C, eh, N, eh, D, eh.
Do Canadians really say, ‘eh’?
Yes. Yes we do. We do it all the time.
Why? Basically, it’s a well-integrated part of our country’s slang. We use it as a way of saying, “Don’t you agree”, or “Say that again?” or even as a check to see if you’re REALLY listening. Throwing down an ‘eh’ in the middle of a sentence usually means that the person talking wants some feedback. So, speak up buckaroo, because Canadians will call you on your silence!
The origin of the word is a bit of an unknown. Most speculate that it’s a form of the word ‘hey’ as pronounced by native French speakers. Regardless of where it began, Canadians have adopted it as their own. We use it on our paraphernalia, our beer commercials, and even our sports teams.
And we really don’t mind the mocking. At least we don’t say ‘y’all’ like the south or throw random letter Rs into things like our British friends. No, Canadians are pretty okay with their ‘eh’.
If you’re REALLY serious about wanting to know more about how Canadians use ‘eh’ in everyday language, you can check out this essay. It has a nice chart with examples of everyday usage.
What slang terms are popular in your neck of the woods? Curious Canucks would like to know.
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please to be explaining the R thing w/ the Brits. i’ve only experienced the sad lack of Rs in their speech. like in horse, or at the end of words (fathe’, mothe’, etc).
and considering that many other languages have a you plural form that is different from you singular, i think y’all gets a bad rap
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‘idear’ instead of ‘idea’ is a good example of random British Rs. I’ve heard them stuck in some pretty interesting places.
Y’all just makes me smile, really. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with it.
i miss hearing eh every now and then. its hard to be a canuck in america
My friends up at college and I are all major dorks, but instead of laughing sometimes, we actually say lol… out loud…
Sometimes we also say rofl, too. And roflmao. roffle + mow
Hella. As in No Doubt’s song “Hella Good” I had SO many people who were transplants to this part of California freak out when I would say it (before No Doubt did the song) because they couldn’t figure out what I was trying to say.
Apparently it started in Northern California anyway. The fact that there is even a Wikipedia entry for the word amuses the fuck out of me. We also tend to use the word ‘helluva’ a lot as well when we feel like stretching out Hella.
Great post… eh? keep up the good work.
Haha your posts always make me lol. We don’t really have many slang words that aren’t already over used by the media to show how Aussies “really” speak. Haha the most common is sif, bloody and “lol”..