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"Eh" is also used in Scotland in an almost identical way to the description of Canadian "eh".
-Same in New Zealand.
In my experience, you can have 'eh' but most Scots, me included, say 'aye' in the case of 'those trees are red, aye?' or else 'those trees are red, are they no?' Munci ( talk) 20:55, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
I notice that the US section contains the sentence "In New England and Oklahoma it is also used as a general exclamation as in Scotland." But in the UK section, no mention is made of it being used particularly north of the border. I'd tend to agree with Munci as well. Most of my family are Scots and "eh" is very rarely, if ever, used as far as I can remember. IainP (talk) 10:54, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
Hmmm I would more often use "ay" at the beginning of a sentence like "Ay You're coming with us to the pub tonight?". Anyway, the pronounciation in Scottish English is most likely /ˈe/ and "Ay no" I've never heard of. But I do know already there are some people from other parts of Edinburgh that speak differently. Munci ( talk) 13:43, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
I live in Nairn, and eh is used a lot here, and in neighboring places like Inverness, Ardersier. I've heard it said both ay, and eh and I use both of them. So, "Nice weather, eh?" or "I had a pretty rough day today eh. This guy was giving me a lot of hassle eh" or when greeting someone "What ya sayin eh?" It's usually a humorous topic when ay/eh is used in sentences numerous times, which happens a lot. Limmy (comedian) made a vine featuring the use of Eh (ay) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.101.49.119 ( talk) 17:59, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
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!"
Should there be a separate page for like? -- Ed Poor
'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?'
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)
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.
"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)
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)
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
Same as Inuktitut say 'ii' pronounced "eeh" meaning "yes, yeah?, and isn't it?" Yup'ik say "ii-i" pronounced "ee-eh" meaning "yes" Also Aleut say "ii?" meaning "isn't it? (a question marker)" Sentence Inuktitut "hai?" pronounced "hei?" meaning "Eh? what are you trying say?" ( Haqqalikitaaq ( talk) 12:58, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
Not sure this is quite the same phenomenon, as "ii" means yes in Inuktitut...possibly in other Eskimo-Aleut languages also. However, it is interesting that so many diverse languages use [i:~e:] as an affirmative.... 162.247.45.152 ( talk) 19:12, 29 May 2017 (UTC)
"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?
I also doubt the whole "exclusive" claim made by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. I'm sure it is used in this way in Yorkshire, and especially in the East of Leeds. -- 81.23.54.142 ( talk) 23:33, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
I agree, sourced or not this is a bullshit claim. We use it exactly the same way in Scotland - even the example phrase given I read in a Scottish accent and it sounded normal (except it'd be miles instead of kilometres). "Exclusive to Canada" my ring.
2A01:4C8:102B:DB75:97FB:413D:4D6A:CBFA ( talk) 15:51, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
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)
I am from Victoria, BC and my co worker who is Canadian says it "hey" :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.108.182.49 ( talk) 06:37, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
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)
example: "Eh Jimmy! Long time no see." example: "Eh kids what are you up to?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.128.90.169 ( talk) 17:28, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
It should also be noted that Minnesota, and the Dakotas also use the 'hey' phrase at the end of sentences in a similar way to how Canadians say 'eh?'
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)
"Eh" is frequently used in Michigan. I should know, I'm from Michigan -- I hear "eh" all the time, used much the way Canadians do... so I wouldn't call it "exclusive to Canada". That's why I put the {{ dispute}} tag on, eh? Ten Pound Hammer • ((( Broken clamshells • Otter chirps))) 20:40, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
Does the section about chemistry seem out of place to anyone else? Since this is a page about the word "eh," I think that this section belongs on the disambiguation page.
