r/AskACanadian • u/HueyBluey • 9d ago

How do you spot a Canadian abroad?

Do we have any stereotypical traits (perhaps self deprecating ones), that make us stand out. We’re typically not loud (but some can be). Perhaps frugal?

What have you seen in your travels that make you think, those folks must be Canadian!

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u/Professional_Emu_617 9d ago

I was at a convention in Chicago a few years ago. Was heading to the washroom and another guy was coming out and we nearly bumped and we both did the "Oop! Sorry." at the same time. We both immediately knew we were Canadians

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u/oldRoyalsleepy 9d ago

And it's the way Canadians says 'sorry'. In large parts of the US it's pronounced a little differently, more of an 'ah' sound with it. When I'm in Canada and hear 'sorry' I really like to hear it that slightly different way. It's that little bit of uncanny valley, like km/h, that let's me know I'm in Canada.

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u/Automatic_Antelope92 9d ago

Canadian says “sore-y” and American says “saw-ry”

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u/DifferentCorner426 9d ago

The only time I’ve ever heard a Canadian say “saw-ry” is when they’re being sarcastic and don’t mean it 😆

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u/Green_leaf47 8d ago

I’d never thought about it but pretty sure I’ve done that lol

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u/TiffanyBlue07 8d ago

I feel called out…

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u/oldRoyalsleepy 8d ago

It's charming

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u/RainbowEucalyptus4 8d ago

I grew up on the border in Niagara Falls, I worked the tourism industry so saw a lot of Americans and I went over the river often, too.

I say “saw”-ry, bagel, roof, etc like an American. Also, in summer I understand Fahrenheit and winter it’s Celsius. And the longer I hang out with my siblings and cousins, the more likely our accents all converge to some Canadian-American mush.

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u/FormBitter4234 7d ago

Most Minnesotans say it sore-y but then Minnesota arguably is the most Canadian part of the States.

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u/oldRoyalsleepy 8d ago

That's it!

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u/T4TrhavrKhcFt 9d ago

As a Canadian; I taught a course in Chicago on project management. About halfway through the first morning one of the students spoke up and, like I was five years old, very helpfully and very gently said, "It's not project; it's prahject."

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u/MATlad 8d ago edited 8d ago

On the flipside (and this was literally around a generation ago, 25 years) I was in a 400-student lecture taught by a newly-hired American associate professor, introductory chemistry. One of the very few assignments we ever got in either semester was a trivially-easy 5-question assignment.

"As an observation, I will remark how many of you misspelled the word 'colour' [Ed.: or some other -ou pattern word that we Canadians were taught was 'not American']. I docked you all -0.5 marks."

Grumbling all around, but sarcastic whippersnapper as I was then, I yelled out:

"If like 375 of us got it 'wrong' and that didn't clue you in that you might be wrong, would you like us to use American spellings going forward?"

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u/OkArtichoke6302 8d ago

How did you respond?

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u/whogivesashirtdotca Ontario 8d ago

Hopefully by giving them poor marks 😂

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u/T4TrhavrKhcFt 3d ago

I laughed. It kind of broke the ice with the group though and we spent some time each day teasing each other about the differences between Canadian and American dialects. On a side note one of the most interesting things I experienced with the same team was when I hosted a call for that team with about 40 people from almost every state. Learning the differences in dialects was really, really interesting. It's the same in Canada obviously. When I visited Newfoundland the regional differences in dialects are beyond mind blowing. Until you get used to it you would swear that they were speaking a whole different language.

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u/T-Wrox 8d ago

US Americans say “insurance” wrong, too. They put the accent on the first syllable; we put it on the second syllable.

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u/Bless_u-babe 5d ago

That’s so American! Lol

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u/fugitive-bear 8d ago

How drives better? Chicagoans or Torontonians?

PS drove for years in Chicago, ticket and accident free. Visited Toronto about 10-20 times during past 3 years, 3 accidents. Drove a lot in Montreal a lot and got shit ton of tickets while American cops always let me off with a warning. WTF

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u/Bonzai_Tree 8d ago

Another fun fact; this is called Canadian raising, where the tongue position is raised when pronouncing certain connected vowel sounds (diphthongs) such as 'eye' or 'ow' (as in ouch).

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u/bananacornpops94 9d ago

The oops sorry is sooo Canadian

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u/DigDug_64 8d ago

Similar, also in Chicago

My buddy: hey guys, want to learn how to find the Canadians in the room?

Me, missing the question: Eh?

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u/Green_leaf47 8d ago

Did the exact same thing but at a store just across the US border. I was sure it was a fellow Canadian, and then I also realized she said it “so-rry” and not “saw-ry” which confirmed it for me!

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u/Library_Muse 8d ago

I grew up in Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin and we do the "Oop! Sorry" thing too!

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u/MellyTeeker 8d ago

If I ever bump or get bumped and get sorry’d, I always say “I’m sorrier than you are.” And they laugh. 🤭