, if I am unsure whether someone is of US or
>Canadian origin, I make sure to listen for the magic word "aboot" which
>in my experience is a clincher. I had no idea that it was a 'feature'
>known-about
>in Tennessee, and of course it doesn't mean that every Candian
>pronounces it that way, but everyone that I have come across who does
>pronounce it that way *has* turned out to be Canadian.
>
>--
>Piers
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On
>Behalf Of Garth Wood
>Sent: 30 November 2004 20:37
>To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [OM] Re: Philips; cross-point; posi-drive; Robertson
>
>--snip
>
>> I never heard of a Robertson fastener until this all got started.
>> Must be a closely-kept secret of the Frozen North. I mean, the folks
>> up there tend to call a house a hoose and pronounce "about" like one
>> of those things I wear one per foot when I go hoofing it off road.
>> No telling what they call a good screw.
>
>--snip
>
>I'm not sure where the mispronunciation B.S. comes from -- I've never
>pronounced "house" like anything else than "howse" or "about" like
>anything else but "abowt," and I was born and raised in Central Canada (but
now live
>in the West, Thank God Almighty ;-) ). I've never *heard* them
>pronounced
>any differently, either, 'cept when our friends to the South claim we do.
>My suspicion is that there's an enclave of Cape Bretoner/Newfoundlander
>types that interact with the denizens of New England and produce the,
>uh, interesting pronunciations in question.
>
>--snip
>
>
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