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From: gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Canadian accents: the "Bob & Doug MacKenzie" sound
Message-ID: <2487@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jan-86 00:18:14 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.2487
Posted: Mon Jan  6 00:18:14 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 6-Jan-86 05:16:58 EST
Reply-To: gam@amdahl.UUCP (G A Moffett)
Distribution: na
Organization: Amdahl Corp, UTS Products Group
Lines: 25
Keywords: "midwestern" Canada?

"How's it goin', eh?"

The speech of Bob and Doug MacKenzie (from "SCTV") has amused and
fascinated me for some time.  I have even come to pronounce words like
"out" and "about" as they do (tho' not as severely).

But I have never learned exactly where this accent came from.  It
was used in an "authentically Canadian" context, implying it was
distinctly Canadian, but I haven't yet learned the origin or
specific area this accent is found in.  [To those who don't know,
the most noticeable feature of the accent is the pronunciation
of the vowel, as in "out", which is closer to "root" and "boot"
than "cow"].

I heard a fellow on the radio this evening from North Dakota
(hey, almost Canada, right?) and he had this accent, too, although
he seemed to be a long-time North Dakotan, not Canadian.  Are there
other North Dakotans out there (perhaps at ndsuvax, the only Usenet-
registered site in North Dakota) who can tell me if this type
of accent is typical out there?  And perhaps some Canadians
can provide me with some more info about this accent?
-- 
Gordon A. Moffett		...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs}!amdahl!gam

I speed up to run over unicorns.