English teachers Rachel and Bob join me today for this vocabulary and accent comparison video: US vs UK vs Canadian English words! 📝 *GET THE FREE LESSON PDF* _here_ 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/VocabPDF WATCH PART 2 (pronunciation) HERE: https://bit.ly/UkUsCanACCENTS 📊 *FIND OUT YOUR ENGLISH LEVEL!* _Take my level test here_ 👉🏼 https://bit.ly/EnglishLevelTest12 👩🏼‍🏫 *JOIN MY ONLINE ENGLISH COURSES:* https://englishwithlucy.teachable.com/courses - _We have launched our B1 and B2 Complete English Programmes!_

What is the exact meaning of " With a warm and dry hands" Please explain...

16:47 Sorry I've got a question. Could you tell me can I call it tissues as well? =)

P

Please you help me in speaking partner

amazing

This was so much fun! Thanks Lucy for inviting me to participate in this awesome English lesson!

Thank you so much for your time Bob! It was awesome to have you! I can't wait for part two :)

@English with Lucy I love you ALL 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇺🇸

@English with Lucy love you!:)🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍

@English with Lucy Yes! Milk does come in bags in my part of Canada.

Mr. Bob did a great job, eh? 😎🇨🇦🍁

Being a western Canadian I can tell that Bob is somewhere from eastern Canada. In the west we tend to have more American speech influence and less French influence. For example, I rarely ever hear the word serviette. It is always a napkin. I also know from experience that Canadians on the east coast have a large number of variations on their speech that differ from anywhere else in Canada. East coast dialect is where a number of Canadian stereotypes originate from.

I'm from eastern Canada and most of these I don't use

yeah, there was a lot of stuff that he said Canadians say, that at least in western Canada, Ive never heard someone say. I never use "hydro" for power, I use "bathroom", not "washroom", I use "zee", not "zed", I use milk cartons, not milk bags, etc.

@TotallyNotACanadianSpy I've also never heard two four in Western Canada. It would be a case or a flat of beer.

I was thinking that as well or perhaps the interior. I've lived in Vancouver my whole life(30 years) and just wanted to share my personal experience. I use zee. I use sneakers but in a running context, sometimes I use runners or running shoes. I don't usually say loonie/toonie unless I'm asked what type of coin I'm holding, I just say a buck or two bucks. I use pop and very rarely hear soda. Never heard anyone use clicks except in American military movies. First time hearing jack and jill/stag and doe, I've only heard of bachelor/bachelorette party. I've only heard of fire station, I've never heard of fire hall. I say electricity but understand hydro, I very rarely hear someone refer to it as hydro and it would be the older generation that would say it. Never heard of serviette, I would say napkin. For cigarettes, cigarettes is the more formal form to me, generally I hear smokes, i.e. can I get a pack of smokes, can I bum a smoke. Never heard of two four, I would say a pack/case of beer or if I want to be specific, a 12 or 24 pack. Also, I never say eh and I don't hear it very often.

My guess would be that he's from Ontario. On the east coast, we're much more likely to use the English versions than what he is using. No one would say hydro. It's power.

American here, originally from Long Island, New York. I did some research into why we pronounce the letter Z as "zee," rather than "zed" and where the pronunciation originated. Believe it or not, we actually inherited it from England. At one point in history, "zee" was used as an alternative pronunciation for the letter Z in England. When the English first colonized what is now the United States, the alternative pronunciation made its way over to the colonies, so for a long time, both "zed" and "zee" were used in the U.S., depending on what area a person was from, or if the person inherited the pronunciation from their parents. "Zed" began to fall out of use in the U.S. when Noah Webster, an American lexicographer, wrote "An American Dictionary of the English Language." In it, he listed the correct pronunciation for the letter Z as "zee." In addition, American music publisher Charles Bradlee, who wrote the A.B.C. (alphabet) song, chose the pronunciation of "zee" because it rhymed with the rest of the song. Q-R-S T-U "VEE" W-X Y and "ZEE" These things helped to popularize "zee" to the point that it just became the proper way to pronounce the letter Z in the U.S. and what was taught in every school. There's your history lesson for the day. Now the question remains, why did "zee" fall out of use in British English?

The falling out of Zed is more than likely attritubed to American media/entertainment and influence over the world plus Britain has been a historical melting pot of cultures and languages. From the first peoples to the Brittonic and Gaelic Celts; the Romans; the Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Danes; the Vikings; and then modern immigration, I think British Isles has had one of the most interesting evolution of languages and dialects

@drewnashty All of that evolution happened before America existed! The Celts (and most of the rest) didn't even speak English! What's your point as it makes no sense regards language evolution? The main evolution change is the US colonies homogenising different English accents into the US variant.

@Aldo Zilli I never said the historical Celts spoke English. Do you misinterpret things often? I said American Media has a major influence on the world and that the British Isles have been a historical melting pot for various peoples, do you need everything to be spelled out?

@Aldo Zilli Why such a harsh response? It doesn't take a lot to have a civil discourse.

@dianad1968 sorry I was dropped on my head when I was younger

I like how Bob tries to explain or give contexts to his answers.

I do too - the american gal could have been a little chattier.

I though the American woman came across as a bit rude , she threw a bit of shade towards bob regarding the cig comment , to me it shows there typical rude nature .

I'm from the US and we just go straight to the point 🙄

I love Bob. He really is the epitome of Canadian politeness

Typical canadian. Unassuming and friendly.

@vincent Lefebvre Yes, I was really struck by his very pleasant manner. He’s a great communicator too - crystal clear.

@Philip Mulville That's why he will do well with his YouTube channel, "English with Bob, the Canadian."

the american seems very passive aggresive i find

@NotAWamen As a Canadian I can find Americans rude but it's important to judge their behaviour against their fellow Americans. Her behaviour seems normal to me when I consider that. We just have different social customs.

Bob, you did such a great job representing us Canadians. ❤️❤️🇨🇦

I love how the Canadian guy had a full story for every word and also offered up the US equivalent lol

I know , eh?

