Originally Posted by
chollie
OK, fair enough.
At least in this instance, you either have met a very different set of Americans than I have or you judge much more harshly than I do, particularly strangers.
As for Americans 'faking' Canadian accents, as GUWonder noted, some of us, particularly in some northern states, mingle with Canadians regularly and watched Canadian TV before cable. Goes both ways, too - I've encountered Canadians south of the border 'attempting' a 'fake' American accent by (gasp!) saying 'abowt'.
I don't see anything wrong with that either.
We have lots of family in Minnesota. They sound
way more Canadian to me than any of my friends who grew up in the greater Toronto area. (Not to mention they do more stereotypically-northern things, like curling, icefishing, and keeping 15 different kinds of lefse in their houses at all times.
) The "eh" thing isn't too common, but their "about" is at least 75% of the way to a full Canadian "aboot".
Maybe I'm suggesting that Minnesotans are wannabe Canadians and Torontonians are wannabe New Yorkers.
