John_B

My eldest son is 7. He was 18 months when we arrived in Canada. I sometimes tease him when he asks for a Bananna. I tell him we are all out of Bannana's, but we do have Banarnas.

I've started saying sidewalk, garbage, gas station etc., but I still can't bring myself to say tomayto and the like. I'm just not comfortable with it yet. That may make me one of those Brits who refuse to assimilate and cling on to my old culture. Perhaps I should just go home and stop complaining.

I put the last sentence in to pre·empt some of the idiots on here.

Almost Canadian

They will likely talk with a Canadian accent and they will likely use the Canadian noun rather than the English one. I don't, but accept that my kids do, to do anything else is just swimming against the tide.

Piff Poff

My daughter goes into 'like' mode when she is excited, it drives my husband mad, I don't tend to notice it until my husband starts going likelikelikelike

I am also a Mum(my), DD refuses to call me Mom.

My daughter also has the weirdest accent, it's no longer English but it's not Canadian either, it has a strange drawl to it. Sometimes I really can't understand her. I will tell her that I didn't understand a word she said and she will roll her eyes teenage style and say n'ver mind - Which drives me MAD

I understand that she has had to learn and speak the canadian way to be understood herself as I have the same problems at work, I told a colleague yesterday that we were going to go camping in a couple of weeks but before we went we would have to practice erecting the tent - she thought that was funny and I made her day!

ExKiwilass

I have the opposite problem. My daughter keeps correcting me. "It's tomaydo mama, not tomarto." etc.

SDDep

I like the way you think

I have a friend whos been here longer than I have and talks like she got off the boat yesterday...the standing joke is me telling her she practices her accent in front of the mirror everyday...

magnumpi

Same with me, double double, sidewalk, garbage, hood, trunk all fine but TOMAYDO, just sounds too odd to me at the mo.

el_richo

Using local words, fine. But why in the world would you even consider changing your pronunciation unless it changed naturally?

snoopster

With my kids, they insist on raising their voices at the end of every sentence as if they're answering a question. While I'm pretty relaxed about the Canadianisms creeping into their language patterns, the constant questioning intonation tends to drive me insane.....

John_B

Quite agree. It's funny, because when you learn to speak a different language, you try your best to pronounce words and phrases like a native. Which is as to be expected. But because English is our first language, it's harder for us to change the way we pronounce words we've been speaking for decades.

I'm a Southerner (East London), and if I were to move to, say, Sheffield, I'd never consider saying Baff (bath) instead of Barth. And I don't think anybody would expect me to. Our past experiences are what makes us who we are. I would defend my right to say Tomarto and Banarna to the death.

John_B

I know this is Australian, but this parody reflects North America just as well.

SDDep

I could almost close my eyes and hear my CA native wife and her old high school friends yapping...excluding that perculiar english/aussie/yank crossover accent...which was funny by itself....

Classic...it doesnt matter where you are...

AmyDavid

My Eldest uses all the Canadian terms - ie garbage, side walk etc - it is the "I see that frog over there" instead of "I saw that frog over there" or "I can see that frog over there" that drives me insane.

When corrected on it - she informs me her Teacher speaks like that and I have to calm OH down and agree that should this lack of grammar continue, we will leave this Country (well at least this Province) ASAP and move in with the Queen..

fledermaus

I think you are all too tolerant. Fancy letting the children talk back whether in a colonial accent or the Queen's English.

Pull yourselves together and exercise some discipline

el_richo

I imagine all of those above would expect their children to speak French, for example, in a broad English accent.

"Unn Croysantt sil vooo plett"

AmyDavid

I most definately would. Is this wrong?