"at" at end of sentence

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>I would suggest that during one's accent-forming childhood years very few
>kids have much extended contact with kids from across the border.

But I don't think adoption of an isolated expression like this one is done
by children only.

>... the difference between Toronto and the Niagara region/Windsor is
>slight; certainly not enough to raise eyebrows.

I don't think most people in Detroit notice the 'accents' of Canadians.
Several of my fellow workers were commuters from Canada ~30 years ago. I
never noticed any systematic speech differences (of course I didn't look
for them carefully) and I don't remember anybody making remarks or jokes
about (or imitations of) Canadian 'accents' (I did hear remarks and jokes
about deep-south and other 'accents' occasionally).

>... would five or six trips over the course of a year to Buffalo in the
>parents' car to see a hockey game and go shopping at the Galleria be
>enough ....

I was thinking of the many people who commute across the border daily. I
have seen it claimed that 5% of Windsor's *total* population goes to work
in the US (I don't guarantee the validity of the figure). Some commute the
other way too. A Canadian child whose father/mother comes home from a
Detroit factory or office or whatever -- almost every weeknight for 10
years, say -- will probably absorb a Detroit turn of phrase here and there
... even aside from the TV, etc.

-- Doug Wilson