Here’s our weekly collaboration with Bizarro (perhaps inspired by the recent spate of severed foot washing ashore in Canada?). For more Bizarro, check out Dan Piraro’s website and blog!
Laurabee
do people honestly think Canadians say Aboot?
i’ve lived here my entire life, the only place i’ve heard “aboot” is while driving in north dakota and Minnesota… and it wasn’t coming from any canadians i knew.
sonyarawr
I was born and raised in Canada, and I’ve never heard anyone in this country say “aboot”.
sadtomato
I was just going to say the same thing! No one says ‘aboot’ in Canada! Where does this lie come from?
jimmyhoffascorpse
i heard Bruce Macullah say it in the Daves I know sketch…but that’s about it….
still a funny cartoon in my opinion!
ted
Not a word you’ll hear from a Canadian.
I think I heard someone from the Maritimes say “aboot” once. But, it’s more of a Midwest US thing.
South Park trots it out occasionally, and it’s cute.
stagger
No, we don’t say “aboot.” This is a horrible lie.
However, we do say “aBOAT.” We are unable to hear it, though, for the same reason a fish would say “what water?”
Go to California for a week or two and talk with some locals and you’ll realize how pronounced your “aboat” is (well, for most of us, anyway. For some reason my mother-in-law has a very nice round “abOUT” – nothing like the Californian “aBAOUWT” but not “aboat” either. Must be good breeding).
Ola Amigo
This is a nice gag but I don’t think most people in my neck of the woods, Colorado, really take it seriously. Let me put it this way, if they do, they probably take alot of crap from TV seriously. Pay no mind.
Ali S.
I never say aboot. However, people do say I have this weird way of saying “water”.
Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
I don’t say “aBOAT”, either. My accent is probably closer to “abauoot”, if you want to get really technical. I’ve never had any Americans get after me about it, though. They were too busy laughing at how I said “orange” (“OHrange” as opposed to their “AHrange”).
I think the West Coast accent is pretty homogeneous. Not much of a difference between California and British Columbia… at least not as far as I can tell. As you start to go east, however, I think you get more differences.
Love the cartoon, though. And did you know there are now FIVE severed feet for the mystery?
Øyvind
I think this is all South Park’s fault.
They make relentless fun of canadians, and I think they’ve used the ‘aboot’ a number of times.
That said, I laughed til I cried when reading this strip.
DaMamaJama
I say “a-BOUT”, but I also live near Niagara Falls, Ontario and get influenced from Buffalo media.
I’ve been to a few eastern states (NY thru MD and DC), as well as CA and most recently WA and notice “route” being said as “r’OUT”, but I generally say “root”, so perhaps the “a-boot” myth is a result of differences in similar sounding and spelled words.
Plus, and you can admit it, it’s fun to make fun of us Canadians.
Asparagus
yup, count me among the many who have never heard a Canadian say “aboot”, and I’ve lived in a major Canadian city for 42 years. How did this myth get started? We do, however, say eh.
Tara
The west coast says “eh” a lot. But I don’t really hear it as much on the east coast.
david chapman
I’m soory but I’ve bean oot and aboat the hoowse on the ruuf playing badmittonne.
Weaver
I’m Canadian, and we only say “aboot” when we are referring (playfully) to Americans who make fun of us for something we don’t say.
Keighlz
I’m sorry, we here on the west coast almost never say ‘eh’ (aside from some of my friends who do it for fun around tourists). I have never heard any of the “Canadian” accent pronunciations here in Vancouver. Regardless this comic did make me chuckle.
David, Chandler, AZ
First time I heard ‘oot and aboot’ was from my Canadian mother. Maybe it’s more of a east coast thing, eh?
Adelle
I’m Canadian and I don’t say ‘aboot’ but I still find this hilarious.
Lighten up.
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