It's what we Canadians always do -- we give that extra little explanation, so the 'merikins can keep up with us. :)

I wish he talked about how we use minutes for distance. I’ll say it’s 30 minutes from here rather than an actual distance

Thats not common? And don’t you also use timmies as a landmark

He has to make up for the huge enthusiasm from the American

It would be cool if Australia had been included as well 😄

I'm Puerto Rican and you're not alone concerning the mixed use of miles and kilometers. We measure speed in mph, but distance between towns is in kilometers. Also, weather is measured in F but body temperature is measured in either C or F. Milk is sold in liters, half-gallons and gallons. Fuel is sold in liters. We definiteily need to sort this out, hahaha!

In the Canadian prairies, the roads were surveyed into a 1 mile by 2 mile grid, so it is still common in rural areas to give distances in miles.

Regarding the soft drink word options, Rachel missed one. Oftentimes in southern states, people will refer to it as a Coke, no matter what type of drink it is. I grew up in the Midwest and then moved South. Most Midwesterners do say pop, but when you head South, you'll find that people will either say soda or Coke.

Same. Nowadays you ask for the name. I'll have a Seven-Up, Coke, Pepsi, Root-beer, etc.

In the deep South we'll also call a soda a drink. If you say you want a drink it doesn't mean alcohol. That's another discussion altogether.

And friends in Texas call it soda water no matter the flavor as well.

I'm in my 60's and grew up in Northern California and we always referred to soft drinks as, well, soft drinks. Only when I moved to Colorado in the 90's did I notice people here call it "soda", so that's what I use now when I order a sandwich with a drink (a soda).

Saying 'soda pop' is so 1980s British television that for a long time, I didn't believe somebody would use it in real life.

As a Minnesotan I loved this. A very common stereotype/joke we make around here is that we're the Canadians of America. I like calling our state "Canadia." We definitely lean more American with the words themselves, however, I felt like how the Canadian and our dialect have more in common than the American. Which is funny. Also, it's a pretty even split between bagged and galloned milk

Bagged milk rocks!

Glad I stumbled across this video. I am a Canadian but I went to school in Engand for a year when I was 12-13. We lived on the Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire border in the delightfully named town of Leighton-Buzzard, which of course, my Canadian friends immediately referred to as Buzzard, England. It took me three months to get used to British English and actually, I soon realized that there were SO MANY different accents in England. This is also when I first became aware of the fact that as a Canadian, I had an accent! Canadians always think we don't have accents (except for Newfoundland - but that was part of the UK until 1949) although we think most Americans have strong accents, and spell certain words incorrectly, like colour or flavour or centre. However I soon learned that our retail giant Canadian Tire was an affront to the English language, at least in England! I also couldn't understand what my classmates were saying when they greeted me every morning. Oi! Watcha' Mate! Well, is that a question or a statement and what the hell does it mean? Watch my what?! My back?! Haha, eventually I figured it out. Fascinating though. The following year when I returned to Canada I had actually picked up a slight English accent and the first week of school I got the nickname Limey! Anyways, as fate would have it, I ended up becoming an English teacher abroad for many years in Japan and later China and Vietnam. I like to think the curiosity that led to that started with my experiences in England. Language is fascinating! Keep up the great work!

Actually, in Canada, though distance is officially measured in kilometers, we more often give distances in time (Montreal is five hours from Toronto, rather than Montreal is 540 kilometers from Toronto).

Kilometres and I agree about measurement in time(out here in BC we do the same) but we also mix Imperial and Metric a lot.

I live in the US just a few hours south of Canada and I also measure in time, as evidenced by how I explained my proximity to Canada just now. xD

This.

Same here in little PEI Canada it's always time-based never kilometers. And more often on top of that you'd get "turn right at the blue house" but the blue house was torn down 20 years ago everyone just knows where it used to be. It's rare that you'll never get told more than 1.5 hours since that's the farthest away from the capital city each way unless it's some place off island.

Agreed, we state driving distances in time.

Albertan Canadian here. I'm guessing that Bob is from Ontario or somewhere else in eastern Canada based on his accent (hullo instead of hello) and vocabulary. Just thought I'd share my answers for how we talk out west: Zed Cheque (NOT check) or Bill Running shoes Couch or Sofa Loonie (specifically dollar coin) or Buck (like dollar, not specific to a bill or coin) Pop (although I say Soda, a habit I caught from living in the U.S. for a few years) Kilometer or the less common Click (but often if someone asks for the distance somewhere we just give the answer in time) Stag or Stagette or Bachelor/ Bachelorette Party (I have never heard of a 'Jack and Jill' party, that would confuse me at first) Eh Cigarette or Smoke (dart is not unheard of but not as common) Freezies Homo milk (milk does still come in bags in the eastern provinces but hasn't here out west for decades) Parkade Washroom or bathroom (although bathroom is sort of more like a private home or private room, not public washroom with a bunch of stalls) Fire station Power or Electricity (we don't call it hydro in all provinces, only regions where their power is actually from hydroelectricity) Brown bread or Whole wheat bread Napkin (no one uses serviette where I live) Case of beer (maybe two-four if it's actually 24) And most Canadians say the stereotypical "aboot", I think it's more like "aboat", especially in the eastern half of Canada. Where I live we pretty much say "about" like the word "out".

There's also the stereotype of saying "soary" vice "sorry". It's super obvious when you listen to Bare Naked Ladies.

in the Philippines 🇵🇭 We call this 2:35 zee 6:16 soft drinks 13:10 C.R. (Short for comfort room) 16:36 tissue (napkin is for female monthly period a.k.a pad)

Australian also call soft drinks

In South Africa a tissue is something you blow your nose into! For female monthlies we use "sanitary pads" or "sanitary towels". To wipe our mouths we say serviette if it's made from paper, or napkin if it's made from cloth 😁

I'm French Canadian and we call the «serviette» which is French for napkin, napkin most of the time. Seeing that the english canadians say the french word instead of the english word for napkin and we do the opposite is really funny

There might be a class distinction there, or a generational thing. I usually call it serviette, but I have had people look at me weird when I do that. I'm English Canadian by the way.

@Ian Hruday I would call a cheap paper one a napkin but I would say "serviette de table" if it were a fancier one made of fabric.

@Annie B. that makes sense, and it mirrors the historical trajectory of english.

"serviett" (without the "e" at the end) is the Norwegian word for napkin too LOL

Then what is the difference between a serviette and a mouchoir?

