Regarding Na na na-na na, I think I heard on CBC's As It Happens that, yes, the first two notes of the tune were the same everywhere. This came from a guy who was investigating fans at basketball games who chanted "air ball" always at the same pitch. The guy couldn't really explain it, though he theorized that PERHAPS the fans were listening to the hum of the lights whose frequency was the root note of a scale that included "air ball" -- which by the way is chanted to the first two notes of Na na na-na na.

And a cultural oddity of them Yanks? They appoint ambassadors as a reward for political campaign contributions. Then said ambassadors, ardent free-enterprise enthusiasts, tell Canadians they ought to subsidize their sporting teams the way US cities do. Do powerful countries emphasize sports more than smaller countries?

And FYI, folks, napkin, whatever it used to mean in Canada, just means napkin these days. I just thought my Dad was strange for calling them serviettes all those years.

I find pronunciations more confusing than word differences. I remember a guy telling me he was from uh-hia. And when I was twelve in Gettysburg, I was surprised at how poorly I knew US geography -- I'd never heard of the state of Marilyn.