or Scottish...

It's definitely the gaelic/celtic influence. You can hear it most strongly in classic the classic "Newfie" accent, which is so long-voweled it sounds like "aboot", etc, even to other Canadians.

Isn't that likely in Canada, is it?
Besides, in Scottish it would sound like [y:]
What? In Canada?

Uh... there was a lot of Scots that moved up there in the old days. Practically all the local population within 200 miles of where I live say "Aboot".
Well I'm a clear spoken Scot who apparently sounds very very Canadian. Met a few folks from that country who thought I was from their area haha.

Yep. Go back to the early colonization and subsequent immigration and it's no surprise that you can easily mistake Newfie for Scottish, among various others.

It even merits its own separate entry on Wikipedia! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_English

Edit: I just took a moment to read through it. That article's list of expressions has some downright hilarious ones!

Bergkäse is very mild both in taste and fat content compared to Maroilles , Vieux Puant de Lille ( just imagine why they called that cheese old stinky ) and , best of all, fort de Bethune ;-). And, you see, I was this morning in a market just on the other side of the border, and they sold these by pack of 1Kg...

Okay, limited exposure to Canadian accents has led me to a wrong conclusion:
I thought that because I heard "ou" pronounced like "oo" in just a few words, it couldn't have developed in English but must have come from different languages clashing.
I wasn't aware that the pronunciation value of "ou" and other diphthongs is always raised under very specific conditions in the relevant dialects.
It now makes sense to me.

Take a trip to Glasgow, you'll get it. :P

The different pronunciations of "ou" may have been an archaic quality of some English dialects.

But please correct me if I'm wrong: Don't you pronounce every "ou" sound like "eu" or "oo" in a present day Scottish accent and modern Scots and not just those that are followed by specific consonants?

Scottish have like 50 different dialects haha. For such a small wee placey, we have a lot of silly shit like that.

Do you know a Scottish accent that uses different pronunciations for "ou" depending on the following consonant?

Ok so I think accents are fun, and regional accents even better. I watched a few of the tumblr and tag accent videos and thought it would be fun to make my own and maybe have you all post some too? I think this fits nicely under "national and local weirdness". if you're camera shy, you don't have to show your face, just have a background pic or something.

Here are the links to the pages you can read from:
http://heckyeahtumblrchallenges.tumblr.com/post/6730485453/tumblr-accent-challenge-your-name-and (tumblr, short version)
http://www.youtubesociety.com/accent-challenge-questions/ (longer version)

And here is my horrible accent :)

When I lived in Jamaica it took me awhile to get used to the fact that they use their car horns as a common tool, they honk at friends and enemies, they honk to warn they are coming by, passing, done passing, rounding a corner, approaching an intersection or to highlight a point of discussion in the car. lolol it can be quite unnerving for me, as we only use the horn in emergency or to really let some idiot know we are pissed at their driving skills.

Growing up only the rich kids got to go to camp, it was more an elite thing. We were stuck roaming the countryside fishing, camping in backyards, having plain old adventures of the dusty kind and making up teams for sport among the rest of the neighborhood kids.

In my house the sink has one faucet, the shower has two. We walk the line of inclusiveness :-D

I always toss a bit o' salt over my shoulder if I should spill salt.

I have been known to knock wood if anyone says a boastful thing about health, riches, winning etc.

In the south we say "Bless their heart..." when we mean "They are fukin idiots".

In my family we kiss when we greet family, friends. This leads to some awkward moments with acquaintances.

I never heard of draughts before but have heard of drafts, which i believe is the same thing. We weren't warned of them tho, but there were many a dire forecast if you tried to swim within an hour after eating... lolol or if female to swim in the sea while having your period was a death sentence.

In times of worry you kept a candle lit for the loved one, to let it go out invited bad things to come their way. This became problematic is the illness /worry was long lived...as you had to cycle a lit candle to the dying one for .. forever lol.

You put a penny in a sailboats mast . for...reasons

You bypass a penny in a street unless its heads up, then it means that a dead loved one is thinking of you.


god.. i had no idea i had so many of these silly things .. great forum thread by the way

i am so glad you said this! i thought i was nuts for a bit. :) drafts.

I found it pretty interesting that my spouse's old house in Wales has curtains... for doors! if you think about it its brilliant but that is the 1st time I've seen that.