Page 1 of 1
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:08 pm
by Troy
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.
Edited By Troy on 1406232668
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:23 pm
by TheCatt
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: Thu Jul 24, 2014 4:41 pm
by Leisher
I got:
Toledo
Detroit
Grand Rapids, MI
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 5:27 pm
by TPRJones
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:
What do you call the small road parallel to the highway?
feeder road
...for Shreveport (Nacogdoches):
How would you address a group of two or more people?
y'all
Edited By TPRJones on 1406237436
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:56 pm
by thibodeaux
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: Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:59 pm
by GORDON
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: Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:15 pm
by TheCatt
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: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:53 pm
by Malcolm
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
Edited By Malcolm on 1406256850
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:15 pm
by Leisher
It told me the Devil's Night answer was a key indicator, so you're probably right.
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 12:12 am
by Troy
The answer to that question was "nothing" you crazies.
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:14 am
by TheCatt
Troy wrote: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: Fri Jul 25, 2014 7:31 am
by Stranger
I got Toledo, Detroit (even bigger cesspool than St. Louis) and Rockford Ill.
Least: Boston and a few surrounding cities in Mass.
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 8:27 am
by TheCatt
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: Fri Jul 25, 2014 9:57 am
by Cakedaddy
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.
Edited By Cakedaddy on 1406296731
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 11:20 am
by TheCatt
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: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:36 pm
by TPRJones
I took it three times and never saw anything about "devil's night". Something related to Halloween, I would guess?
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:45 pm
by Malcolm
TPRJones wrote: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.
Edited By Malcolm on 1406573273
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:54 pm
by TPRJones
Huh. Not a thing down here.
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:48 pm
by Troy
WHERE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVE
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:53 pm
by Malcolm
Troy wrote:WHERE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVE
You obviously had some very boring Octobers as a child.