A few points to build on Bob's great answers (as someone who has lived all over Ontario, but only in Ontario). - a stag and doe is usually a party for the broader friends and family and often used to raise a bit of money, whereas a bachelor or bachelorette party is generally peers only and the aim is to be a bit more wild. I think Bob took the question in a particular direction different to Rachel. - we use the word popsicle for ice-based treats on a stick, whereas freezie is used specifically for the plastic tube ice treat in the picture. - we do say hydro (Bob's explanation is correct) when it doesn't make any real sense. We also say power, and definitely understand when someone says electricity. - I learned the word serviette first, but as a millennial I have been made fun of regularly for this use. Saying 'napkin' seems to be more common in my experience. Also, I don't think I've ever heard a cloth napkin called a serviette, so serviette seems to be reserved for cheaper paper options. Thanks for the great content!

Growing up I didn’t exactly know which English we were taught at school. I only realized after coming to the US that my previous school taught British English (sans the accent lol). I learned to replace my vocabs from rubber to eraser, trousers to pants, rubbish to trash… and spell certain words differently like color instead of colour. I was also shocked to learn the American way of reading time was a lot simpler than the British, such as instead of half past four, it’s just four-thirty or instead of five past six, it’s six-oh-five (btw, the number 0 is usually read as oh, such as when referring to room numbers you would say room three-oh-four to refer to room 304). The American way of reading time was a relief for me since I sucked at the British way back then. But I love British accent while still appreciating the simplicity of American English and hopefully I’ll learn more about Canadian English.

I'm Canadian (from Ontario) and I essentially never say 'eh'. I think it's more of a rural thing. I have heard Americans use 'huh' the same way. Yes, when I was feeding a family, I'd buy 4l of milk at a time, and that came in bags -- three bags make 4l. However, you can also get smaller quantities in cartons, as well, and I understand that in some parts of the country (the prairies?) milk comes in plastic jugs. I've never called it a washroom, for me it's always 'bathroom'. And it's been so many years that I've called it 'whole wheat' bread that I'd totally forgotten that when I was younger, it was 'brown bread'!! Thanks for the bit of nostalgia, Bob!

Love this video. American and Canadian accents have so many similarities. You better invite Australian speaking person next time! :)

American and Canadian do, yes.. but we share most vernacular with Britain. It really is a mishmash, we use metric for distance and measuring and weather temps and yet use imperial for baking/recipes. The spelling of some words too is different. I too agree... be interesting to see where the Aussies land with these similar-differences. ;)

Hey yeah, good point. Having an Aussie point of view would have been nice.

I think you would find the east coast accents in Canada more like the uk

@Miranda ez Mason You could do a whole video just with a Newfie. :)

Just want to say I live in Western Canada and I swear I never use 'eh?' or very very rarely. The Canadian vocabulary is very different depending on area and what socio economic level you grow up in.

As someone from Canada, and presumably close to where Bob is from as he used Niagara Falls in his example, I can honestly say I’ve never heard someone call the last thing a serviette. It’s always been a napkin.

I've heard it from older people, not much anymore....

my exact thought; I'm from BC and it's always a napkin

We used to say it ALL the time, but I'd say the last 30 years it's switched to napkin.

From Alberta. I know what a service the is but we’d call it a napkin.

Serviette (sur-vi-ette) is an anglicized version of the French-Canadian word for it, pronounced sEr-vi-ette. I remember the word used frequently in my early childhood, when I lived in a half-french community outside Winnipeg, Manitoba for a few years, but I was raised from first grade outside Edmonton, Alberta. My own accent is further altered from 20 years living in different cities in the U.S. so take it fwiw. I hope I don't lose my Canada card bc I don't say TAH-co, anymore. B/c of my time in the States, I say (and devour) TAW-co's. :) In Alberta we also call kilometers clicks AND Ks. But for adding Eh to the end of a sentence, making it seem like a question, it's more a beckoning or prompting of a person, or people, we're speaking to, as though to invite them to weigh in on the STATEMENT that we just made, or to indicate that we've finished our current thought on the topic. So, it would sound something, like, "That hockey team played like a team possessed last night, eh?" It's not really a question at all; it's more to throw the conversation over to someone else to get their input. We're a nation of conversational coaxers, I'm afraid. lol I've never heard of a two-four, growing up in western Canada, but we definitely have brown and white bread, here!

This is very interesting I live in United States and I grew up in South but I've lived most of my adult life in the North and we often have conversations about the two regions and how the language is different with some words

I love how Bob smiles everytime he's done speaking. (Edited:Wow so many likes thank you guys)

Me too, greatest and funiest to me :D

Ya, but also hurt

I need to rewatch lol

He’s a cutie 🥰

This is kind of crazy. I'm from Finland and I've spoken english every day for the last 10 years at work. I've almost never heard anyone speaking Canadian accent but for some reason from these three it feels like the most natural :D No idea what's that all about.

I'm also Canadian(from Newfoundland), we use most of the same terms as Bob. I think it's more a generational thing though. My mother would use serviette, but I just call them napkins. Hydro can be used but for more common to hear power or electricity. Never ever heard of brown bread though.

In Alberta we call it brown bread or whole wheat. Usually brown bread.

I have never heard anyone in alberta say clicks unless they were a pilot or in that area of occupation

Native Québécois here, we use serviette as a french word (it probably is, I don’t think it sounds very English) and where I live, “brown bread” is commonly used in french, but we also have whole wheat bread as an alternative. It’s funny how both languages interchange in different places.

It’s also quite strange how right next to Newfoundland, in Côte-Nord, we never call electricity “hydro”. We use that word to talk about Hydro-Québec , which owns the hydroelectric dams (mostly when you’re mad about the power running out, coupled with a bunch of semi-religious slurs). We’d be more inclined to use “courant”, which would translate to power or flow.

I believe it's also refered to as molasses bread. As for Hydro I think it depends on what province you live in or grew up in. BC's power company is BC Hydro so it just gets shortened to hydro. Where as in Nova Scotia it's Nova Scotia Power so it would be weird to call it "Hydro".

In America, we usually distinguish "soda" as what you would call "fizzy drinks," whereas "soda water" exclusively refers to carbonated water. I quite enjoyed this video, and am looking forward to seeing what else is on your channel. Though I was raised to use the Imperial system of measurement, I adopted using Metric in my everyday after living abroad for a number of years. For measuring length and volume it is just so much easier! In the military, we call cigarettes "cancer sticks" and it's almost a badge of honor amongst smokers.

Where I live in Canada (BC), soda water is referred to as 'club soda'.

