g'day from the mississippi/ottawa valleys

it's turkey day in canada!
[we get to say thanks for the harvest 5 or 6 weeks earlier
than the yanks down south cause it's colder sooner up here dontcha know]

i'm giving thanks today for harvests of all kinds

the re-discovery of the people and the land of my birth

the cyber-siblings [and a certain cyber-parent]
who share joy and pain with me here on a daily [pretty much] basis

the re-found progeny
of a long lost and since passed on sanguine-sibling

the re-found progeny
of a bittersweet time of innocence in my own life

new pathways to follow with relatives and friends long held dear

all layers and shades of meanings of the word
family

i have been blessed

i am only starting to realize how much [abundantly, pretty much]
and how often [continuously, pretty much]

so,
in the interests of furthering global understanding and communication
through the useage of this miraculous mythereal medium,
i present the definitive answer to the
profound Canadian question:

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Eh?

Rhymes with hay. The great Canajan monosyllable and shibboleth, 'eh?', is all things to all men. Other nations may boast their interjections and interrogative expletives - such as the Mare Can 'Huh?', the Briddish 'what?', the French 'hein?' - but none of them can claim the range and scope of meaning that are encompassed by the simple Canajan 'eh?'. Interrogation, assertion, surprise, bewilderment, disbelief, contempt - these are only the beginning of 'eh?' and already we have passed beyond the limitations of 'huh?', 'what?', 'hein?' and their pallid analogues.

To begin with, 'eh?' is an indicator, sure and infallible, that one is in the presence of an authentic Canajan speaker. Although 'eh?' may be met with in Briddish and Mare Can litter choor, no one else in the world 'eh?'s  his way through life as a Canajan does, nor half so comfortably. By contrast, 'huh?' is a grunt; 'what?' foppish and affected; and 'hein?' nasal and querulous. Whereas 'eh?' takes you instantly into the speaker's confidence. Only 'eh?' is frank and open, easy and unaffected, friendly and even intimate.

Viewed syntactically, 'eh?' may appear solo or as part of a set of words, in which case it may occupy either terminal, medial or initial position. We shall consider these briefly.

1.  Its commonest solo use is as a simple interrogative calling for the repetition of something either not heard because inaudible or, if heard, then not clearly understood. In this context 'Eh?' equals 'What did you say?", 'How's that?' Or in Canajan, 'Wadja say?', 'Howzat?'

According to intonation, the meaning of solo 'Eh?' may vary all the way from inquiry [as we have seen] through doubt to incredulity. Here are a few examples:

'I'm giving up smoking.' 'Eh?' [A cross between what? and oh, yeah?]

'Could you loan me two bucks?' 'Eh?' [Are you kidding?]

'Here's the two bucks I owe you.' 'Eh?' [I don't believe it!]

2.  'Eh?' in terminal position offers a running commentary on the speaker's narrative, not unlike vocal footnotes:

'I'm walking down the street, eh?' [Like this, see?]

'I'd hadda few beers en I was feeling priddy good, eh?' [You know how it is.]

'When all of a sudden I saw this big guy, eh?' [I'm not fooling.]

'He musta weighed all of 220 pounds, eh?' [Believe me.]

'I could see him from a long ways off en he was a real big guy, eh?' [I'm not fooling.]

'I'm minding my own business, eh?' [You can bet I was.]

'But this guy was taking up the whole sidewalk, eh?' [Like I mean he really was.]

'So when he came up to me, I jess stepped inta the gudder, eh?' [I'm not crazy, ya know.]

'En he went on by, eh?' [Just like that.]

'I gave up, eh?' [What else could I do?]

'Whattud you a done, eh?' [I'd like to know since you're so smart.]

3.  'Eh?' in medial position is less common and so much prized by collectors:

'We're driving to Miami, eh?, for our holidays.' [Like where else?]

'There aren't many people, eh?, that can find their way around Oddawa like he can.' [You know as well as I do.]

4.  'Eh?' rarely appears in initial position. Thus, while one might ask: 'N'est-ce pas qu'il a de la chance?', Canajans could only say: 'He's lucky, eh?'

Forners are warned to observe extreme caution with 'eh?' since nothing will give them away more quickly than its indiscriminate use. Like the pronunciation of Skatchwan [only much more so], it is a badge of Canajanism which requires half a lifetime to learn to use with the proper panache.

A teacher at Arm See suggested recently that 'eh?' is not Canajan since it may also be found in the Knighted States, the You Kay and Sow Thafrica. In the same way sign tists have tried to prove that hockey was not invented in Canada, but Canajans remain unconvinced, eh?

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Further References Added For Clarification Of The Above:

Anglo: A non-French Canajan Canajan.

Arm See:  Royal Military College at Kingston, Untario.

Briddish:  of or pertaining to Grade Bridden. Sometimes contracted to Brish, as in: Brish Commonwealth.

Briddi Shyles: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Commonly called the You Kay.

Canajan:  Four meanings are commonly distinguished. 1. Of Canada or its inhabitants. 2. A person of Canajan birth or nationality. 3. An Anglo, q.v. 4. The nash null language of Anglos.

Forners:  A non-Canajan. The adjective is Forn.

Godda: See Hadda.

Grade Bridden: England, Scotland, and Wales. See Briddi Shyles.

Hadda:  To be obliged to do something. Cognate with Godda. As in: 'I jiss hadda tellum, Susan, I jiss hadda.' 'Well, thass life, Linda, if ya godda ya godda.'

Hugh Ess: The Mare Can nation. See Knighted States. So convenient has the Hugh Ess been to the development of the Canajan ethos that if the Hugh Ess did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. By the same token, if the Hugh Ess did not exist, neither would Canada, much as in physics anti-matter requires matter to sustain it. It may here be noted that the best, perhaps the only generally accepted definition of Canajan is: Not Mare Can.

Knighted States:  The Mare Can nation. See Hugh Ess.

Litter choor:  Books and writings, either of a general or specific place or period. As in: 'Our classes taken Canajan litter choor necks term.'

Mare Can:  of or pertaining to the Knighted States, its inhabitants or language.

Oddawa:  The cabbidal siddy of Canada. Sidduaded at the confluence of the Oddawa, Reedough, and Gaddino Rivers.

Paul Ticks: In Canada, the art of the impossible. The adjectival form is plitti cull.

Plitti cull: See Paul Ticks.

Prayer Ease: The western Canajan provinces of Mantoba, Skatchwan, and Albirda.

Sign tist: A person well-versed in a branch of signs. As in Plitti cull sign tist; soshul sign tist; etc.

Skatchwan:  The middle Canajan province out on the prayer ease; the grainery of the West. Very prehistoric, the parts that aren't cretaceous being quite precambrian.

You Kay: See Briddi Shyles.


excerpted from
Canajan, Eh?
by Mark M. Orkin
published 1973
General Publishing Company Limited
ISBN-0-7736-0022-1
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in gratitude and goofiness

janet


janet paterson
52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
613 256 8340 po box 171 almonte ontario canada K0A 1A0
a new voice: <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/>
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