English! Do you speak it?
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 75% General American English |
| 15% Yankee |
| 5% Dixie |
| 5% Upper Midwestern |
| 0% Midwestern |
I found this interesting… I guess it really shows why people can never place where I’m from. Southerners always guess I’m from the north. Northerners always say I’m from the midwest. And Midwesterners can never guess where I’m from. It’s the 75% General American English that’s throwing everyone off! Of course, I guess the fact that I was born in Florida, and then moved around a lot for the next 19 years didn’t help matters much. 
A few questions I thought were especially interesting (and some I find very annoying when not said the way I say it):
What do you call something that is diagonal from you?
- Kitty corner
- Diagonal
- Catty corner
I’d never heard the term “Kitty Corner” before? Where the hell is that from? I’ve heard people say “Catty Corner” before… but I simply use “Diagonal”.
The thing you push around and put your groceries at the store is called a....
- Shopping Cart
- Carriage
- Buggy
It’s NOT CALLED A BUGGY! Do you people not understand how ignorant you sound when you say that? The damn thing is a cart. It’s short for “Bascart”, which is the industry term for the contraption.
If it's raining while the sun is shining, you call it:
- The Devil is Beating His Wife
- A sunshower
- You have no term for it
Here’s another one I’d never heard of. You know that the first answer has GOT to be “Dixie”.
The act of covering a house or area in front of a house with toilet paper is called...
- Toilet papering
- Rolling
- TP'ing
On this one, “Fun” wasn’t an answer… so I had to pick the first one.
Does "caramel" have two or three syllables?
- Two
- Three
- You say it both ways
I went back and played with my answers to find out what was “Dixie”, “Midwestern”, etc… and found that this is my only “Dixie” entry. I say it with three syllables. But I’ve always said it that way… long before I made it to the south.
Take the quiz yourself, boys and girls… post your results in the comments. I would especially be interested in my regulars answers… you know who you are!
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Comments
65% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Midwestern
Interesting “test”. I’m spread out even a little thinner across the categories. This is somewhat amusing, as my “long O’s” probably give my location (lOHcation?) away. Not quite a candidate as an extra on the set of “Fargo”, but close.
P.S. — LOVE the theme Jenn whipped up for you!
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Your Linguistic Profile:
55% General American English
25% Dixie
15% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
I’m surprised the Dixie is so high. Most people who talk to me now can’t place where I’m from. I think it’s all the influence of my SO, who has no accent. I tried (rather successfully) to lose my twang - you don’t get very far if you sound like a hillbilly..
Kyle - for the record, I’ve never heard it called “The Devil beating his wife” despite being very southern. It’s a sunshower or golden rain (eewww!! I don’t say that one because of the watersports connotation).