Hilariously Canadian


A show where they have to say the word "joust" every second is a poor one to have a Canadian host for, heh. Especially when it keeps saying things like "best jousters in the country" etc...as if we're supposed to assume the country is U.S.A.

Chili-P (It's my signature, yo.)

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They filmed in Jackson,MS

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Sure, it IS in the U.S., but the very obvious Canadian accent just makes for an awkward dissonance.

Not in this case, but it reminds me of the many programs (programmes, LOL) made in Canada with Canadian casts but which are meant mainly for U.S. audiences (or later screened for them) in such a way that they don't reveal they are Canadian. Does it matter? Certainly not; I just find it funny. This is especially the case when they pretend the story takes place somewhere in U.S. but it's really shot in British Columbia with Canadian cast. It's fun to see the stereotypes of either how Canadians imagine US-ers to be, or else they assume US-ers are "basically the same". A good way to spot these shows (besides accent) is when the cast is all White :) (Compare US shows, which usually have more "ethnic" actors.) But there are lots of other ways, if you look close, they will feel "off".

Again, it is not anything wrong with Canadian shows/actors, it is just the subtly funky feeling you get when a show *presents* itself (even tacitly) as American that I think is fun.

In this case, the show does not masquerade as American, but I think it's funny how the host's accent is so strong.

Chili-P (It's my signature, yo.)

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You bring up some great points about Canadian shows. Everything seems to be about 5 years behind what it is in the US when it comes to style, design, etc.

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The funny thing to me is that I *am* Canadian, didn't notice the host had any accent at all of course, but I have been laughing at the hick accents of many of the competitors.
Honestly, I don't know what Americans hear when they hear us say something like "joust" as "joost". Do you folks hear yourselves say "ruff" for "roof"

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Yes, ruff is one of the regional pronunciation variants in US. There are so many variations in US. Most common, however, is roof. And 'ruff' is a variation of a type that applies to only about a couple common words.

joust - joost is pretty much *universal* in Canada accents, on the other hand, while at the same time pretty much absent from US and other countries, ASAIK. And it is a pattern that applies to most ANY word with that vowel combo. This means it's stamped as 100% unequivocally Canadian. YOU should be aware that your Canadian accent shows to the rest of the world most obviously and clearly by the "ou" thing.

The ruff thing is trivial in comparison. And yes, Americans will hear the so called "hick" accents. They are made fun of regularly -- and noticed a lot more than Canadian.

So you see the joke here is that, for many, Canadian accent will be indistinguishable from "General/neutral" US accent -- with the very important exception of the "ou" thing. This stand-out feature is in the very name of the show... and to pick a host with this accent seems almost like a Saturday Night Live skit!

Chili-P (It's my signature, yo.)

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That's really funny, I hadn't thought of it that way.

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"This isn't the first bad thing to come out of Canada. Let's not forget Bryan Adams!"

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