Topic: The Dialect Quiz
started by: Troy
Posted by Troy on Jul. 24 2014,13:08
Basically you answer a bunch of questions and it shows you what part of the country your English comes from.Didn't think much of it, and usually ignore the facebook-like quizes, but this pegged me for Raleigh, NC. My city of birth. In 25 questions.
< http://www.nytimes.com/interac....ap.html >
The questions are variable. I got Durham added into the mix when I did it again to take the screengrab.
Posted by TheCatt on Jul. 24 2014,13:23
Last time I did this, I got Greensboro, NC, which is pretty close to where I grew up (Winston-Salem).This time, I got:
Jackson, Mississippi
Montgomery, AL
Newport News, VA
Not sure what I said differently.
Posted by Leisher on Jul. 24 2014,13:41
I got: Toledo
Detroit
Grand Rapids, MI
Posted by TPRJones on Jul. 24 2014,14:27
I got Houston, TX and Shreveport, LA. I live in Houston and grew up (mostly) in Nacogdoches, TX which is not too far from Shreveport so I think it did pretty good.Most distinctive answers...
...for Houston:
QUOTE
What do you call the small road parallel to the highway?
feeder road
feeder road
...for Shreveport (Nacogdoches):
QUOTE
How would you address a group of two or more people?
y'all
y'all
Posted by thibodeaux on Jul. 24 2014,16:56
< http://nyti.ms/1lBj7sx >Redneckia.
I didn't know you grew up in Nagodoches. My sister lives in Natchitoches, and I grew up right on Toledo Bend (LA side).
Posted by GORDON on Jul. 24 2014,16:59
I have lived in about every dialect zone on that map. I can't even remember where different colloquial words and idioms come from most of the time. I am a complete linguistic mongrel.
Posted by TheCatt on Jul. 24 2014,17:15
OK.. I tried to harken back to the words I used when I was younger.< Winston-Salem, NC >
Least similar:
* Akron
* Toledo
* Fort Wayne
You people speak funny.
Posted by Malcolm on Jul. 24 2014,19:53
I feel a bit insulted. I'm guessing that my "devil's night" answer skewed the fuck out of things.1) Grand Rapids
2) Saint "Cesspool" Louis
3) Motherfucking Detroit wtf
Posted by Leisher on Jul. 24 2014,20:15
It told me the Devil's Night answer was a key indicator, so you're probably right.
Posted by Troy on Jul. 24 2014,21:12
The answer to that question was "nothing" you crazies.
Posted by TheCatt on Jul. 25 2014,04:14
(Troy @ Jul. 25 2014,00:12)
QUOTE
The answer to that question was "nothing" you crazies.
Right.
God, we're surrounded by people from Detroit.
Yeah, that's why I had to go back to "what I used to call things," instead of what I call them now.
Posted by Stranger on Jul. 25 2014,04:31
I got Toledo, Detroit (even bigger cesspool than St. Louis) and Rockford Ill.Least: Boston and a few surrounding cities in Mass.
Posted by TheCatt on Jul. 25 2014,05:27
Here are the answers I remember:roly poly
yall
sub
rhymes with flaw
lightning bug
cray-ahn
rubbernecking - activity
tractor-trailer
traffic circle
dinner = supper
crip course
ah concept/ ant specific person
crawdad
been = sit
palm
water fountain
Posted by Cakedaddy on Jul. 25 2014,06:57
Toledo, Detroit, Omaha.There were too many that as a kid, I called it one thing, as an adult, I call it something else. There were some that I didn't know of as a kid, but know of as an adult. I ended up mixing things up. A roundabout is very popular where I am now, but I'd never heard of before 10 years ago. The Crayon one was hard to answer, because I do both. There are two syllables, but I mash them together pretty tightly. But I picked the one syllable answer because I figured that's what someone would pick if they heard me say it. And some of the shit you other people call stuff is just stupid. I did not get a crawdad (crayfish, duh) question.
Posted by TheCatt on Jul. 25 2014,08:20
Right, the crawdad one, I've heard called everything on that list, so I had to go back to which one I heard first as a kid.
Posted by TPRJones on Jul. 28 2014,11:36
I took it three times and never saw anything about "devil's night". Something related to Halloween, I would guess?
Posted by Malcolm on Jul. 28 2014,11:45
(TPRJones @ Jul. 28 2014,13:36)
QUOTE
I took it three times and never saw anything about "devil's night". Something related to Halloween, I would guess?
You see The Crow?
< Here >.
Posted by TPRJones on Jul. 28 2014,11:54
Huh. Not a thing down here.
Posted by Troy on Jul. 28 2014,13:48
WHERE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVE
Posted by Malcolm on Jul. 28 2014,13:53
(Troy @ Jul. 28 2014,15:48)
QUOTE
WHERE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVE
You obviously had some very boring Octobers as a child.