Residents of Calgary and Toronto can tell if you're from Calgary or Toronto just by the way you say Calgary or Toronto.
The Globe and Mail published an interesting feature last month on Canadian shibboleths. According to the article, the biblical word 'shibboleth' is used to describe words whose pronunciation is used to identify a certain group.
How to spot a Calgarian? Ask them to say where they're from. It's "CAL-gree," of course. If it's not, they're lying.
How to spot a Canadian? Ask them to say Calgary and they'll probably pronounce it phonetically, as in "CAL-gah-ree," working in the 'a' as a soft, extra syllable.
Americans and everyone else in the world say "CAL-gair-ee," making the extra syllable much harder and more prominent, as if they were blending the names Cal and Gary.
It's the same with Toronto.
Longtime residents call it "TRAWN-ah," with just two syllables. Everybody else says it with three syllables and how they say it matters.
Most other Canadians, especially in Western Canada, say "ta-RAWN-oh" in casual conversation, dumping the second 't,' while more formal speakers will say "tah-RAWN-toe" and Quebecers say "tah-rawn-TOE."
In the Globe article, a linguist explained that the soft or outright unspoken middle syllable in Calgary or Toronto is a common result with English words when a soft, unstressed vowel follows a stressed sound. Think every, evening and chocolate. Native English speakers say them with two syllables - EV-ree, EEV-ning and CHAWK-let - instead of the three syllables they're written with.
Regionally, we have our own shibboleths.
What's the name of that town between Williams Lake and Cache Creek? If you're from these parts, that would be "HUN-nerd mile" for 100 Mile House. House is dropped entirely and so is that soft, middle 'd' in hundred. Only a few people say "HUN-drid Mile House" and nobody in the Central Interior ever calls it "one hundred mile house." The immediate response for the folks that do call it that is "where you from?"
Like Toronto, "CLONE-ah" separates residents of Kelowna from the rest, who say "ka-LONE-ah."
While not shibboleths, there are some variations of place names in the area.
If you're from elsewhere or being formal, the name of this city is Prince George.
If you're from here and being casual, this is P.G.
If you're from Vanderhoof and points west, this city is referred to as Prince, in contrast to the other regional Prince, which most people throughout the region, including the ones from "Prince," call Rupert.
Dawson Creek often gets shortened to Dawson.
Confusion sets in, depending on where one says "the Fort." In the Prince George area, that's Fort St. James but in the Dawson Creek area, that would be Fort St. John and further north of that it means Fort Nelson.
Within Prince George, there are two quirky name variations, one that can identify the age of the speaker and one that can identify the neighbourhood of the speaker.
Very few residents under 50 call Highway 97 through Prince George "the Bypass," yet that's frequently heard among older residents to describe a four-lane highway that bypasses nothing at all today but was once, decades ago, a two-lane road that did bypass the vast majority of Prince George.
Perhaps the quirkiest local variation on place is tied to the phrase "going into town." Regional district residents say it to describe coming to Prince George. So do residents of Pineview, even though they are geographically inside the city.
Oddly, however, residents of the Hart and even of North Nechako can often be heard describing any journey that involves crossing the Nechako River as "going into town," even though they are just as close to the city centre as residents of Peden Hill, University Heights and College Heights.
Sometimes you don't need to ask someone where they're from, you just need to listen to them talk for a few minutes and you'll figure it out, even if that's to pick up some clues on where they live (or don't live) in Prince George.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