Youre dreaming eh? ( talk) 22:58, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
How about we remove from South Africa downwards!?-- Cameron ( t| p| c) 20:31, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
I was walking down my school's hall today, and I heard someone say "We have science next period, eh." The other person responded with "okay", and as soon as I heard it, I thought of this article. Would anybody else consider this another usage,or am I confusing it with another? (edit: I want to stress that this was said not as a question, but in a way to inform his friend about the next class. But now that I think about it, if it was said as a question, it could be another usage meaning "am I correct?") Unbalanced ( talk) 21:38, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
The unsourced statement saying 1-3% of Canadians say aboot... I don't see any need for this mention at all if it isn't backed up with a reference. "Aboot" is an approximation of the pronunciation of "about" when the speaker uses Canadian raising. Nobody actually says "aboot", and a lot more than 1-3% of Canadians speak with Canadian raising. I'm pretty confident that the statement is incorrect so I'm going to remove it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.248.180.225 ( talk) 00:10, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
Sorry to Americans on the board, but this article was obviously written by an American. This article should be removed from Wikipedia as not only are the sources for Canada intended as comical use, but it stereotypical. It mentions nothing of the fact that Canadians mock Americans by mocking ourselves. This article is ridiculous. And I am annoyed because I tried editing it and my edit got reverted because it was "unconstructive." Has anyone at Wikipedia even read this article? It's comprised of total bs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MrRipperKing ( talk • contribs) 04:41, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
{{rfctag|lang}}
This article is a typical stereotype and is not a true representation of anything linguistic. Comedic references are not reliabel sources, as is stated by the Wikipedia requirements for articles. It is obvious that it is written by someone in the general public and not someone with knowledge of the subject.—Preceding unsigned comment added by MrRipperKing ( talk • contribs) 23:03, March 6, 2010
I do not see that the article is specifically about a New Zealand-related issue. It is about "linguistics" itself. I am going to change the wikiproject. Mohamed Magdy "Mido", Thank You! 06:17, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
The references regarding how 'eh' is used in NZ are just so invalid. Take note that the reference is from someone who is not NZ born and raised. OK the statistics state that more Maori people use 'eh', hey it's probably true. But have you not looked at the aspect that 'eh' is also a term also used to solidify equality? NZ has a tall poppy syndrome here, why has none of this been introduced into the argument? There is also the situation of people who refuse to use 'eh' because they believe it places them in a lower status. However most important of all, NZ is place of mass immigration, we have a large part of Asia and the Pacific integrating into our society at a very fast rate. The term Kiwi (AKA New Zealander) means you have successfully integrated into our society, blood and linguistic preference is irrelevant! The reference to NZ is taken from 1994, 16 years ago from someone Scottish, who we can not even confirm that has lived and experienced NZ. Better referencing needed, doesn't concur with the NZ of today at all, concurs more with some sort of class-system the UK still inflicts on itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.89.139.205 ( talk) 07:58, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
Totally agreed. Signed, a Kiwi who is in none of the demographics mentioned and uses 'eh' all the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.224.45.167 ( talk) 22:01, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
As in: You could walk there, eh? You could just ask, eh? -- JimWae ( talk) 21:31, 15 May 2011 (UTC)
Please let someone who actually know something about the subject (what the hell is the subject anyway?) look at this article! It doesn't make any sense at all! for example, in every language there is some "making noise while thinking about your next word" -sound. in swedish it may be eh or ehm, in german aehm/ehm/eh in french uh, in dutch ehm,uhm,èh. Its just noises! In most of the european languages they sound more or less the same. like the english "ow" (for pain) or in german "auwa" or the dutch "auw". seriously this is one of the least usefull articles on wikipedia I ever read! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.149.208.98 ( talk) 02:22, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
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Eh article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
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"Eh" is also used in Scotland in an almost identical way to the description of Canadian "eh".
-Same in New Zealand.
In my experience, you can have 'eh' but most Scots, me included, say 'aye' in the case of 'those trees are red, aye?' or else 'those trees are red, are they no?' Munci ( talk) 20:55, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
I notice that the US section contains the sentence "In New England and Oklahoma it is also used as a general exclamation as in Scotland." But in the UK section, no mention is made of it being used particularly north of the border. I'd tend to agree with Munci as well. Most of my family are Scots and "eh" is very rarely, if ever, used as far as I can remember. IainP (talk) 10:54, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
Hmmm I would more often use "ay" at the beginning of a sentence like "Ay You're coming with us to the pub tonight?". Anyway, the pronounciation in Scottish English is most likely /ˈe/ and "Ay no" I've never heard of. But I do know already there are some people from other parts of Edinburgh that speak differently. Munci ( talk) 13:43, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
I live in Nairn, and eh is used a lot here, and in neighboring places like Inverness, Ardersier. I've heard it said both ay, and eh and I use both of them. So, "Nice weather, eh?" or "I had a pretty rough day today eh. This guy was giving me a lot of hassle eh" or when greeting someone "What ya sayin eh?" It's usually a humorous topic when ay/eh is used in sentences numerous times, which happens a lot. Limmy (comedian) made a vine featuring the use of Eh (ay) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.101.49.119 ( talk) 17:59, 12 March 2015 (UTC)
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!"
Should there be a separate page for like? -- Ed Poor
'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?'
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)
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.
"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)
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)
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
Same as Inuktitut say 'ii' pronounced "eeh" meaning "yes, yeah?, and isn't it?" Yup'ik say "ii-i" pronounced "ee-eh" meaning "yes" Also Aleut say "ii?" meaning "isn't it? (a question marker)" Sentence Inuktitut "hai?" pronounced "hei?" meaning "Eh? what are you trying say?" ( Haqqalikitaaq ( talk) 12:58, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
Not sure this is quite the same phenomenon, as "ii" means yes in Inuktitut...possibly in other Eskimo-Aleut languages also. However, it is interesting that so many diverse languages use [i:~e:] as an affirmative.... 162.247.45.152 ( talk) 19:12, 29 May 2017 (UTC)
"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?
I also doubt the whole "exclusive" claim made by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. I'm sure it is used in this way in Yorkshire, and especially in the East of Leeds. -- 81.23.54.142 ( talk) 23:33, 21 June 2013 (UTC)
I agree, sourced or not this is a bullshit claim. We use it exactly the same way in Scotland - even the example phrase given I read in a Scottish accent and it sounded normal (except it'd be miles instead of kilometres). "Exclusive to Canada" my ring.
