Welcome to the US and A, y’all!
I love America.
I’m not even sure if I can correctly articulate how much I adore American culture, but I suspect it’s because the US is so different from Canada. Everything is so surreal. They’re all so “GOD BLESS AMERICA!”, “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!” and “WE LOVE TACO BELL!” … Just like in the movies or on CNN. (The different between the two, by the way? Not much.)
I know most people either have no opinion or a very strong opinion on America and American things, but I can’t help but fuss and giggle over nearly everything American. Like their accents. And their restaurants. And their food. And George W. Bush. I may not agree with everything, but it’s America. And being Canadian, you can’t help but marvel at how oddly different everything is.
Sort of like yesterday, when I asked the gas station attendant how to get back on the highway. After using the word “highway” to refer to the freeway (or is it interstate?) at least ten times in the span of about two minutes, he finally snapped:
“It’s the FREEWAY, ma’am. FREEWAY.”
My apologies. Back at home they call them big roads HIGHWAYS.
I especially love being in the south, which is where I’m at right now. The difference between the US and Canada is only amplified here—people are friendlier, you’re in the bible belt, it’s humid as hell, and until you develop an ear for the way some people pronounce things, chances are you will not be able to completely understand what they’re trying to say to you.
If you asked me what my favorite part of America is though, I’d have to say it has to be the accents. I know that nobody ever thinks they have an accent, but guess what? Y’ALL HAVE ACCENTS. Especially if you’re from somewhere that isn’t on the west coast—the way they speak in many parts of States (particularly the south) is so relaxed and drawled out, kind of like what happens when you suck on a freezee and attempt to talk fast. It’s marvelous. I haven’t quite mastered it yet.
But I think you should know it’s on my list of goals and aspirations in life. Right up there with being able to use “Y’ALLS” in a sentence and not burst out in giggles straight afterwards.
ONE DAY, WORLD. ONE DAY.
That’s weird. I’m from America, and I’ve always called it a highway. And everyone I know has always called it a highway, even in Nashville. That guy must have been smoking something.
Reply: Really? How bizarre! Maybe he was, who knows. :P
June 1st, 2008 at 2:48 pmI can say y’all without laughing! It’s an Albertan thing. It’s to make up for the intense amount of snow. :P
Whatever you do, don’t try the iced tea! It is cold tea! Which I enjoy, but only with copious amounts of brown sugar.
Reply: Awww. You guys say y’all! That’s adorable!
I don’t particularly like iced tea.. or tea in general. Unless it’s chai. But iced tea without sugar? Doesn’t sound too nice. :P
June 1st, 2008 at 6:29 pmhaha. this post is hilarious. i can’t believe you think people on the west coast have an accent. obviously, i don’t think we do because i live here. accents are a funny thing. i’ve never been to canada but you guys have fun accents too. :)
Reply: I’m glad you liked it! :)
Regarding the accents: I didn’t mean to say that the west coast has an accent! Being from the west coast and all, we probably do… but when I travel to Washington, Oregon or California I don’t seem to notice the typical “American accent” as strongly as you’d notice it somewhere like say, Utah or Virginia. But apparently people from the east coast can pick it up.
June 1st, 2008 at 8:18 pmI’m seconding Brittney’s “that guy must have been smoking something.” I live in Nashville. No one says freeway. XD
The accents here… They’ve grown on me, but I don’t find them as endearing as you do. I’ve never used the word “Y’all.” I don’t know. I just don’t like it. I’m glad that you’re enjoying the USA, though.
Reply: I am, I am! :) I love traveling to the States… You’d think I might get tired of it considering that I go so often, but there is just something about your country I like. And it may or may not have anything to do with Target. (Just saying!)
June 1st, 2008 at 11:22 pmAmerica is definitely somewhere that I’d love to visit — my parents went there and they loved everything, even down to the news (”they’re just so ENTHUSIASTIC and EXCITABLE about everything!”). I’m not quite sure I could pull off “y’all” with authenticity either. ;)
Reply: Hahaha oh boy.. with an English accent (as I imagine you have one?) I think that I’d pay money to hear you say y’all! :)
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 amOff.*
I always, without fail, do something wrong when I comment you Chanel. I think it’s just pure bad luck. ;)
Reply: Aww… but with my magic moderation powers, I fixed it!
