Watch today's show at YouTube.
Script coming soon.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Show 383 Monday 21 May
Watch today’s show at YouTube.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
This is the first regular show of The Daily English Show Canada.
We’re going to continue to have guests on Monday.
There’ll be a variety of guests and I’ll ask them a variety of questions – focusing on language.
Today’s guest is Matt. Matt is another WWOOFer here at Mariposa Organic Farm.
Matt is from Oakville, which is near Toronto.
I asked Matt a few questions about accents.
First I asked him if, when he meets another Canadian he can tell where in Canada they come from just by their accent.
You can sometimes tell. I have a harder time telling. People from that area know. They’re like, “Oh you’re from Eastern Canada”, just from their accent.
And it slightly changes than in the cities. People from the cities, ,sometimes you can tell they’re from the city, the way they talk. Often they have more of an American sounding, um, English. And then if you’re from, um, the Prairies - Saskatchewan, and Alberta – you may have a slight, um, accent. But all and all ... it ... Canadian accent is similar, except for on the East I’d say that’s the most, ah, the most different.
1:26
I also asked him whether he could tell the difference between an Australian accent and a New Zealand accent.
Not, ah, I could .. It’s really hard to tell ... for me. Um, although, I haven’t met too many Au ... New Zealanders, Kiwis. But, no Canadians they don’t really ... I don’t think most can tell the difference between Australian accents and New Zealand accents.
Can you tell the difference between British, South African, Australian and New Zealand accents?
Ah, I’ve started to learn because ... my mum would often, like, tell me which was different when I met someone from South Africa. Um, she knew and I guess I’m learning from her. But I think most people from Canada wouldn’t be able to tell. Unless they were influenced directly from someone who was from South Africa or yeah, New Zealand, Australia, England. Um, because then they could, like, tell the, the, the ... different tones of the voice and stuff. So I’m beginning to learn. Like most of the time I could.
#230 Can you teach me some Toronto slang?
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Matt.
Sarah Can you teach me some Toronto slang?
Matt Ah, actually, there’s a special slang word that was, that started in Oakville, specifically where I’m from: chate. Have you ever heard this word before? (No) It’s ah ... it means cheap, or like, like if someone gives you something. Ah, that, let’s say, they’re selling you drugs and it wasn’t, ah, as much as you thought you’d get. Then you’d say they’re chate because they’re kind of cheap, cheapskates, chate, yeah.
But supposedly it came from this guy, ah, whose name ... he was named Chate, that was his last name. And he was really, a really cheap bastard and he would, ah, give ... yeah, he was, he was chate. And ah ...
But specific for Toronto, I don’t know any like I just hear different ones and I’m not sure where they’re from. If they’re from Tor... like if they’re from Canada, if they’re from England.
Usually you get bored of like the slang you grew up with so you’re looking for new slang. A lot of British slang, like bloody and... oh tons coming out now from England. Like geezer. We never used geezer. But that would be a British slang and some people use it now in Canada, yeah.
Sarah Can you tell me about Canadian spelling?
Matt Ah, for instance, ah, colour is spelt c-o-l-o-u-r ah, and in the states it’s spelt c-o-l-o-r. So that’s, that’s a big difference, I remember, um, trying to remember that when I was spelling those. Centre is spelt re at the end instead of er.
Sarah Why did you decide to do WWOOFing?
Matt OK, um, I, I like travelling. Or like I want to be a world traveller. Um, and ah, I was sick of suburbia, where I grew up. And then I met some people who went WWOOFing. And they were really amazing people, so whatever they did I was sure that it was a, it was a great idea. And ah, and I wanted to sort of follow in their footsteps in some ways. And so, ah, I looked into WWOOFing. And um, and here I am today, yeah, WWOOFing. So ... it’s been great.
5:32
Sarah Have you learnt a lot?
Matt Yeah, I’ve learnt a ton. Um, and a lot of experiences too. Like things that would never happen to me unless I, I came here. Like seeing rattle snakes. Um, playing with chickens in the chicken coop. Ah, like hiking half way up a mountain. Um ... having cats sitting on this picnic table. Ah, so yeah, tons of stuff. And I’ve learnt a lot about farming. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to come here. Because I was interested in um, organic farming. Seeing farming as like a, a romantic lifestyle. And also a political stance. Support farmers because that’s where our food’s coming from. And if the family farm type mentality falls apart then we’re left with corporate farms, like factory farming and stuff like that. So I want to see what farming’s all about, so that I can better understand the whole system and how it works.
Sarah Do you think you'll do organic farming in the future?
Matt Um, I’m still thinking about that. Like, I’ve also learnt that farming is a lot of work. Ah, a lot of work goes into it. And it’s not easy. Um, so maybe a small scale organic farm. Or working with other people on the organic farm. But I don’t think I could ever have my own large scale farm at all, like some people do.
But what I would like to do when I go back to Toronto is work on some community gardens. Really like, ah, share my skills that I’ve learnt here. To create like a really productive community garden.
And ... so that blends like culture, community um, with food and yeah, gardening. And ah, it feels good, like I like that sort of stuff. But that’s just me.
links
Canadian Prairies
chate
geezer
music
show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
qa bgm
artist: Vate
album: Cachonda
tracks: Extranjero (Sin patria)
from: Mexico City, Mexico
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site
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