Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

“Eh” has proven to be a very difficult thing to study; as an oral tic, it’s rarely written down, and studies have relied on self-reporting—basically, asking people whether and how they use the word. “It’s a very hard thing to do research on, really hard to quantify how much it’s used, who uses it, how it’s used,” she says. Those self-reported studies are necessarily flawed, as Canadians have a tendency to underestimate their use of the word. Gold told me about several instances in which people insist they hardly ever say “eh,” before using the word without realizing it in subsequent thoughts. (“I hardly ever say ‘eh,’ eh?”)

Turkeytop wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 09, 2020 1:47 pm

Why do Canadians say eh? I wish I knew.

Why do limies say "jolly good?"

Why do southerners say Y'all?

They're all just annoying parochialisms.




All Canadians don't say eh. I don't.

I think it's mostly a middle class affectation. My wife however says it often enough to sometimes make me cringe, if we're out in public. Maybe she has middle class aspirations.

Bryce wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 09, 2020 5:32 pm

Michigan says "pop" when most the rest of the world call it soda.

MotorCityRadioFreak wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 09, 2020 5:53 pm

Why do Midwesterners say "ope"? The world may never know.