June 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 amI always get amazed at how things are soo different across the border. I have to say I think Canadians ARE a lot friendlier than Americans, but they have it better than us for so many other things (food choices in fast food restaurants, cheaper gas, cheaper clothing, better outlets, blah blah I can go on and on).
And I totally agree with Aisling! I did the mistake of ordering and “iced tea” and it was literally iced tea. Nastay!
Reply: You find Canadians friendlier than Americans? Really? See, living the Vancouver I find that people are somewhat reserved and not all that friendly here (especially when you get into cultural/language barriers)… A lot Canadians have told me the same, but on the hand, a lot of Americans seem to think we’re nice too. So I really don’t know. :P
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:11 amJust like any place in any county, dialect is different. People on the west coast (see: Cali) call it the freeway. In most of the midwest, it’s called a highway (or tollway, when it literally has tolls.) I just think it’s something that should be expected no matter where you go, that certain words/vocabulary are not custom.
If you go to the south and say “pop,” you’ll get stares, because in that area, it’s referred to as “soda,” or “coke.”
I’m sure you didn’t mean to come off as such, but this post feels like you’re trying to be condescending.. :\
Reply: I definitely didn’t mean to be condescending! I really do love the States… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I love it *because* of its quirks - the good and the bad - and to me, that’s what makes it so lovable. I feel the same way about Vancouver (because really, I’ve yet to meet someone who will tell you it’s just the month of straight rain that makes Vancouver so special to them! ;)
Regarding the soda/pop: I’ve never actually asked for “pop” (I usually just specify right away) in the States, but I’ll keep that in mind! Reminds me of the time I asked someone where the bathroom was… They gave me this blank look, and after further specifying “you know, like the washroom?” she finally understand what I was trying to find and further clarified, “you mean the *restroom*?” … So many different ways to ask for the same place!
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:07 pmI’ve only been to the US once, to Chicago, and there was one huge difference that I noticed: there was a McDonald’s and a Starbuck’s on every block. XD
I LOVE saying “y’all”, but when I do, all my friends groan and tell me that I can’t do a Southern accent. One day.
Reply: That’s pretty common for almost every large city in North America, I think! From where I live (and I don’t live downtown) I can walk to two Starbucks. :P (No McDonalds, though.)
Regarding the southern accents: I feel your pain, I do! They’re sort of hard to pull off accurately unless you’re around them a lot. :( I can always do them so much better when I’m in southern States or have just come back… Once I’ve been home for about a week, all previous ability is gone. :P
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 pmThat’s weird. I always thought that Canadians and Americans are very similar with each other. The way they speak (except of course the whole southern accent), the way they eat, their point of views, etc….I guess I’m wrong.
Reply: We’re probably very similar to each other when you compare us to the rest of the world, but compared to each other, there are noticeable differences, differences that become even more apparent depending on where you go in the States or Canada—but I’m sure it’s like that with a lot of similar-but-different countries around the world. :)
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 amI love this. Being an American and an avid traveler, I love to hear how others view the US. I don’t find it offensive or condescending. I think it’s fascinating to see the little things through another person’s perspective. I too think that accents are quite interesting. In the US of course, there are loads of different accents depending on where you go. Even among Southern accents, there are lots of different variations. We often find the Canadian accent amusing so I’m glad to see that it goes both ways :) It’s nice to have a sense of humor about ourselves.
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Reply: I totally agree - I’m an avid traveler as well, so the little things like accents, cultural quirks, the ways people adapt to their surroundings and stuff like that are so fascinating to me. :)
Depending on where you go in Canada, accents are different here as well. I can’t speak for the rest of Canada, but I know that in Vancouver, there is no “one” accent - because Vancouver is basically made up of a whole bunch of nationalities and cultures thrown together (and thus, we do have a lot of immigrants), a lot of residents have their own accent from their own country of origin. And then to add on top of it, you have Generation Y here… many of them were born in Canada but their parents weren’t, creating a totally different accent (and mindsets, cultures, etc.) altogether. It’s pretty neat it itself.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pmA Canadian that loves America? Now way.
Honestly though, I love that I’m a Canadian living in the United States — I can use “eh” and “y’all” with ease.
And I truly do think that I can see the best of both worlds objectively. I may be labeled as a traitor by some certain Canadians, but I’ve lived in the US for 10 years - ya get used to it.
I still call them highways though. I don’t know about this ‘freeway’ business.