That lady is so right about bathrooms . One of my old stepmoms told me her British ex husband got confused in the American airport because he thought restrooms were rooms for rest, he expected couches and chairs . 😂😂

I always laugh when my husband says he was "in the toilet". I would say "on the toilet" or using the restroom/bathroom. I always imagine him being literally inside the toilet! 🤣

I think we Americans call bathrooms “restrooms” bc in some fancier venues, the actual bathroom could be connected to a room that has sofas, chairs and just generally a place to sit and relax for a minute. I remember putting two and two together as a kid when I went to the restroom in a Nordstrom that was like that. Basically a sitting room off of the bathroom.

I would enjoy seeing these 3 along side Australian, Kiwi and South African English for comparison of all 6 at once.

Yes omgoodness thank you I had the same thought 😇

Yes please! 🥝🙂💗

And Irish, Welsh and Scottish? Aren't they worthy or what?

Im a kiwi our language is not like South Africa, Australia, British yes.

Ooo! That’s a good idea 😁👍 I hope Lucy see’s this 🙌

I am Canadian and I call them sneakers 👟. Canada is a very big country with a variety of accents and dialects so I guess it would depend where in Canada you grew up.

Same. Runners or tennis shoes when I was kid. Running shoes now mean specifically designed for running. Also new to the lexicon: kicks. I also only say "loonie" and "toonie" when talking about individual physical coins and only in certain situations. "I don't think the vending machine takes toonies." Not used as slang really. Things can cost five “bucks” or five “dollars”, never “five loonies.” Nobody would ever say, "Do you have five loonies on you?" unless you want a handful of change. In Alberta: “Hydro” means nothing. We pay power bills and climb power poles. “Serviettes” do not exist. Only napkins. "Stag", occasionally. "Stag and Doe", not in the past 40 years. Never “Jack and Jill.” They're bachelor and bachelorette parties. Too bad she didn’t send them a picture of a toque, beanie, knit cap, stocking cap...

That was quite interesting! I know it's been out for a while, but still I liked it! I obviously liked to learn the difference in all countries, but as a French Canadian, I really liked to see from which country the French version of those words comes from!

Many different terms for most of these items in America, depending on the region. I grew up in Massachusetts, and a carbonated beverage was called a tonic. Later I moved to Georgia, where it was a soda or a coke. To most of the midwest and northern plains, it's a pop.

It's a Co-Cola in Gawgia. 🙂

I grew up in California and we called it soda.

Canada is so diverse with accents and slang, I’m from the east coast and I would say we have more in common with Rachel’s english than with Bob’s. Where I’m from: -It’s probably 50/50 with zee vs zed -Definitely sneakers not runners -For KMs we would say 5k, 5 clicks, or 5 miles (yes even though we mean kms) -Definitely say bachelor or bachelorette party. Never heard of stag and doe or jack & jill -Rarely ever hear “eh” here, I think it’s an Ontario thing -Never heard of homo milk, we’d say whole milk -Washroom or bathroom, never restroom. -Never heard electricity referred to as “hydro” but we would say “power bill” or “electricity bill” -Napkin, I think maybe older folks say serviette? I haven’t heard it in years Hopefully that sheds a little more light on Canada being even more diverse than some might suspect. 🙂

Can really tell that Bob is from eastern Canada (likely Ontario?). Canada is such a large, widespread country that we have so many regional terms that sometimes people from different provinces won’t totally understand each other! (Do you know what a bunnyhug is? How about Skookum, or getting Screeched in?) I’d love to see you have a chat like this with a Newfie!

Ditto in the USA

I always enjoy these, but I have to say there is so much regional and/or generational difference in the US that frankly you could do an entire series just on those.

It’s called a dialect

The same applies to Canada as well.

@Gary you do understand what "dialect" means, right? edit: feck i misread the original comment

Same applies with UK

@Gary it’s more like a accent

I'm a Chinese American from California. While I visited Syndey, Australia it was so interesting (and funny) seeing Chinese Australians speaking with an Aussie accent and vice versa. Our Cantonese was the same though. Same thing in London, England and Montreal. Bob's Canadian accent seems not so different than my own. I thought it would have been more interesting to compare say... an Australian, Scottish or Welsh accent. I never heard of a serviette, and I thought chesterfield is a brand of cigarettes.

I like Bob giving everything a very interesting explanation!

I'm from south east asia, specifically around Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia. In schools we're taught British english, but as any other countries, we get exposed more to American english from movies. I thought I was speaking english well enough at school, my score was high. When I migrated to the US, I was hardly able to speak. Or writing it, for that matter. I kept typing/writing "colour", "behaviour", saying "aluminium" and yes: "zed". I didn't watch a lot of movies apparently.

In regards to "clicks" as a word for kilometers, I think it's primarily seen as military lingo here. For the question tag, I think I would use "-huh?" more often than "-right?" I would call those icy treats in the tube an "otter pop" after the brand name. I might still call it a bathroom, but I tend to say restroom if it's public. Toilet is specifically the fixture rather than the room as a whole. Firehouse sounds more old fashioned to me, but I'd still know what it meant. (California)

American, here - Austin, Texas. I agree, clicks is generally a military term that I only knew of because I took JROTC. Also, my grandfather was in the Navy and would call the bathroom a latrine, yet they had a sign on the bathroom door at their home that did say "water closet". As for the popsicles, I might also say ice pop or freezer pop. I'd never use the word firehouse for the fire station. Also, agreed - when I hear the word toilet, I would never think bathroom or restroom, just the fixture. And for that my grandfather would call it the commode.

@Shannon Wallschlaeger I was in the Navy too, but we called the bathroom "the head."

Absolutely. 'Klicks started with the Canadian military, usually after coming back from a posting to Germany, and got passed around to the civilian population because its such a sweet & short abbreviation.

We mix both vocabularies in Nigeria, we call an item both British and American names eg, "short knicker" 😀

Lol. In America we always just call them shorts.....and wear them anywhere and everywhere (unlike the rest of the world). Some foreigners here find it funny that even the police wear shorts sometimes lol.

In my region of the US, we call the "popsicles" that come in bags "freeze pops" or "freezer pops." To qualify as a popsicle, it has to have a stick.

We call them otter pops from the most popular brand, even when it's a different brand that we've purchased.

Same here in the midwest, or sometimes we call them "cool pops" which is technically a brand name.

