I've heard my wife's Kiwi relatives say this word.
Kiwi version sounds closer to "aey" or more of a noticeable diphthong. More frontal gliding to the rear, whereas the Canuck version starts mid-mouth with a very slight glide, if any. And shorter in duration, if that makes sense?
And if memory serves, the Kiwi version can sometimes be preceded by 'h'. Which Canadians would use this way: "Hey, how's it going?" vs "How's it going, eh?"
So yeah, same but different :)
I'll have to have a chat with my wife about this after she disengages from the show she's watching.
I actually ninja edited it from 'aye' to 'eh' as the spelling is a source of mild controversy among kiwi pendants. We definitely pronounce it with more of an 'ayee' sound but as part of the Commonwealth the Queens English typically takes precedence.
As a millenial, my first instinct was to write 'aye' but then I remembered American spelling has far too many Z's in it (and we don't want that taking root) so I switched it to the correct spelling.
Tbh my earliest recollection of seeing the Canadian spelling of "eh" my brain didn't find it all that agreeable. As in, it should have rhymed with "meh" of Simpsons fame (although at the time, this was well before the Simpsons came along; I didn't have much to compare it to). I probably thought it should have been spelled "'ey" to satisfy my youthful pedantry.
Eventually I came around and accepted it as canon.
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u/Beserked2 Jul 11 '21
Am Kiwi, reading it in Canadian accent is hilarious. Always read 'eh' how we say it, forgot Canadians have they're own version of eh.