Talk:American English

Canadian English
Not surprisingly, in a nation spanning a wide continent, Canadian English also shows variety, and is distinguishable from US English. The various accents of the Maritime Provinces are distinct from those of New England, and British Columbian voices will be heard to differ from those of the US Pacific Northwest.

British actors putting on a US accent tend to sound like Canadians, or so I gather from an episode of Dr. Who where he visited an "American" offshore oil rig. Hugh Laurie is a notable exception-- the man must have good ears.

Naturally, there are bits of humo(u)r to be extracted from the difference; folkies (musos) for example, refer to the key of A as the Canadian key, eh?

Mutual intelligibility
Someone once told me that in the 1940s the US Army chose its radio operators from Ohio, since they could understand and be understood by most other US English speakers. No reference for this, so I won't toss it into the article, but it seems credible, since that midwestern state abuts several southern states, and the Ohioan voices I have heard seem consistent with such a notion. Will 13:04, 8 September 2009 (UTC)