Cool pops here in Florida

@Ficticious Serendipity I live in FL and i’ve never heard anything but popsicle! I didn’t know anyone anywhere called them cool pops haha

@S M typically is popsicle, ice pop(sicle), or freezer pop(sicle) in my neck of the woods. Depending on the context electricity is interchangeable with "power" and most people where I live many just call soda "Coke" but I use soda or soft drink.

I’m a Jamaican now living in Canada. I grew up saying ZED but now say Zee. I remember when Jamaica switched to the metric system in the 80s. So even though we use metric here in Canada, I understand measurements better in imperial so I’m always converting to get a better image in my mind.

Many years ago we used to get 4 litres of milk in a big bag. The big bag contained 3 bags. So the contents were 1.3 litres. Bags have not been availably west of Ontario in many years, but it is still available in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes.

#11 - I've lived in the UK my whole life and never called it a "popsicle". An "ice pop" maybe, but growing up it was called a "tiptop". I also wouldn't consider something a "lolly" unless it was on a stick. #20 - A 24 pack of cans is also commonly referred to as a "slab", though that's definitely more informal.

In central Appalachian English I was surprised to have so many similarities with the British English than with either the mainstream American or Canadian. The central Appalachian region was settled by Northern English and Scottish populations for several hundred years, so I wonder how much that affects the modern situation since the American representative here said that she had only lived in other parts of the country. Very interesting video. I subscribed.

I'm American, and like Rachel have lived in several regions (NYC, New Orleans, SE Virginia and Minnesota). I call a multi-level parking structure a "ramp". A single-level indoor parking structure is a "garage". An outdoor parking area is a "lot". I think most folks use the same terminology where I currently live (Minneapolis/St Paul area).

Interesting. Half of the stuff Bob says is so different than what I'm used to hear for almost 3 decades living here.

I agree!

He has a very southern Ontario bias

IK SAME

IKR???

@Douvin oi eh ?

I can relate to the British woman's story about soda. When I first moved to London I was in a restaurant and ordered a lemonade, thinking I would get delicious glass of sweetened lemon juice and water, like I would in North America. Imagine my confusion and dismay when I received a glass of Sprite! "I asked for lemonade" I said "This IS lemonade" he said. 🙃

IT IS THE SAME TO TASTE. SPRITE IS CITRIC ACID WITH SUGAR

In the UK, ‘ade’ would imply a carbonated (fizzy) fruit drink, as opposed to a still or flat drink. So, you will always see Orangeade, Lemonade, Cherryade, Strawberryade for example. So if you ask for lemonade, you will get a fizzy lemon drink, like R Whites or 7UP, for instance.

@Арсений Федоров Sprite tastes nothing like lemonade, lmao

Yeah, I was in London and asked for a root beer and the server laughed at me and said they don't serve alcohol.

In Canada, all of our iced tea is sweet. It never occurred to me that people drank non-sweet iced tea. Who would do that?? So imagine my dismay as a teenager visiting Disneyland and I'm told to choose a drink and I select iced tea and get a medium black cold non-sweet tea. Observing it more closely as I grew I now understand Americans say "sweet tea" when in Canada we would just call it "iced tea"

Being from Quebec, Canada, and having french as my first language, I realise we use a mix of the terms from all three countries in english. For example we would use either the term toilet or bathroom,. For us a serviette would be made of fabric and be reusable. If it is disposable we would use napkin. I honestly thought Hydro was particular to Quebec. A popcicle would be on a stick. Beer would come in a six pack or cases if there is 12 or 24. We use Zed but only because it is the same in french. And yes we do get our milk in bags (commonly three bags of 1 liter) or in a carton (1 or 2 liters).

I'm from Alberta and yes a popsicle is on a stick here too.

Youtube algorithm has brought me here and I absolutely love the video! As a non native English speaker (from Korea) it's very interesting to watch. I have been to all of the 3 countries. If there was Aussie English it would've been more interesting though. Anyway I really enjoyed it. Thank you! :)

Great video! I grew up near Boston, and can tell you that it used to be most common for us to refer to “soda” as “tonic.” I still do, but it has mostly fallen out of use.

In Central Europe, we use soda I think in almost every language (like German, Polish...) in the same meaning as in the UK. I have never thought that it has slightly different meaning in America. If I was offered soda anywhere in the world, I would wait a mineral water.

I'm a native Spanish speaker and I lived in England for twelve years. Then I moved to the US and sometimes it felt like learning a new language. Some people would correct my pronunciation sometimes and I often thought I had mispronounced the word because English is not my first language, but after double checking the pronunciation in a dictionary, I would realise that I had pronounced it with an English accent (herb, nauseous, water, etc)

Hi Moni, I'm learning all the uses of would because I'm messing up with this word sometimes though I've seen Lucy videos and other videos explaining when we should use this word so I have some questions about what you wrote: 1) When you wrote "Some people would correct my pronunciation" did you use would here because you meant a typical behavior or willingness in the past?. 2) When you wrote "I would realise" why did you use "I would" instead of "I realised"? Thanks in advance to you or whoever who is willing to answer these doubts!

@Oscar Martinez When I say "I would realise" it's like when we use the imperfect tense in Spanish.

Ha ha! I’m glad you answered that. I instinctively knew the “would + verb” was correct, but I couldn’t explain other than exactly how Oscar put it. Something you customarily did in the past, but now you don’t. It’s because in English you can use the simple past for both preterit and imperfect. That’s what makes Spanish tough for an English speaker. Is this ongoing in the past or a one time occurrence (over and done)? Donde estabas? (Estaba en casa. Estuve enferma.) Estar and ser gets most English speakers every time!

Uk English is definitely something you don’t want to sound like when coming to America lol

@Moni Defi Wuaow I handn't came here for a while, thanks for your answer! it's a bit clearer for me now

Hi, I was searching for the difference between Canadian and American English and found your video. Pretty cool. I learned in English books that pop or soda should be Soft Drink. It seems nobody uses that besides English books. :) could you comment on this?

as a Canadian who has lived in the Western provinces, Central, and Eastern. I can agree with all of what Bob said except for "Hydro"; this was uniquely an Ontario term. In every other province I lived in it was called "Electricity" or simply "Power". As an aside, another very regionalized term was for the hooded sweater. Every province in Canada called it a "Hoodie" but Saskatchewan calls it a "Bunny Hug"

Yeah, I believe they call it Hydro as it's a Quebec term due to Hydro Quebec which regulates and produces the electricity in the Belle Province. I guess the term has made it's way to Ontario and it just stayed over time.

