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What does the end of sentence eh tag mean in Canadian English? It seems like it should mean something. In other languages, final tags can indicate questions or other things.

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I use it to mean "okay?" or "right?" or "do you not agree with me?" All more-or-less the same, acha?

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  • Or it can just mean "What have you got to say to that?", as in "How you like them apples? Eh?" – FumbleFingers Jan 22 '12 at 14:28
  • Absolutely. Not one of my idioms, but quite common. – James McLeod Jan 22 '12 at 17:10
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    It's definitely one of mine - despite my mother constantly intoning "'ay is for 'orses!" throughout my youth! :) – FumbleFingers Jan 22 '12 at 17:14
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It's a Canadian, not American usage, but I've always considered it the "Anglo" equivalent of the French "n'est-ce pas?" which translates loosely into "isn't it so?"

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    He never said it was American. – user11550 Jan 21 '12 at 18:52
  • @Mahnax: But I am American (for full disclosure). – Tom Au Jan 21 '12 at 18:52
  • How do you know that it is British? – user11550 Jan 21 '12 at 18:53
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    It's bog-standard British usage. If Canadians also say it, we didn't get it from them - they got it from us. – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 20:54
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    @Mitch: Sorry - I was really aiming my comment more at Matt Эллен, who being UK-based would understand it. Bog -standard is another standard British expression meaning - well, "standard". I honestly don't know where the "bog" bit comes from, but it's very common in slightly down-market spoken usage. You wouldn't disagree with that Matt, eh? – FumbleFingers Jan 21 '12 at 21:11

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