And I will never pronounce route like trout — never!
Reply: Route/trout! That’s right! I totally forgot about that one. Oh, oh … and roof like wuf! :)
I think it’s fabulous that you can see the best of both worlds - I always try to do that. None of that “WE’RE BETTER THAN JOO!” stuff (and I’m talking from both sides here… Canadian/American rivalry, though fun in jest, is sometimes taken seriously by some of the die hards. The world is too small and life is too short for that.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pmYa’ll lol. Yeah, I can tell you were in the south. We don’t usually use that word here in Maryland a lot. I’ve used it before though occasionally, I admit. :P
Freeway? No one in this town calls it that. We call it Interstate or Highway.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:14 pmI find accents fascinating! But I can’t for the life of me replicate an accent. I always just end up sounding like me :P
Have you been to Singapore? “Singlish” is really interesting to hear. And it’s not just the way they pronounce the words, it’s also all the grammatical shortcuts they take that make Singlish unlike any other accent I’ve heard before.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:24 amHaha, I thought Canadians and Americans were pretty much the same! Oh, the embarrassment… I was planning on going to Canada to see Niagara Falls (oh, so touristy) and America to go Christmas shopping in New York with the parents, but I must say I’m quite scared at the funny looks I may receive if I’d say ‘motorway’ or ‘fizzy juice’!
June 4th, 2008 at 2:18 pmI agree with you 100%, im in alaska, and I love it, america is the land of opportunity and the people here are so patriotic and for good reason. I have alot of freinds that serve in the military and they are the best people I know, I always debate anti american and bush bashers, I dont think they really understand what America is all about. If you really want to make it big in this worls, America is the place to do it!
June 5th, 2008 at 5:53 pmGod bless America…eh!
Ha, the freeway/highway thing made me laugh because my parents used to argue about which one was right. So I just use both, but I say freeway more often than not.
I love all the different accents here in America, too! I was born and raised in Utah, and we definitely have our own accent. There are just certain things that are pronounced so oddly. There’s a city called “Hurricane” here but you pronounce it “HURR-ih-kun” though if you’re talking about an actual storm, you say it like you’re supposed to. Utahns also tend to swallow their consonants more than the rest of the population (I’m guilty of saying stuff like “mao-in” instead of “mountain” ha). I once hurriedly said to my mom, “I’m going to go to the store,” but it came out, “I’m unna go sssstore.” And a LOT of us do it. It’s funny that we have all these crazy liquor laws because we all sound drunk anyway, ha. I’ve made a conscious effort to better annunciate these days though.
I love the Kentucky accent (if that’s what it’s called). It makes me laugh all the time when I talk to people from there :D What I especially love about southern accents is that they’re all so different and varied. Like Louisiana has a couple of different accents from what I can tell, but then you go right next door to Mississippi and you find something a little different there, too! Lucky me, I get to hear them all day at work, ha. Something that took me a while to get used to was that Southerners say, “Ma’am?” (or Sir) instead of “Pardon?” or “What?” when they want you to repeat something. And I would always go, “Why are you calling me Ma’am? I’m trying to tell you something here!” Ha.
Oh, and I’ve noticed a lot of Southerners say “Ink Pen” instead of just pen, and I think that’s so sweet. It also makes me wonder how many different kinds of pens they keep in their houses.
Another accent I love is that New England/Boston one. I can’t quite imitate it, but if you watch This Old House, you’ll hear it from a few of the main guys on that show. I love hearing them talk about pretty flowers or tile or something in that tough accent. So funny.
Reply: I never noticed a lot of those little things! Thanks for sharing. :)
Regarding the Utah accent - I love how they swallow their consonants! I think it sounds so neat.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:16 amHaha I’m miles away from American, but I think, at least in some small way, New Zealand has absorbed a lot of American culture. It’s bizarre. :P
Reply: I’ve never been to New Zealand, but that doesn’t surprise me! Whether or not this is a good thing, I think a lot of the world has absorbed even a tiny bit of American culture. :P
June 6th, 2008 at 10:41 pmhahahahahahaah greatest blog ever.!
June 16th, 2008 at 5:49 amI’m from Pennsylvania and can be counted on the highway versus freeway side of things. Also, your observation about the southern accent and the freezee pop thing was dead on!
Reply: Really? Thank you! :)
June 30th, 2008 at 2:40 pm