Travis Paterson
Black Press
It’s the most defining word of the Canadian lexicon, a notable utterance that needs no explanation. Eh.
It’s easy to say. It comes mostly at the end of a sentence. And it’s mostly a qualifier to find confirmation in a conversation. It’s used often on American television to define the Canadian stereotype. It also appears on billboards, television and internet ads on both sides of the border.
We decided to change our name for #Canada150. Turn on sound to find out how it’s pronounced. #KehFC 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/kEqI89vnfD
— K'ehFC (@kfc_canada) June 26, 2017
Case in point, check out KFC’s KehFC move for Canada’s 150th. Surprisingly, however, eh doesn’t get the play we might think.
A new study by post-doctoral researcher Derek Denis at the University of Victoria (with associate professor of linguistics Alexandra D’Arcy) shows the word is used far less frequently in Canada than what he expected.
“We find all the ehs, rights and you knows, add them up and eh tends to represent about 1 to 5 per cent compared to right and you know,” Denis said.
So how did eh take off as a defining Canadianism? Bob and Doug, eh.
It’s generally accepted the word eh only became a defining piece of Canadiana when Second City TV’s Bob and Doug McKenzie appended it to the end of their sentences in the 1980s, including their trademark defense, ‘Take off eh.’
It’s at that point the word’s reputation took hold as uniquely Canadian, Denis said, adding it lended to the exaggerated caricatures of Canadians, particularly the working class.
“Canadians enjoyed [seeing eh in the media] so much, that as a nation which likes to identify as not-American, we re-appropriated the word,” Denis said.
The eh word, as far as we know it, has been used in English since at least the 1770s, though it was probably used much earlier than that in spoken English, Denis said. The first attestation of ‘eh’ in Canadian literature shows up in T. C. Haliburton’s novel The Clockmaker from 1836. It first appears in the play She Stoops To Conquer by Irish playwright Oliver Goldsmith in 1773.
“This is consistent with the fact that ‘eh’ is not uniquely Canadian, but rather is found in Englishes around the world.”
Denis originally came across the usage of eh during his research while focusing on Canada’s homogenuity, or lack of difference in speech, in the regions from Ontario-Quebec border all the way to Victoria.
“In the Maritimes you have a great variety and in the U.S. too, but there is little change in the way people speak from here to Ontario.”
It’s during that research Denis discovered the other pragmatic markers (the term used for those small words that can bring confirmation to a conversation).
Canadians over 60 years of age are far more likely to end a sentence with ‘you know, and those below 60 are more likely to end a sentence with ‘right.’ Less than five per cent, are likely to use the word eh.
It’s surprising news, but eh fits better.
Take off, right? Happy Canada Day, you know?