In Manitob, ti tis Hydro. The company is a crown corporation called Manitoba Hydro. All the electricity comes from the huge hydro dams up North and most of it is sold to the Americans. The Hydro trucks in Winnipeg all say Hydro. We have our water bill and our hydro bill and the gas (methane) bills to pay monthly. My wife is from Ukraine and they get electric bills. Also she was confused about gas (gasoline) and thought I was filling my car up with natural gas. In Ukraine it is called benzene, which is the main chemical in gasoline. So you fill your car with benzene at the benzene station. My Hydro bill is about $90 per month average , even with the A/C running from May to October.

This is hilarious. I subscribed. Thanks for this fascinating series.

You should do a video on the variety of Canadian, American and English (and its dialects) for example, Atlantic Canada has several different varieties (Newfoundland, Cape Breton and South Shore Nova Scotia to name three)

I am Canadian born and raised (Ontario). I have now lived over half my life in various parts of the US, both North and South and have traveled East and West. I believe Bob's accent/vocabulary is typical of Ontario. One of my sisters has spent the majority of her adult life in northern Newfoundland. I could not understand my nephews over the telephone LOL. Their accent, vocabulary and idioms were very regional. So there can be some very distinct differences in the English language in Canada as you see in the US.

Yes. Bob sounds like he's from Southern Ontario. I was born and raised in Ottawa. Many of Bob's terms I've either never heard of, or maybe rarely heard in some instances..

Very Eastern Canada accent for me (born and bred in Western Canada). Also have heard the Newfies before and THAT is an accent! XD

No question about it, Newfoundland has a distinct accent, some unique words and phrases. Like many places the degree to which you hear those differences varies, usually being more pronounced as you get away from the city.

All I remember my first time talking to a person from NFLD is that I thought she was speaking another language. Also, their tempo is insanely fast. I LOVE their accent, and loved visiting the east coast.

@cate I'm from Alberta, but that would be my guess as well.

I’m loving this as I’m Canadian, but “me mam” is British, so I’ve felt I walk a weird line in my language choices. I think Hydro is a very Ontario thing, because their electricity is largely generated from water, so abbreviated from hydro-electricity. Where I am in Western Canada I think it would commonly be referred to as just electricity, but I’m wondering if this is some of my mother’s influence because I’ve often referred to it as the “power bill,” “power lines,” or “power failure/power’s out”… also, there may be a tendency to refer to the bills by the names of the service provider, which can get confusing since there’s some variety between electricity providers and natural gas providers, etc. and, some companies provide both, thus offering joint billing for what I would call “power and gas”.

Also here in BC. Probably ~90% of our power comes from hydro electric dams. Same is probably true for Quebec. The prairies rely more on fossil fuels as they don't have a lot of potential for hydro electric dams.

In Canada the KM is a Kilometer. We used the term click or clicks to let people know how many miles it is which came about before we went metric and refers to how many clicks on the odometer.

As a person from another country than the US UK AND CANADA…..I put the British accent as the classiest of them all 100% 🇬🇧

This is soo cool & fun.😍 Hope yo see more accents in coming videos ✌️

I'm Canadian, I was totally with Bob except for hydro. In Alberta we say electricity. I think hydro is eastern Canadian. I say serviette, but kids don't have a clue what I'm talking about. I have to tell them napkin. I consider napkins fabric and serviettes paper. I also believe milk in bags is an eastern Canadian thing, but it has shown up here once in a while. Typically our milk is in cartons or jugs.

That's funny because growing up and visiting family out in BC, all the milk were in bags. I figured it was a west coast thing.

Interesting because in French Canada, you get a «serviette» or «serviette de table» in a fancy restaurant (=fabric), and a «napkin» in fast-foods (=paper).

I love the fact that we in Canada use British spelling which can actually save money. For example, in my province of New Brunswick ( the one officially bilingual one), we use the British spelling of "centre" which is also the French spelling so rather than make 2 signs for "City Center" and then "Centre Ville" we simply put "City Centre Ville". Saves space and money.

I didn't know that.

We only use British spelling for some things. Yes, we use all those extra "u"s that the Americans don't. But we have tires, not tyres, using one example. What I find (born in NB but living in western Canada for the past 42 years), is that we seem to be a blend of the two systems. We carry much of our British heritage, but also a mixture of language we've picked up from our neighbour to the south.

@cdpond When I used to write papers and used the British spelling for some words, they were always marked as wrong. Mostly it was for theatre because we have to write theater. Bummed me out because I enjoyed the other spellings similarly, I enjoy adding other words to my speaking to make it interesting and make sentences pop.

@Amelia B My 6th grade English teacher (in Texas) wrote both theatre and theater on the board. She told us to pick one and stick to it. She said it did not matter which one we used as long as we were consistent. I have been writing theatre ever since.

@cdpond Read Bill Bryson’s ‘The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way’. Great read.

Did I hear Bob call the bird on the Canadian one dollar coin a loonie? He might have made a mistake. The bird is a loon. I always believed it was called a loonie because that is slang for a crazy and many people thought the idea of replacing our paper bill with a coin was loonie...and it fit well with the bird being a loon. Also, I grew up in western Canada and never saw bagged milk until I took a trip to eastern Canada in high school, so it isn't all of Canada.

As a Puerto Rican who speaks both Spanish and English, I can't deny the American influence of our English

Ive learned that eastern and western canada also have our differences… example… a “case of beer” in western canada is a 12pack. A 24 pack is a “two four”. As in, “Im going for a beer-run. Should I grab a case and a half or a two four?” In the east, a two four is a case. In the west, a two four is two cases. In saskatchewan, a case is a farm tractor 🤣

Hello ! Lucy ! Your channel is awesome , I’m Japanese , I’ve studied abroad in US and lived in Australia , and English major . How interesting western English speakers can be so different . Like a dialect. In Japan , we learn American English from young age . But I met British, Canadian , all over mostly because of my study and work .