2A01:4C8:102B:DB75:97FB:413D:4D6A:CBFA ( talk) 15:51, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
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)
I am from Victoria, BC and my co worker who is Canadian says it "hey" :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.108.182.49 ( talk) 06:37, 7 December 2017 (UTC)
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)
example: "Eh Jimmy! Long time no see." example: "Eh kids what are you up to?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.128.90.169 ( talk) 17:28, 12 January 2010 (UTC)
It should also be noted that Minnesota, and the Dakotas also use the 'hey' phrase at the end of sentences in a similar way to how Canadians say 'eh?'
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)
"Eh" is frequently used in Michigan. I should know, I'm from Michigan -- I hear "eh" all the time, used much the way Canadians do... so I wouldn't call it "exclusive to Canada". That's why I put the {{ dispute}} tag on, eh? Ten Pound Hammer • ((( Broken clamshells • Otter chirps))) 20:40, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
Does the section about chemistry seem out of place to anyone else? Since this is a page about the word "eh," I think that this section belongs on the disambiguation page.
Youre dreaming eh? ( talk) 22:58, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
How about we remove from South Africa downwards!?-- Cameron ( t| p| c) 20:31, 22 April 2008 (UTC)
I was walking down my school's hall today, and I heard someone say "We have science next period, eh." The other person responded with "okay", and as soon as I heard it, I thought of this article. Would anybody else consider this another usage,or am I confusing it with another? (edit: I want to stress that this was said not as a question, but in a way to inform his friend about the next class. But now that I think about it, if it was said as a question, it could be another usage meaning "am I correct?") Unbalanced ( talk) 21:38, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
The unsourced statement saying 1-3% of Canadians say aboot... I don't see any need for this mention at all if it isn't backed up with a reference. "Aboot" is an approximation of the pronunciation of "about" when the speaker uses Canadian raising. Nobody actually says "aboot", and a lot more than 1-3% of Canadians speak with Canadian raising. I'm pretty confident that the statement is incorrect so I'm going to remove it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.248.180.225 ( talk) 00:10, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
Sorry to Americans on the board, but this article was obviously written by an American. This article should be removed from Wikipedia as not only are the sources for Canada intended as comical use, but it stereotypical. It mentions nothing of the fact that Canadians mock Americans by mocking ourselves. This article is ridiculous. And I am annoyed because I tried editing it and my edit got reverted because it was "unconstructive." Has anyone at Wikipedia even read this article? It's comprised of total bs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by MrRipperKing ( talk • contribs) 04:41, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
{{rfctag|lang}}
This article is a typical stereotype and is not a true representation of anything linguistic. Comedic references are not reliabel sources, as is stated by the Wikipedia requirements for articles. It is obvious that it is written by someone in the general public and not someone with knowledge of the subject.—Preceding unsigned comment added by MrRipperKing ( talk • contribs) 23:03, March 6, 2010
I do not see that the article is specifically about a New Zealand-related issue. It is about "linguistics" itself. I am going to change the wikiproject. Mohamed Magdy "Mido", Thank You! 06:17, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
The references regarding how 'eh' is used in NZ are just so invalid. Take note that the reference is from someone who is not NZ born and raised. OK the statistics state that more Maori people use 'eh', hey it's probably true. But have you not looked at the aspect that 'eh' is also a term also used to solidify equality? NZ has a tall poppy syndrome here, why has none of this been introduced into the argument? There is also the situation of people who refuse to use 'eh' because they believe it places them in a lower status. However most important of all, NZ is place of mass immigration, we have a large part of Asia and the Pacific integrating into our society at a very fast rate. The term Kiwi (AKA New Zealander) means you have successfully integrated into our society, blood and linguistic preference is irrelevant! The reference to NZ is taken from 1994, 16 years ago from someone Scottish, who we can not even confirm that has lived and experienced NZ. Better referencing needed, doesn't concur with the NZ of today at all, concurs more with some sort of class-system the UK still inflicts on itself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.89.139.205 ( talk) 07:58, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
Totally agreed. Signed, a Kiwi who is in none of the demographics mentioned and uses 'eh' all the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.224.45.167 ( talk) 22:01, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
As in: You could walk there, eh? You could just ask, eh? -- JimWae ( talk) 21:31, 15 May 2011 (UTC)
Please let someone who actually know something about the subject (what the hell is the subject anyway?) look at this article! It doesn't make any sense at all! for example, in every language there is some "making noise while thinking about your next word" -sound. in swedish it may be eh or ehm, in german aehm/ehm/eh in french uh, in dutch ehm,uhm,èh. Its just noises! In most of the european languages they sound more or less the same. like the english "ow" (for pain) or in german "auwa" or the dutch "auw". seriously this is one of the least usefull articles on wikipedia I ever read! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.149.208.98 ( talk) 02:22, 8 January 2012 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Eh. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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