Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Way, Way, Way off topic (and long)

Craig was complaining about being "bored" with no posts to read. Well, here is something:

'Eh?'. Rhymes with hay. The great Canajan monosyllable and shibboleth, 'eh?' is all things to all men. Other nations may boast their interjections and interrogative expletives - such as the Mare Can 'huh?', the Briddish 'what?', the French 'hein?' - but none of them can claim the range and scope of meaning that are encompassed by the simple Canajan 'eh?'. Interrogation, assertion, surprise, bewilderment, disbelief, contempt - these are only the beginning of 'eh?' and already we have passed beyond the limitations of 'huh?', 'what?', 'hein?' and their pallid analogues.

To begin with, 'eh?' is an indicator, sure and infallible, that one is in the presence of an authentic Canajan speaker. Although 'eh?' may be met with in Briddish and Mare Can litter choor, no one else in the world can 'eh?' his way through life as a Canajan does, nor half as comfortably.

Viewed syntactically, 'eh?' may appear solo or as part of a set of words, in which case it may occupy either terminal, medial, or initial position. We shall consider these briefly.

Its commonest solo use is as a simple interrogative calling for the repetition of something either not heard because inaudible or, if heard, then not clearly understood. In this context 'eh?' equals 'What did you say?', 'How's that?' Or in Canajan, 'Wadja say?', 'Howzat?'

According to intonation, the meaning of solo 'eh?' may vary all the way from inquiry (as we have seen) through doubt to incredulity. Here are a few examples:

'I'm giving up smoking.'
'Eh?' (A cross between what? and oh yeah?)

'Could you loan me two bucks?'
'Eh?' (Are you kidding?)

'Here's the two bucks I owe you.'
'Eh?' (I don't believe it!)

'Eh?' in terminal position offers a running commentary on the speaker's narrative, not unlike vocal footnotes:

'I'm walking down the street, eh?' (Like this, see?)

'I'd hadda few beer en I was feeling priddy good, eh?' (You know how it is.)

'When all of a sudden I saw this big guy, eh?' (Ya see.)

'I could see him from a long ways off en he was a real big guy, eh?' (I'm not fooling.)

'I'm minding my own business, eh?' (You can bet I was.)

'But this guy was taking up the whole sidewalk, eh?' (Like I mean he really was)

'So when he came up to me I jess stepped inta the gudder, eh?' (I'm not crazy, ya know)

'En he went on by, eh?' (Just like that.)

'I gave up, eh?' (What else could I do?)

'Whattud you a done, eh?' (I'd like to know since you're so smart.)

Forners are warned to observe extreme caution with 'eh?' since nothing will give them away more quickly than its indiscriminate use. Like the pronunciation of Skatchwan (only much more so), it is a badge of Canajanism which requires half a lifetime to learn to use with the proper panache.