Coredweller,
Sorry to ruin your fantasy, but the vast majority of Canadians do not say \'a-bout\' - I emmigrated from England in \'93 (I was born there) and I didn\'t notice Canadians in Ontario or British Columbia pronouncing about as \'aboat\' and I still don\'t. I still speak with an English accent but my girlfriend doesn\'t say \'aboat\' unless she\'s refering to a sea-faring vessel and neither to my friends.
You say you don\'t mean to offend but as a Canadian and a British citizen I take offense because I read comments from someone several thousand miles away from Canada saying that Canadians don\'t know how to pronounce English words correctly and perpetuating this retarded myth, and then when a fellow Canadian forum member informs you that Candians don\'t pronounce the \'about\' as you believe it is pronounced you basically tell him that all Canadians are \'unable to hear themselves doing it\' - so, we have some genetic disorder that doesn\'t allow us to hear the words we say? I\'m new Canadian citizen, does that apply to me or do I have to be born here?