neighbours

I live in a high-rise in downtown Montreal, on the 16th floor. Despite being told no dogs were allowed when I moved in, I soon realized that nearly every fifth tenant seems to have one. Most are women of a certain age with small lapdogs, but there is an apartment on my floor, luckily at the opposite and from me, that has a small poodle, as well as a pit-bull puppy. They sometimes let the dogs run up and down the hallways, and often leave little chunks of shit on the carpet near the elevators. The tenants seem to be a middle-aged Quebecoise and her 20-something daughter, who sort of looks like a younger, francophone version of Sarah Palin, with her hair down, and a stripper accent. Yes, there is a Montreal stripper accent. I live around the corner from le Kama Sutra, a strip club, so I hear it often. You often hear it on French-language téléréalite programs like Loft Story, too. Basically, it's a working-class, suburban accent, which is hard to describe. 'J'espere' is pronounced 'J'espire', for instance, and 'mayonnaise' is 'mayonise'. The word 'dont' can never be used: it's always 'que', and 'que' should even be added where it is not necessary: example, 'quand qu'y est venu, j'y ai dit de se fermer la gueule' . Speech must be peppered with a lot of 'criss, tabarnak, ostie, and 'tse', as well... Sorry, I'm such a snob!