We were in Portugal at a fort and there was a lady there from the U.S. and we asked her to take our picture. She was very nice and asked where we were from and when we said Canada she was absolutely amazed that we spoke "such good English"

This is sort of on topic - one of my favourite web sites is "An American's Guide to Canada" written by an expat American

http://emily.icomm.ca/index.cgi

What a fun site. Emily has left out toasted western on the food list - isn't it a "Denver" sandwich in the US?

nospam wrote:
<<Trying to convince a European friend that the term "Americano" does NOT imply all Canadians, Americans, Central Americans, and South Americans! >>
Actually, I am from Argentina, and we DO consider ourselves "americanos". I learned in geography class that there are 5 continents, and one of them is called America. Hence, everyone who lives on it is an "Americano". The funny thing is we from South America don't call ourselves South Americans at all, just Americans (but we use this term in very special contexts). We usually call ourselves Argentinean, Chileans, etc.
I've been living in the States for 5 years now and I always thought that that was one of the "ignorant" comments regarding "South America"... similar to the ones posted on this thread.
By the way, I loved learning more about Canada's misconceptions and silly questions, since I will be moving there in the summer. I won't be asking any of those!
Thanks for initiating this thread, it's so much fun!!!!

Hi there!
Yup, the continental divide strikes again -- are there 5? Or 6? Or 7???
ANYWAYS, usually in Italy (at least), the word Americano refers to those from the U.S. Although I HAVE seen "gli Stati Unitis" used before...
Sigh!

We lived in Italy in a very small town for a year and I was asked on a number of occasions, when I said I came from Toronto,Ontario, Canada if I knew_____, the asker's cousin, friend, ex-neighbour.

As Toronto has a population (CMA) of 4 million,Ontario 8 million and the country overall about 28 million, this would seem very unlikely and I would always answer politely while sighing inwardly.

In the last week, when I said goodbye to my butcher, he shyly asked me if by any chance I knew his sister. I stopped sighing when it turned out she was my dentist back home.

Ok, so I have something funny from a Canadian about Canada. A friend from Montreal (English)was coming to spend a week with me in Victoria (she has been here before). She wanted to arrive in Vancouver about 10:30 pm (Pacific time)and could we pick her up at Vancouver airport. Told her this wasn't very good for us because the last ferry to Vancouver Island leaves at 9 pm. She said - seriously - couldn't we just take the bridge!

When I was getting ready to go to Canada for the first time, my son told me the canadians always say "eh" at the end of each sentence. I thought it's just a usual joke.

When in Toronto I met a local guy (through the Internet), he was born and grew up there, and he really said "eh" at the end of each sentence. When asked why, he couldn't explain. He hadn't even noticed!

Now I am asking seriously, why?

"eh" is a very rural thing for Canadians to say. I never say it, nor do my friends, but head out into the country, and everyone says it.

It's similar to how Americans say "uh-huh" and "ya'll". Not everybody does, but a lot do... it's just local slang that locals don't notice, but if you're not from around here, you will.

p.s. I don't think anyone says "eh" after *every* sentence... it has to be in context, just like "uh-huh", or "alright?".

Carmanah

I must contradict. I've heard that "eh" in the most unusual places. Totally out of context and almost as if it just had to be said even though it was unnecessary. :)

I've always assumed people that say it out of context are joking...

ie: "Hey, what's up EH? How are you doing, eh? Are you going for lunch, eh?"

And what I mean by joking is, just playing along with the stereotype ;)

I was told once by a Canadian linguist that the term "eh" is used most commonly as a substitute for the phrase "do you agree?"... as in "It's cold oot today, eh?". ... It is not limited to rural areas and is very common in English Speaking eastern cities... I live an hour from Toronto and have heard it countless times...eh?

As a Western Canadian I hadn't really heard "eh". When I moved back to Ontario in the 70's I was introduced to it. Then it seemed to be that the person telling a story would stop every once in awhile and say "eh" as a way to be sure I was keeping up with what they were saying (or making sure I was really listening) as opposed to agreeing with them.

"Eh" -- which I use -- is not unique.

Surely most forms of English have a grunt-like sound that is not a word but gives meaning to the rest of the sentence.

e.g. "Huh" as in "Wise guy, huh?"

Or in other languages: "hein?" in French, which sounds quite like "eh" and means the same thing.....