Do any of you Canadians here know anything about the French spoken in Ontario?
I’m asking for a friend, but I’m also interested in her question myself.
I know the French of Quebec is different from the kind of French you learn in the classroom (in America and Europe), but what about the French speakers in Ontario (Ottawa, to be exact)?
Merci beuacoup! (I know I probably spelled that wrong…)
The French spoken in Canada is highly regionalised, from what I understand. That doesn’t mean they can’t understand each other, or that people in France can’t understand them, but local words can be totally different from each other. Also there is a bit of laziness in syntax and enunciation from place to place, as happens with localized accents in any language. People from France look down their noses at Canadian French as being very guttural and low-class (What do they expect? French Canada was settled by the poorest of the poor from France).
I am from Ottawa, but not French or even bilingual. One fun story from a French girl from Gatineau (across the river from Ottawa) was meeting her French cousins from northern New Brunswick and some of the misunderstandings that arose. The local slang word for a submarine sandwich in northern New Brunswick was the same as the Gatineau local slang word for snot. She recounted how they were a little disturbed when their cousin started going on about how he would take a great big snot to work for lunch each day. That sort of thing. 
djm
I’m surprised she didn’t know that “guédille” means something to eat as well as what you find in your nose (yes I know we have all eaten that too). I mean even I knew that and I’m an immigrant.
Thanks! 
Apparently not. I don’t remember the actual word, but its dual usage was not au courant in her neck of the woods. Also, this was back in the 70s. :shrug:
Sorry, I’m not familiar with your concept of haute cuisine. 
djm
I took 5 years of French classes (Parisian, d’accord) from grade 8 through 12, got a 4 on the French AP exam, which counted for 6 College credits, and satisfied my Foreign culture requirement for University.
My grandmother is a Kanuck, and when she waxes Canadien, I can’t understand a damn thing she says.
djm wrote:
“People from France look down their noses at Canadian French as being very guttural and low-class (What do they expect? French Canada was settled by the poorest of the poor from France).”
From what I’ve read, the unique characteristics of the French spoken in Canada are not due to the “poor” origins of the settlers from France. Rather, Canadian French preserves alot of pronunciation and vocabulary which was perfectly “correct” French back in the 17th and 18th century, but have since fallen out of use in France itself. So ironically , when Louis IV or Cardinal Richelieu spoke, they likely sounded more like a truck driver from Lac Saint Jean, Quebec than like Jacques Chirac!
I’ve noticed that most of my countrymen (USAites) don’t know much about the language in general. At least, when they cuss, they’re prone to say, “Pardon my French”.
The British do that as well. 
Not me. I say “Pardon my Bantu”.
I say “Pardon my Icelandic.”
What do the Quakers have against the Icelanders? 
djm
It was supposed to be a joke. 
Sorry if I offended you.
It all goes back to overuse of the letter “y”.