Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
Here's the specific difficulty: arjaybe is... Canadian! I'm in the Yank ANcillARy camp myself, but who the heck knows what's right for Canucks? They mostly sound like us except for that weird "aboot"* thing, but there are exceptions. We need to hear from those west** of the border.
*I just finished listening to a Robertson Davies book read by Frederick Davidson and I was charmed to hear that he altered his normal accent to say "aboot."
**Alas, from my particular vantage point, west of the border is as accurate as north of the border. I have a crony in Ontario whose town is on the exact latitude as mine, within minutes.
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I found I had to choose between emphasizing the second syllable or the first and third, with less stress on the third. I chose the second option because it flowed better with what I was reading. That's one thing about being Canadian: we have English ways and American ways and Canadian ways. I take it as an opportunity to do whatever I want.-)
issybird, we don't say aboot, we say about. Americans hear aboot because they're used to a much broader pronunciation. Trust me, we hear the dipthong when we say it.