Use of "eh" in a sentence
It's rarely used in Britain apart from at the end of sentences posing a question such as:
"What do you think? Not bad, eh?"
But Canadians and some New Zealanders seem to use it habitually in the most unlikely places. I once shared a room in a hostel for a week with three guys from Christchurch NZ and their sentences would go something like this:
"eh, I went to the park today, eh and I was kicking a ball around ,eh. This guy came up to me, eh and he goes you can't kick that ball around here eh.........and so on"
Where does this habit originate and what purpose does it serve?
It seems like it's a conversational word used especially in dialog to involve the other person--by saying "eh?" you're constantly involving the listener. Like in Britain, I don't use "eh" apart from the end of sentences like the one you listed. My Canadian cousins use it quite often--tho I'm not around them often enough to have analyzed their speech to figure out exactly when they do it.
Eh is used by Canadians mostly at the end of sentences when you want someones opinion or an answer. It is becuase with the canadian accent the last word in the sentence is said a little longer and the vioce is higher. To many people (esp. americans) it sounds like canadians are phrasing everything like a question, so to tell the difference between a statement and question you add eh.
Example: That movie was great.
(simple statement the person liked the movie)
That movie was great, eh?
(they are saying they liked the movie and want to know
if the other person agrees)
I don't know if New Zealanders use it the same way, but if a Canadian says eh, answer them!
The interjection "Eh" is use in some parts of the northern United States too. I knew a guy from Michigan not to long ago who used it although not with the Scottish inflection that you hear among many Canadians.
One thing that seems to irritate a lot of English people is the way we Scots tend to use the term "uh-huh"...meaning simply "yes".
eg
Statement: "I think I'll go to the gym now...you coming?"
Response: "Uh-huh".
I think women use it more than men do though.
"Uh huh" is Scottish? It's used in America all the time (or some variation of it, like "mm hmm").
"Uh huh" sounds like Elvis singing. Actually, come to think of it I saw something on TV recently that traced the Presley name back to Scotland, must be some kind of impulsive genetic throwback- I'm just glad no one gave him bagpipes!
It's really true that a fair number of Scottish people do say "uh-huh" to mean yes, or to agree to something! Honestly - I should know I live here. As I say it's females who use it most for some reason. I hardly ever do! Ok - an example - I was on the phone to Edinburgh First uni a wee while back and was giving out some details to this girl bit by bit and each bit of info I gave out she acknowledged it with "uh-huh"! So there! :-)
I can't describe the way it comes out without actually saying it myself. It's not quite the same as the American way of saying "uh-huh". I don't know how Elvis Presley said it. What I do know is that he only visited the UK once...a one hour or so refuelling stopover at Prestwick Airport, on the Ayrshire coast on route from the USA to Germany. So all he saw of this fair land was the passenger lounge at Prestwick airport.
There are quite a few Presleys in the Edinburgh/Lothians area telephone directory but without checking I'm not sure if it's a Scottish name. I may report back...I may be gone for some time....oops! wrong scenario...
While I was joking about it sounding like Elvis, I was actually serious about him having Scottish ancestry. About 4 or 5 months ago there was a guy on Richard & Judy (yeah, not something I like to admit and its not even like I can claim I was drunk at 5 pm) and he was talking about the area in Scotland where his family originated, and how there are quite a number of Presleys in that area.
And I do know what you mean, sometimes I make a kind of mm huh sound if someones giving me instructions!
Apart from hearing him sing I didn't know all that much about Elvis Presley really except that a lot of guys try to mimic him and there are fan clubs all over the place even though the guy's been dead for nearly 30 years!
I can't see any real indication that Presley is a Scottish name. Anyway, I found the following link. Another amazing thing I found out which I didn't know before was that 13 of the guys (half of them in total) who signed the original Declaration of American Independence in 1776 were Scotsmen! I wonder if they all had a tot or two of the hard stuff after they'd put the quill down.
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=193&id=363862004
About "eh": I read at the Varieties of English (http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/) page on Canada that it may originate from the French "hein?" used much in the same way.
My Canadian flatmate also uses it in between sentences. Queenslanders in Australia say "eh" a lot too.
Wouldn't surprise me if Elvis is Scottish, his colouring was right to be Scottish-Celtic
I long ago noticed that in British ESL/EFL coursebook audio recordings, speakers almost invariably hesitate at the end of nearly every sentence, with "eh" or some similar noise. Once one notices it, it becomes extremely irritating. I don't know if it's some sort of artifice used by professional voice-talent artists to sound casual on the tapes, or if it's really a nearly-universal habit among British speakers. In talking to British speakers in person, I don't often hear this irritating hesitation sound, so I'm rather inclined to believe that it's just something that voice talent dreams up to sound more spontaneous when reading a script.
Americans typically use a central vowel (schwa) for hesitation, usually transcribed as "uh." "Uh-huh" is two such vowels, the latter at a slightly higher pitch than the former, and nasalized; usually these construction is synonymous with "yes" or "sure," etc. It is very common. "Huh" is used in questions and is the same as "uh" but nasalized with a /h/ at the beginning.