Purley

I learned the other day that the stuff you put on your eyelashes is "mass-care-a" not "mass-kah-ra" as I had been calling it all this time!!! This was told me by my granddaughter when I confessed to the fact that Oh Canada does not rhyme for me because "land" is supposed to rhyme with "command" but I still say "com-ahnd" with the English pronunciation -- or maybe I should say with the Surrey pronunciation because I am sure there are many "English" variations depending on where you come from!!!

I also say "pahss" the bread - rather than "pass" with a Canadian style "a". I just cannot get into those - although I do say "tom-ay-to".

And those of you who have also been here for years - do you still have words that you pronounce the way you did as a child - and will probably never change???

G77

The wife is from darn sarf and says "glaaaaarse" and "baaaaath" instead of "gla-ss" and "ba-th" like me - there will be some gloating when I get to Canada if I'm saying it the same way as Canadians

roanin

Hey, Purley girl! Why don't you just learn how to speak proply, like wot I did, when I wuz a children!

ann m

I've had to amend two words for my work place.

I say car-mel now, instead of ca-ra-mel; and I say mow-ka instead of mock-a. However I still steadfastly stick to the lahhtay, rather than a lat-tay.

(you can easily guess where I'm working at the mo! ) Frappucino anyone?

Purley

I'll have you know that the Purley accent IS the proper one!!!

And I refuse to call it "carmel" the bloody word has an "a" in the middle. I always have butterscotch instead!

I was talking to my sister yesterday and she mentioned a "yoo-RY-nall". I was going to tell her that as urine is not pronounced "yoo-ryne" surely urinal should be pronounced the Canadian way "yoo-rin-all".

Now I WISH I could remember how she came to mention urinals in the first place!!!

Biiiiink

I don't think I will ever say "azzzzma" for asthma (say: ass-muh)

roanin

My last GP pronounced it "ex-zee-ma" Tard!

Judy in Calgary

How do you guys pronounce finance?

I pronounce it FAI-nans. It's one of the few instances in which South African pronunciation is consistent with North American pronunciation.

I guess BBC pronunciation (or what used to be BBC pronunciation) is fi-NANS.

After 31 years in Canada, I do pronounce a lot of words the Canadian way. It took me a long time to succumb to AW-range, but I eventually did that too.

I still say Herb, though.

It's an evolutionary process, I guess.

I found it amusing that, when I went to Australia, after 20 years in North America, I found it strange to see a sign advertising a TYRE SALE. By that time, TYRE looked wrong and TIRE looked right to me.

One of the funnier differences in pronunciation, to my ear, is South African meh-TAL-urgist versus Canadian META-llurgist.

Does anyone know the correct pronunciation of e-zine, in any language? Is it ee-zeen or ee-zign?
x

Novocastrian

Errr...what is it in any language?

lof

for me it's closest to that:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ezine

but (canadian) english is my third foreign language. and after 2.5 years here i still pronounce some words in a way that i get a blank stare.

Novocastrian

Thank you lof. BTW what are your first two languages?

lof

i assume you speak both of them as well: deutsch and français.

Novocastrian

A safe assumption.

Are you from Alsace-Lorraine?

Edit: More likely Switzerland.

Purley

I think all Canadians say "ek-zee-ma" and what about "a-loo-min-um" or "mir" for mirror?? Mind you, I guess English as spoken by lots of English people is terrible. They say "go' a bi' of" they don't pronounce the "t's" its just kind a sound in the back of their throat. On some show yesterday a woman said "ray-dee-ay-ors" more or less, instead of "ray-dee-ay-tors".

I guess all ethnicities have people who don't pronounce their own language very well!

Biiiiink

Definitely ee-zeen, as the "zine" is short for magazine.