Interesting differences could probably watch stuff like this all day. Random thought about the milk bags ... I grew up in various parts of the U.S. in the 90's and I remember going from the milk cartons at school to the plastic bags after moving to California and boy was it a mess. Kids were using em like water balloons and all kinds of gags. Sometimes just trying to poke the straw became a mess and it came to where we just chewed off one corner instead of trying to get the damn straw in. It was certainly not as easy as just opening the carton and drinking it, we had fun with them but we definitely weren't more inclined to drink them like all the "studies" claimed that helped convince the public's approval to switch from cartons. At least that's how it was at the TWO different public elementary schools I went to in California, the two I went to in Florida had cartons and the one in Virginia was cartons

11:11 whaaaat? 😮 I'm Canadian and those have always been "freezies" to me. Just thinking about them fills me with nostalgia. Every summer here growing up, us kids would take a break from playing outside in the heat and go inside for a bit to have some freezies. I actually had no idea Brits and Americans call them popsicles. In Canada, the word "popsicle" only refers to a frozen flavoured and sugary treat with a stick in it. Hence the term "popsicle sticks". But freezies don't have sticks in them, they're literally just plastic tubes filled with sweet, frozen, artificially flavoured and coloured syrup 🤣🤣

I'm from North Yorkshire here in the UK and we would refer to the ones with wooden sticks as Ice Lollies and the ones just in plastic without sticks as Ice Pops. Mr Freeze was the popular brand sold in the local shop when I was young, great days!

US here....in the south, we called them Freezer Pops

yep, its always been freezies...or freezie pops.

I'm from New York, and I wouldn't call them popsicles unless they were on a stick. However, you can call either one an ice pop. You might also hear the one without a stick referred to as a freezer pop or push-up pop, although there is another kind of push-up pop which is on a stick.

Yeah same ☺️

That was fun to watch- I am British, married to a Canadian, and living in Canada, my husband calls the sofa a 'Chesterfield ' I was confused about 'Parkades' too, and the 'Hydro ' I thought that too meant water and my husband doesn't say "eh" too often! but being from Yorkshire, I say "eh" too in my Yorkshire accent 😄

A chesterfield is more formal, usually with tufted buttons. It is it's own style.

Chesterfield to me is a 3-cushion version of a couch. The original Chesterfield (Earl of Chesterfield) was a low-back leather (tuck-and-roll?) buttoned, 3 cushion couch. My family (BC) calls any 3 cushion couch a Chesterfield. If it's a two cushion, it's the sofa. Great way to distinguish them. ("Where'd I leave my keys?" "I saw them on the Chesterfiled." Now I don't need to check the sofa as well!)

I like this. It clearly demonstrates that Canadian English is neither American, nor British., but a ittle of both, but many unique expressions, Curious - how do you pronounce 'Khaki'? As an older Canadian, I still say 'car-key', whereas most Americans and younger Canadians (influenced by American media) say 'ka-ki'. And I still describe a 3-cushion sofa as a 'Chesterfield' (named after the Earl of Chesterfield), which distiguishes it from the 2-cushion variety. (BC, Canada)

Candian terms for 24 beers: 2-4, A flat, A box of beer, it's very regional. Milk does come in bags but only in a couple of regions, it is not a national thing and yes it's awesome. Had fun watching, keep it up eh!

In the united states we call an 18 pk an 18er "eight teener". This is getting a little more slang but sometimes we a call a 24 pk a suit case and an 18er a brief case.

Can confirm- Canadian milk is available in bags. We have a special pitcher we put the bag in, and we use scissors to snip off both of the top corners of the bag once it’s placed in the pitcher. One hole is for pouring, and the other is to give it air so it doesn’t glug out too fast. Usually bags of milk come in sets of 3, all contained in one larger bag.

Although this is also regional. Not all Canadians can get their milk in bags.

Im from Alberta and we havent had bagged milk since the 90's

I will also say that in addition to using “case of beer,” we will also call a pack of beer a “30 rack” if it is a large package with 30 bottles or cans inside it. It may just be limited to the New England region where I am from, though. American English is as diverse as the people that live here.

A Canadian request: "Could you go down to the liquor store and pick me up a mickey of rye?" mickey=12 oz bottle; rye=Canadian Whiskey

As a French-Canadian that only spoke fluent English around age 15-16 (when I started college at McGill), then lived in the UK for year, then moved to the US... My English is a serious hodge-podge of miscellaneous words and expressions! So I really enjoyed this video! Thanks Lucy, love your charm & wit!

you started college at 15-16 ???

@someone In Quebec, you go to grade 11 in high school and then, CEGEP, but once upon a time, you started university after grade 11. In NL, it was the same thing--you went to university after grade 11.

I live in BC, And as most people say, majority of people around the world give directions in time. However, I have heard the term "clicks", and its almost always used in the backcountry, usually in the middle of nowhere (Canada has ALOT of middles of nowheres ;)) You would hear something like "The campsite is about 20 clicks up this logging road".

The first time I heard the expression 'clicks' ('klicks'), was about 1973 or 74, from my uncle who was in the Canadian Armed Forces at the time, stationed in Germany. He'd just returned from a 2 year posting to West Germany, and I think the military picked up the expression. We'd only been metric a few years, so my belief is that it was started in the military and gradually passed around the country. I immediately adopted it, and over the next several years, started hearing it more and more frequently. Fifty years later, and it's a universal Canadian expression.

9:19 I had a friend from Ontario explain Canadian _eh?_ PERFECTLY. It turns a statement into a very specific question. "Don't you agree?" "Nice weather." Statement. "Nice weather, eh?" = "It's nice weather, _don't you agree?_ "

Amazing to hear how British Canadians still sound (like the Aussies but they don’t have the USA next door)the one thing I can pick a Canadian accent by is how they pronounce “about” , “out” etc which in their pronunciation has more of an o sound than an a sound in British English

All of Bob's answers were very accurate. And yes Lucy, we can get milk in bags. We used to have jugs too! Now it's mostly just cartons like everywhere else.

While I am English to the core (having been born and bred in Hampshire), I spent a significant portion of my childhood in Canada (Nova Scotia & Toronto). I still have a hybrid accent - RP with an overlay of Eastern Canadian.

I was born in Toronto and lived there till I was 13, my mother is from London, England and I’ve lived in the southern USA for the past 14 years. This whole video about made me pass out trying to figure out why every single thing you guys said sounded correct 😂

I was born in Saskatchewan, with a mother who came here from the Southern US (North Carolina), and although I never lived in England, I spent enough time there, so I think I know what you mean.

