aboat

How Canadians are mistakenly believed to pronounce "about." It is a common misconception ranking right up there with the idea that Canadians pronounce it "aboot." The vowel sound is actually a dipthong, beginning at the sound "e" as in "bed" and "get," then transitioning to "oo" as in "igloo," which Canadians do NOT live in. This linguistic phenomenon as well as the raising of the long i before voiceless consonants is known as Canadian raising. It should be called "Northern raising" because it also occurs in some places in the United States, such as Washington State.

Canadian: Dude, do you know what Canadian raising is.
American: No, I don't know aboat that. Hahaha, get it? aBOAT? Because that's what you say ahahahahaha! By the way, do you have TV in Canada? Internet? Do you ride polar bears?
Canadian: Evidently not... Oh, and I almost forgot, sorry!

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