WAY OT- Accent Quiz
Hey guys, stumbled upon this a little while ago and I thought it'd be worth a share. The New York Times released this quiz which finds out where your accent comes from. This thing is pretty spot on. Just 25 short questions on how you pronounce words and your terminology. If you got a little time to kill, give it a try.
LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-qui…
I've tried this and it's remarkably accurate
That was rather interesting - it pretty much zeroed in on the Detroit area, which is where I was born, raised and still live. I consciously pronounced the words in the questions that called for it too just to ensure some accuracy. I actually had my wife take a similar quiz a few weeks ago and, as her birth certificate says, she's all Chicago.
Thanks for sharing this. Very intriguing.
I made an effort to refer to things as I did growing up rather than some that I might do differently now (e.g. I grew up saying pop, but now usually would say soda) and it gave me a very solidly Michigan map...
Q: What do you call the night before Halloween?
I'm curious at the answer to this because I answered "I have no word for this."
I've only ever heard of it referred to as Devil's Night.
That's a huge signifier all around. I grew up in (northern) NJ, and answering "Mischief Night" zoomed me right in there. My parents are from the midwest, so a few of my other answers registered there. Fortunately, I haven't picked up any Philly tendencies yet.
To be honest, I had no idea that it is not called "Devil's Night" outside of southeast Michigan until I took this test. That one surprised me.
Another one that I had no idea had different terms around the country is "gawker delay." That one wasn't even an option.
Same here about Devil's Night. I hadn't done this quiz before, but I saw the maps of all the different pronunciations and phrases posted, and I was shocked that it was basically only a southeast Michigan thing. I just assumed everyone knew it.
Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Toledo for me.
The interesting thing is looking at who in the country is least similar to me, but that seems flawed. For me, Maine is dark blue. It must be because it's only based on a few peculiar words and phrases instead of overall speech, right? I guess I can't think of anyone I know from Maine, but I couldn't imagine their accent would seem even further from mine than someone in the Deep South. A lot of the words and their choices in the quiz do touch on southern accents, but there are differences besides "crayon" and "lawyer". The East Coast, Appalachia, and the South are all blue for me.
I had never heard of the term "Devil's Night" until I went to UM. It's a Detroit thing.
I'm from the westside and have never heard it called that. Most definitely an eastside term.
"Mischief night" in Central NJ.
Soda instead of pop.
Hoagies instead of subs.
Rooof instead of Ruf
Beat OSU - oh I guess that is the same everywhere
I got Paterson and Newark the garden spots of the Garden State which is where I grew up. We called the night before Hallowen "goosy night".
Devil's Night: It's Pure Michigan
Detroit, Grand Rapids and Toledo
Which I consider pure Michigan, because Toledo was rooting for Michigan in the Toledo war. Also, we thank Toledo for the UP, so at worst they're honorary.
Grew up in metro Detroit, spent six years on the east coast, and eight in mid-Michigan and "Michiana."
I was hoping for a "paczki" question, but "Devil's Night" was telling enough.
Considering I grew up in Holland and have lived in the detroit area for close to 10 years, I'd say it is spot on. My wife is from the Detroit area and got Detroit, toledo and Rochester Illinois, so I wonder what is slightly different in our accents.
I lived out east in Boston for three years, so it was funny to see some words and accents specifically for them. Bubbler instead of drinking fountain, buggy instead of shopping cart. Interesting how regions have specific words for things.
I took it once and it said Detroit and two cities in Arizona. I took it again, changing some answers (I use soda/pop interchangeably, didn't see my answer on a couple the first time around), and it gave me Detroit, Scottsdale, Reno. I lived in southern California until I was 7, so it was interesting to see it pin me in the southwest, but not be able to narrow it down to the actual area that I lived.
I'm from Milwaukee so "bubbler" was all they needed to ask.
just tried again and got Seattle, Indianapolis and Buffalo. No reason for Northwest. Indy is in the Midwest so i guess it makes some sense (from windsor area) and Buffalo makes sense as I lived in Toronto for about a year a couple years ago.
I just don't get the Washington connection. The only answer i remeber that would lead some to consider the Northwest is I call the big cats cougars. What is everyone else calling them? mountain lions??
edit: didn't see the three maps below the big one. Potato Bug (small gray bug that roles up into a ball when touched) is what lead to Buffalo and Seattle.
haha this is a cool tool. third time is the charm. finally got the devil's night question and locked down Detroit to go along with Spokane and Salt Lake City.... I'm all over the map
Detroit, Toldeo and Aurora. Close enough, I suppose.
Grand Rapids, Rockford, Toledo
Just had to do this in Linguistics 111 last week (2nd semester senior woooo). Nailed me to the MI area, which is spot on.
Which makes sense since I grew up in the Ann Arbor area, however it also said SoCal and Fresno. Odd, I've spent no more than four weeks in California over the past 55 years but I've spent the last 10 years in Dallas. Could be the eclectic vocabularly I acquired in many years of service.
Milwaukee, Reno and Riverside, CA.
I've lived in Grand Rapids my entire life but I go out of my way not to have a Michigan accent. It's the worst accent to my ears.
Well English being my second language and not ever been to any of this cities I apparently have an accent from Boston/NY/New Orleans... I would have thought otherwise =/
Interesting. If you scroll down it shows the 3 words that were most influential on your cities. Where do you think you might have picked them up? From the movies? That wouldn't be surprising considering how many shows and films are in NY.
Yeah, I think It must be about the series and all that stuff, I have friends from many places in the US, but I developed my accent by hearing music and watching shows, I guess I watch too much swamp people too..
Fort Wayne and Grand Rapids. The two towns I grew up in. Wow.
Pass the pasties