A lot of what is being presented as Canadian is in fact very regional to Ontario, or perhaps other eastern regions. E.g. if someone said "hydro" to me in the west I would have had no idea what they meant before this video. I would have guessed the water distribution system.

Cool video. It was fascinating to hear the difference of words

Lucy, when I was in the US Army, in 1968, I heard the Marines call any distance CLICKS. The term "clicks" originated within the artillery units, for setting the distance that a round/shell needed to travel, to hit its target, was physically set by turning a dial on the gun, which made a clicking sound.

That's interesting... I remember old cars would click when the mileage changed... you could hear it...

As for long distances, in Quebec, we tend to swap length for time… I guess it is based on the assumption you travel at 100 km/h. So we tend to say: « Montreal-Quebec City ride is about 2.5 hours »

This was definitely a lot of fun!! I’m in Ontario & yes, milk does come in bags! It’s my understanding that it’s only in Ontario, however - fellow Canadians, is this correct?? - they come in a bag of 3 individual bags for a total of 4 litres (depending on the brand, but mostly 4), so each bag is 1 1/3 litre. You need a special jug to hold one. We can get milk in cartons, jugs, glass &/or plastic bottles, too, though. Thank you for this video!! Oh, I definitely don’t say “a-boot”, I say “about”.

Milk in bags was introduced Canada-wide (late 60s/early 70s -?) It didn’t ‘stick’ here in BC. I lived in Ontario for a few years and bought bagged milk zero times.

@Susan Anderson Interesting, thanks!

We used to get our milk in bags in BC when I was a kid (in the 70s-80s).

@Mike Rosborough Thanks. Seems like us Ontarians still prefer this way 🙂, although I actually pour ours into glass milk bottles after I had to buy a litre in one once. Much nicer in those.

I'm surprised Rachel didn't mention "soft drink" as another name for "soda" and "pop". I usually say "soda", but in the southern US, lots of folks either call it by its proper name or say "soft drink".

In the philippines it’s also softdrinks (more like “sopdringks”)

I think it's Soft drink in many places in the world.

Many regional differences in both Canada and US

In the Philippines we call it pop cola or soft drink.

I was going to say the same thing about "soft drinks". In some places in the U.S., people will use "Coke" when they mean sodas/soft drinks, like how people use "Kleenex" for "tissue" or "Pampers" for "diapers".

I'm from Western Canada, and call it "power" or "energy" (never hydro). Milk was offered in bags here once upon a time, but not for many years now. Never use "serviette" - it's always a napkin (we have less french influence). Western and Eastern Canada have quite different terms for things. I'm in my 50's and when I was younger, there used to be more of a distinction in speech (we never said "eh" for instance). However, like a lot of places, extensive global exposure has influenced our common language.

You mustn't be on the west coast. On the coast we use hyrdo quite often, or power.

@Jon Braun Ah, interesting. Not in Alberta :)

It’s really a BC thing because like 87% of our power comes from Hydroelectric power plants and the main power company is called BC Hydro

When I saw the picture my first thought was of the "hyrdo tower" (metal stucture) where the "power lines" were hanging from...

@Jameson 123 BC, Ont. and Que.use the word Hydro in place of power, Ontario's primary power company is called Hydro 1. and in Que is called Hydro Quebec

In most parts of the U.S., you'd hear carbonated drinks called soda, but in the upper midwest, it's "pop." And in New England, you might hear it called "tonic." My New England born and bred parents asked for "tonics" when we moved to California at a restaurant there, and they got tonic water instead of Cokes.

I find it interesting that you decided to use the American spelling of kilometer for British English and the British spelling of Kilometre for American English. Also, in regards to distance, if you asked me, for example, "How far is the beach from you," I wouldn't respond in distance, but travel time ("About 30 minutes").

Perhaps you should include the midwestern and southern US dialects as we have different words or colloquialisms. Someone from Iowa told me he moved the Davenport... I had no idea what he was talking about. He was describing a couch. Then he asked where is the spigot... I was clueless. He was referring to the water fountain for a drink.

I’m from Canada and I have never heard “clicks” being used instead of kilometres same with serviette instead it’s napkins. Hydro is used to be a electrical company in Ontario so it’s mostly used there. Also bagged milk is common in Ontario I’ve have never seen bagged milk in stores here in Alberta, however I did see bagged milk at my relatives in Ontario.

Clicks is common, but it comes from watching the digits on the older cars as it says you now traveled one more mile / km... then you would hear the spedometer "click" as it changed from 97,145 to 97,146. That sound in older vehicles made a loud click sound.. so clicks was born... (and there's another word cars? trucks? or vehicles?)

I never heard of clicks and I'm canadian

Bob is from Southern Ontario. All of Bob's sayings were Ontario-centric (including his southern ontario accent).

yep, a case of beer is 12 in sask where I grew up.

definitely say napkin too, nobody says 'pass me a serviette', silly Bob!

In BC, most people I know call a case of beer a "flat." If it's 0.5L ones, usually it's called "a flat of tall boys." Never heard anybody use serviette, only napkin.

@zivan56 I’ve always lived in BC and have never heard the term “flat”, but I definitely agree on the napkin comment

@Austin K-V interesting, what would you say? I just googled "flat of beer" and multiple breweries and website in Vancouver popped up. Maybe it's a Vancouver thing only, but I'm sure I've heard it used in the interior as well.

Nice! I used to have a Canadian teacher in my country El Salvador! It was really good teaching!

I love your accent, diction, clarity, and most of all articulation.

I have lived all over the US. Visited 46 of 50 states. Some parts of the US refer to all soda as coke, even if it is not coke. I have also heard the tube Popsicles referred to as ice pops. Most of the country also says power. The power goes out during a storm.

Canadian milk is sold either in cartons (nowadays with a plastic spigot & screw-on lid), _or_ in plastic bags. You invariably get 3 very robust, unmarked transparent plastic bags, sold in a bigger bag with branding & info printed on it. I think each holds 1 1/3 litres, so the 3 sold together total 4 litres. There's a standard molded plastic jug that everyone has, which holds 1 bag perfectly – you just snip off a corner of the slightly protruding bag with scissors, and the milk pours perfectly. As a system it works perfectly. And the packing is more minimal than jugs or cartons or tetra paks.