Talk:Eh
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[edit] Scottish "eh"
"Eh" is also used in Scotland in an almost identical way to the description of Canadian "eh".
[edit] Non-Candian "eh"
Isn't "eh" also considered characteristic of USA areas bordering Canada, eg Minnesota?
Eh? Is also widespread thoughout England, famously by Scousers... "Eh? Eh? Calm down! Calm down!"
[edit] Like
Should there be a separate page for like? --Ed Poor
- If you like. -user:Montrealais
'eh?' pronounced 'A?' is often used at the end of a question by Brummies (Birmingham bred folk) in the U.K. It is used in the same context as the Canadian 'eh?' and the Liverpudlian 'like?'
[edit] Schwa
I've removed the link to schwa, because it was just sitting there, unexplained. Was it supposed to imply that "eh" is pronounced thusly? By Canadians? By speakers of Mandarin? By whom? Eh? -- Oliver P. 17:15 24 May 2003 (UTC)
[edit] French/Quebec
I would like to know how to translate eh into french canadian (quebecois.)Some people say that bien or bè is equivalent. eh bien refers to well and is sometime used in an equivalent way. Which of thesese best captures the spirit of eh as a Canadianism
Trouble is, they also say ben in France... however, ben là seems to be unique to Quebec, and for all I know bon ben is as well. -Montréalais 21:56, 17 Apr 2004 (UTC)
In Ontario where I went to school, we were taught that "hien" could also be used in place of "eh". McKell now in Toronto.
- In BC schools, when we memorized french dialogs (Quebec french), I remember the texts were printed with "hien" at the end of some sentences where "eh" might be in english. I forget the explanation of what that word conveyed, but in the "real world", I've never found a french speaker to confirm that this word exists or what it might imply. -- Ds13 17:34, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)
"Hein" is probably the closest Canadian-French equivalent to "eh", it is used in the same contexts . Silent h, of course. 24.139.30.75 08:22, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] American Eh
In the United States (not including those that border Canada, as mentioned above), or at least the parts around here, "eh" is pronounced just as it's spelled ("eh", as opposed to "ay"). Shouldn't that be mentioned somewhere? GPHemsley 04:51, Sep 26, 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Other uses
In Japanese, "eh" used as an interjection with a sharply rising tone can carry the meaning of "What?!", indicating a surprised lack of comprehension. Would this fit on this page, or is that meaning too removed?
Also, in the novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, characters use a minor dialect variation that uses "ne?" at the end of a sentence to see agreement, and "Eh" to agree. While this works in Japanese (where "Ee", pronounced like "Eh", means "yes"), I've heard Card borrowed this usage from Portuguese. Again, relevant, or too removed? Bigpeteb
[edit] genesis of exclusive Canadian usage?
"According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary the only usage of eh that is peculiar to Canada is for "ascertaining the comprehension, continued interest, agreement, etc., of the person or persons addressed" as in, "It's four kilometres away, eh, so I have to go by bike.""
As far as I can tell, this use in Canada is identical to the way 'yeh' is used by some dialects in British English. I'm not entirely sure what dialects those would be though, but I've definately heard it being used. Is this connected to the Canadian use?
[edit] Mandarin
In the mandarin, for some reason, the pinyin isn't coming out right; it's an e with a circonflex on it (which looks like an inverted third tone mark) but then the number 4. Is this third tone or fourth tone? And if it's fourth tone, one should mention that e4 also means "hungry".variable 14:35, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Eh/Hey
I've heard people from Western Canada (Saskatchewan and Alberta specifically) pronounce the word "hey", which sounded kind of strange to me at first...but the usage is exactly the same as I would expect for "eh" so it's obviously just another pronunciation. I'm not sure where to add that in the page, if it should be mentioned. Adam Bishop 15:51, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
- Please add pronunciations to the pronunciation sections of the dictionary entries hey and eh. Uncle G 01:13, 2005 Mar 25 (UTC)
- The Upper Peninsula of Michigan has an interesting variation on eh/hey. The older generation uses "eh" in a very Canadian way, while the younger generation tends to say "hey" instead. This is supposedly more similar to the Wisconsin usage. --Dcclark 21:17, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
- I live in Alberta, and have never heard someone pronounce it as "hey". --142.242.2.248 13:52, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
- BC Here and people say "hey" all the time. It's pretty much as common here as "eh"
[edit] Disputed section
Almost all (if not all) Americans understand "Eh?" as an interrogative utterance. Please provide a source fpr the converse statement.69.22.239.42 10:26, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
- The part you are referring to was added recently, and (I think) totally wrong. Many parts of the US use "eh", as noted. Even in those which don't, it is certainly known as a Canadian stereotype, which gives it enough meaning to be understood. I'll go remove the offending bit. Anyone who wants to complain can explain it here. -- dcclark (talk) 22:30, 13 February 2006 (UTC)
