The Story of English Episode Six: O Pioneers!

This episode was the most interesting to me so far because it focused on accents that I've heard and can relate to. I liked the part about how the American accent developed in a way through the Webster's dictionary as it taught people to put equal weight on both syllables. Nearly all of the newcomers to the New World used this dictionary to learn the new language and, as a result, they learned to speak with an American accent. This accent has now come to be known as American English.

The part about the differences between Canadian and American accents was also cool because I have a lot Canadian friends and though I have spent much time making fun of their accents I had never known why they were different from mine. Now I know. Though the one thing I didn't really understand so well was why the Loyalists' speech was different from everyone else's to begin with... Excuse my rusty US history. 

The comparison between the Canadian "ey" and American "a huh" was helpful because I had never though about the "ey" from a Canadain point of view: it's just something everyone says because everyone hears it all the time because everyone says it. I guess it could also be similar to "y'all" in that way because people who say "y'all" don't notice it nearly as much as people who don't. 

Some cool fun fact about the origins of phrases and stuff:

• The term 'bucks' for money comes from trading buckskins
• Wide-spread beaver hunting and skin trading lead to terms like "eager beaver"
• The phrase (and its variations) "pan out" from gold mining 
• The words bum and bummer actually come from German, which is nifty because I say that all the time

And, of course, the socially-awkward and politically-charged passing comment:

"These cowboys are not recently arrived Mexican immigrants, they're Americans"

"Pioneers! O Pioneers!." The Story of English. Writ. Robert McCrum and Robert MacNeil. Dir. Vivian Ducat, Howard Reid, William Cran. BBC MCML XXXVI. YouTube.