eh

What it means

1. 1.

   A tag appended to a statement to invite agreement, equivalent to 'isn't it' or 'right?'

2. 2.

   A narrative tag that keeps the listener engaged mid-story: 'So I'm standing there, eh, and this guy walks up…'

   This second use is the distinctively Canadian one and is what linguists point to as genuinely characteristic.

3. 3.

   A request for repetition: 'Eh? Say that again.'

In use

• Cold out today, eh?

• So we get to the cottage, eh, and the power's out.

  Note: Narrative eh. It asks for attention, not agreement.

Where it comes from

Not unique to Canada — it exists in British, Australian and New Zealand English — but the narrative use is more frequent and more systematic in Canada than anywhere else, which is why it became the national stereotype. Canadians are self-conscious enough about it that some avoid it deliberately.