I noticed something new about myself in the last week of 2017.

It was like going through puberty again - I knew it was coming at some point but was still taken off guard when it happened.

I started saying “hey” instead of “eh.”

As in, “not as cold today, hey?”

Or, “The Last Jedi was a bit weird, hey?”

This appears to be a uniquely Saskatchewan way of speaking, which I first heard years ago at journalism school in Halifax. One of my roommates in the Angel’s Roost (as we called the small residence in the administrative building at King’s College) was from Saskatchewan, and where other people would end a sentence with “eh,” she added an “h.” 

When I moved to Saskatoon four years ago, I started encountering the phrase just about every day. A quick Google search has not revealed why this habit exists, though Business Insider claims it’s used throughout Western Canada.

In any case, it finally slipped out the other week. I don’t know why. I can’t remember to whom I said it first - it would have been my fiancee or a coworker - but I do remember feeling surprised (and a bit disappointed) they didn’t notice. I guess it sounded more natural than it felt.

I’ve tried it on a couple times since then, and it’s getting easier - more than bunnyhug, anyway, a term I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to say with a straight face.

I’ve never gone muddin’, I’m not a die-hard Riders fan and I’ve never seen Telemiracle - but I hope this Ontario boy now qualifies as an official Saskatchewanian.