^ I believe he was referring to "northern Ireland" not "Northern Ireland".
I'm Irish.Why do people think I'm Candian?
I am from Canada and I am currently living in Australia and there are many people who ask me if I am from Ireland. People are very surprised when I say that I am from Canada and that I have a Canadian accent. I find it very interesting, I know that people from the East Coast of Canada in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland can sound similar to the Irish accent. Maybe because of the Irish coming over from across the ocean bringing the influence into Canada. I have no idea?
I am from Vancouver Island, British Columbia in Canada and while I was traveling outside of Canada most people I met thought that I was Irish. I didn't mind being called Irish, I would love to go to Ireland!
-I'm Irish.Why do people think I'm Candian?-
Because you adore beer and whiskey.
Because you adore beer and whiskey.
Don't think you're too special, Canada, your accent is pretty much identical to the American one, which is why people confuse certain American accents with Irish accents (see past threads on this board for the phenomenon). In short, lots of Irish (***NOT*** Scots-Irish, actual Irish from like ... Dublin and shit) people settled the northeast coast of the North American continent, which includes Canada. It's all the same jumbled New World crap.
I used to work for BA in Canada for several years and we would take calls from the U.S. as well. They thought that my colleagues and i were Irish. Every last one of them! and when you told them you were from Canada, some of the Americans didn't like to hear it. They wanted to be transfered to a call centre in either the U.S. or even give them Ireland as that's where they initally thought they were being transferred to when they rang and heard our accents. But in any case, they all pointed out there's a bit of a lilt when we talk...it's not overbearing or anything, but that it does exist. Most importantly it was the way we pronounced the 'out' sound. Apparently that makes us sound Irish, go figure!
I used to work for BA in Canada for several years and we would take calls from the U.S. as well. They thought that my colleagues and i were Irish. Every last one of them! and when you told them you were from Canada, some of the Americans didn't like to hear it. They wanted to be transfered to a call centre in either the U.S. or even give them Ireland as that's where they initally thought they were being transferred to when they rang and heard our accents. But in any case, they all pointed out there's a bit of a lilt when we talk...it's not overbearing or anything, but that it does exist. Most importantly it was the way we pronounced the 'out' sound. Apparently that makes us sound Irish, go figure!
Those aforementioned Americans sound like morons. Probably from the Midwest or the West Coast where their accent is like bleached white bread. Any 'accent' probably sounds Irish to them.
No, like I said, I've heard Canadians that really do have that strange lilt. It's not the common Canadian accent, though -- most Canadians I've met don't have it.
Americans are also usually pretty bad at placing accents. It's just not our thing (Travis and Lazar and Trawicks excepted, of course!). I have a pretty standard neutral American accent, I think, courtesy of a military upbringing, and yet during the 7 short months I spent in Georgia, working at a call center myself, I had one customer ask me where I was located and then tell me "Oh, you sound so Southern!" Which couldn't have been anything more than the power of suggestion, because there's no Southern or even Midlands (Southern Lite) in my voice at all.
Americans are also usually pretty bad at placing accents. It's just not our thing (Travis and Lazar and Trawicks excepted, of course!). I have a pretty standard neutral American accent, I think, courtesy of a military upbringing, and yet during the 7 short months I spent in Georgia, working at a call center myself, I had one customer ask me where I was located and then tell me "Oh, you sound so Southern!" Which couldn't have been anything more than the power of suggestion, because there's no Southern or even Midlands (Southern Lite) in my voice at all.
>>Those aforementioned Americans sound like morons. Probably from the Midwest or the West Coast where their accent is like bleached white bread. Any 'accent' probably sounds Irish to them.<<
Ahem - maybe in the Lower Midwest, yes, but at least here in Wisconsin and more northerly parts of the Upper Midwest there definitely is much in the way of "accent" relative to the likes off General American, to say the very least... (And if you doubt me, just ask anyone who has listened to any of my speech samples...)
Ahem - maybe in the Lower Midwest, yes, but at least here in Wisconsin and more northerly parts of the Upper Midwest there definitely is much in the way of "accent" relative to the likes off General American, to say the very least... (And if you doubt me, just ask anyone who has listened to any of my speech samples...)
When I was younger, whenever I used to hear a Paddy speak I always thought they sounded like a Yank.
Hello, why people from the UK think that you are Canadian is because you maybe tipping your Ts unknowing to you, and promouncing your Ss as 'sh', calling smoke 'shmoke' like most Canadian and Alaskan who could laso speak Russia. I think you should pay attention to your speech sound. Thank you.
It's strange, because in a way i could hear the irish influence in Canadian accents, since we are a young country and so many irish imigrated here, i guess some of that lilt has been passed on. but i would never confuse an irish person for canadian. to me the irish accent is distinct and actually very pleasing and melodic.
>>Those aforementioned Americans sound like morons. Probably from the Midwest or the West Coast where their accent is like bleached white bread. Any 'accent' probably sounds Irish to them.<<
Believe it or not, a lot of those Americans were actually new yorkers, philly, and other east coasters. Some of them were from Dallas, Houston, and a small handful were from L.A. I could pick out where they were located just by there accents and speech, but they never understood that we were in Canada. For the most part, 85% of them seemed disturbed to be speaking to Canadians for their travel plans. Maybe they were intimidated by how well we knew our stuff. So many of these americans didn't have the basic knowledge of geography. Some of them would even ask me, where i think they should go.
We'll leave that answer alone...lol
>>Those aforementioned Americans sound like morons. Probably from the Midwest or the West Coast where their accent is like bleached white bread. Any 'accent' probably sounds Irish to them.<<
Believe it or not, a lot of those Americans were actually new yorkers, philly, and other east coasters. Some of them were from Dallas, Houston, and a small handful were from L.A. I could pick out where they were located just by there accents and speech, but they never understood that we were in Canada. For the most part, 85% of them seemed disturbed to be speaking to Canadians for their travel plans. Maybe they were intimidated by how well we knew our stuff. So many of these americans didn't have the basic knowledge of geography. Some of them would even ask me, where i think they should go.
We'll leave that answer alone...lol
By your logic then people on the eastern seaboard would have even more of an Irish-tinged accent--the highest concentration of people with Irish ancestry in North America is on the Northeastern coast of the United States.
I myself am Irish (albeit from South Dublin, not Donegal), and we were only just discussing the similarities between Canadian and Irish accents in geography class days ago, especially in places such as Newfoundland and on the north east of Canada. I suppose its because of the similarity in latitude, a lot of people from Ireland ended up in these areas when they were emigrating.