All Aboot Language

Language is a very fascinating thing. I noticed that there are a lot of differences here in Fresno as compared to Winnipeg. The first obvious distinction is the amount of Spanish that is spoken here. A bunch of the radio stations are in Spanish, half the television stations are Spanish, the stores have Spanish signs and all the announcements in the grocery store are in Spanish. But there were a few other things that were a bit more subtle and that I only noticed lately.

First, Americans have a few different words than we Canadians do. I was laughed at when I asked what could be put down the garborator. “A What?” “A garborator”. “No, it’s called a garbage disposal”. “Oh”. And there are a few other words like Soda is their word for Pop, and the letter Zed is Zee here. I get corrected every time I spell Kezia’s name. The garbage bin is the trash can here. People comment on Asha’s binky and the kids look at them weird. It’s actually a soother or a Nuk-nuk. We are confusing when we talk in Celsius or Metric, though I am learning to translate Celsius into Fahrenheit. Americans don’t know what a toque is or what a keener is either. The most tragic thing is that Smarties here are actually what we know as Rockets. Americans have no idea that Smarties are little yummy colourful chocolate candies. And they don’t know what a Double-double is. What a sad thing!

It was pointed out to Carl and me, by another Canadian here, that we have some very distinct phrases that only Canadians have. The most famous one is “eh”, but I don’t really use that very often. What I do say quite often that I am totally unaware of is, “You bet” and “Right on”. Apparently those phrases are very Canadian.

Joel and Kezia have also picked up new language. I figured since most of their teachers at preschool are Spanish they would pick up a few more Spanish words and phrases. They have and it’s really nice. But a few days ago I overheard them using other words, words that I didn’t recognize. When I listened more carefully, I realized they were saying Japanese words. I guess they learned them from the Tanaka children.

On Thursday I was at the chiropractor and the receptionist said to me, “Your speech sound strange and you have an accent. Where are you from?” I told her I was from Canada. I didn’t think I had an accent. Everyone else has an accent!

I find language and phrases very interesting. It’s neat that just by the way someone talks you can tell where they are from or where they have lived. Will we sound different when we return home? Who knows what we’ll pick up here.