Oot and Aboot - a lesson in the Canadian accent.

Well there is only one more week left before summer holidays and the teachers and I have started celebrating early. Two of the teachers are leaving shortly after the end of classes next Friday, flying to various places in the world for holidays, so to get us all out we decided to all go out this Friday instead. We made tentative plans to head out for dinner and see where the night takes us, but one by one our group got smaller and smaller. You see, various events kept interfering with our plans: babysitting grandkids, scheduled tutoring sessions, etc. With the teachers dropping like flies I finally said: Look, I am going out Friday with or without you guys, so let me know if you are coming, but Ryan and I are going out! I left school Friday afternoon planning to meet up with James and Brendan (with wife and son in tow) at Vientienne Kitchen at 7:30. Ryan and I had been trying to get out to this restaurant for quite some time, but when I called Ryan to tell him the plans he informed me of the business dinner he forgot about . . . After every training group Ryan has, his company takes them out to a welcome dinner. He would be heading out straight from work, but planned on meeting up with us after. So, a free afternoon to myself, I enjoyed a great Thai massage then came home to a nice cup of tea and my book to pass the time.
Knowing this is Thailand, and no one is ever on time, I began leisurly getting ready around 6:30. I knew the restaurant was close, but wasn't one hundered percent on its whereabouts, so I planned on leaving shortly after seven. Of course shortly after 7 came and went and I was still doing my hair when the phone rang. It was Ryan, his meal was almost done, and if I didn't mind being a bit late why don't I wait for him and he will zip home and quickly change before dinner. Figuring a few extra minutes won't hurt I decided to wait. My phone rang again just after 7:30 and Ryan and I were still getting ready, but (as this is Thailand and no one is ever on time) James called to say he was just stepping on the skytrain and he would meet us in 1/2 and hour. Oh yes, and Brendan bailed on us, his wife wasn't feeling well.
Ah well, off we went and a few blocks later Ryan and I were seated at the restaurant - good thing I didn't leave shortly after seven or I would have had a long, lonely wait.
Vientienne is the capital of Laos, and this restaurant was a quaint building that offered a selection of Laotian dishes in an open air, thatched roof setting. You had a choice of Thai seating (cushions on the floor at low tables) or tables and chairs, and there is nightly entertainment in the form of Thai dancing and music. The food was great, the service was good, but the entertainment was excellent. For most of the evening there was a group playing Thai songs on various Thai instruments. Ryan noticed the man playing the "guitar" (a version of what we call a guitar) was missing his hand on one arm, but was still very talented. There were Thai dancers, and once or twice they came out into the crowd, but it was never intrusive, it really completed the whole experience. The highlight was when the music stopped and new men dressed up in Traditional Thai costume came out, each holding a sword and sheild. They proceeded to stage a mock fight, and they really went at it, sparks were flying everywhere! They were really good. They came out into the crowd and grabbed James - he is a very tall American - gave him a sword and shield and threw him on stage. He looked great up there, Ryan and I really regret not having our camera. So here was this average sized Thai man and this giant (maybe 6'2 or 3 - he seemed very tall up there) American going at it on stage. There were no sparks flying, but James gave it a good go. When he returned to the table Ryan commented that these guys were really amazing and he wondered if anyone ever got hurt; to which James quipped: remember the guitar player?
After a few hours of food, beer and music, we got a call from Mandy who had decided to join us after all. She was not too far away and we decided to meet her at the Dubliner. We tried to steer the conversation away from work as we didn't want to bore Ryan with stories of our kids and somehow got on the topic of accents and typical phrases from different countries. (Mandy is British and always has interesting words that I swear she makes up, but is always backed up by the other British teacher on staff). Most of the conversation stayed with Mandy, she is from East London and speaks very differently than someone from another part of London. We noted how interesting that a country as (relatively) small as England can have people living quite close together speaking in very different tones, yet in Canada and the States you have to travel quite a distance from your home to find your fellow Canadians/Americans speaking with a different accent. To this, I remembered an online quiz that Ryan and I had taken: What American Accent are you? You were asked a series of questions about how words sound to you and then the quiz deduced what part of the States you were from. We each took it seperately so that we couldn't copy the other's answers, but the outcome was still the same. Apparently, the quiz told us, we were from the Northeast and we were able to understand every word uttered in the movie Fargo, or we were Canadian. Now I have seen the movie Fargo and I KNOW I don't sound like that, but it was still pretty funny the quiz knew we were Canadian. Of course this led to the Oot and Aboot issue, and while I still insist that I pronounce these words recognizing that "u", oUt and aboUt, James and Mandy both agree that you can really hear my Canadian accent when I say the word "out". Apparently Ryan doesn't say it, but I "almost" do. Hmmmmmmm. I did have to concede when they teased me about saying the word "house". I guess when I say it in a sentence I drop the "h". "I was over at my parents ouse . . . " Of course I blamed my "accent" on hanging around too many British people!
We all had a good laugh when we compared three particular words: Barry (the man's name), Berry, and Bury. Say them in a sentence, you know you pronounce them all the same! Canadians pronounce all three as though they were the same word. Mandy (our east Londoner representative) emphasizes the "a" in Barry, BArry, but says Berry and Bury like we do. James, our American from Philli, says all three very properly, making each one sound distictly different, and thinks we are nuts because how can you make an "a" "e" and "u" all have the same sound! Of course we were all very entertained by our linguistic differences, but I guarantee the people around us thought we were nuts!
All I can say is, we were having fun. I have noticed a few other words I say particularly "Canadian": I am from Canada, I took a cab, and I used a scanner; same "a" sound for all three. Everyone else around these parts say Canada emphasizing the first "a" CAnada, more like the "a" sound in the city Kanata, same for cab (actually they don't say cab, its always taxi here), but they say scanner like I do.
Now that I have you all prounouncing words in front of your computer screens and provided your water cooler chat for the day, I will finish off by saying after the Dubliner we went out to a Hotel bar for some Kareoke (?spelling?) - Mandy says she doesn't get out much, so she wanted to make the most of her night on the town - before hopping in a taxi for home.
I will note one last thing. Besides learning about linguistic differences, I have also noted that I have picked up quite a few new sayings from my colleagues from various parts of the world. I have had to delete quite a few sentences and start fresh remembering that most of the people who read this blog are Canadian and don't use words like knackered or tinker. I have started saying things like pram instead of stroller; plaster instead of bandaid (why plaster?), Nappy instead of diaper, tissue instead of Kleenex, America instead of The States (you should have heard Ryan laughing the first time he caught me using that one in a sentence!!) and other key British or Australian words. People just don't know what you are talking about if you use the Canadian/American words. It hasn't affected Ryan as much, as he works with and speaks to other Canadians, but I speak to, and am exposed to, a variety of nationalities on a daily basis, and it seems that everyone adapts to use these British/Australian terms. I guess it shows you where the bulk of the expats come from around here. I'll tell you though, if I stay here long enough no one will be able to understand a word I say by the time I get home!