Spot the dialect
Oh boy, a game. The NY Times has a what dialect are you game, not paywalled. I got New York, which is dead-on in a way, since I grew up in Princeton, but I thought some of my answers were probably because my parents were from Iowa and Missouri, and some might have been because I’ve lived in Seattle since Charles I became king…but nope.
To be more precise, I got New York, Yonkers, and Baltimore. Yonkers??? I’ve never even been there apart from passing through, and the same goes for Baltimore. Plus Yonkers has a dialect different from New York? A bit puzzling but no matter, it’s interesting.
It has me at Fremont, Santa Ana/Irvine and Santa Rosa, apparently because I call a firefly a firefly.
It’s a long way from the East Midlands.
I got NY, Yonkers and Providence. Which is interesting because I am actually from the South of England (the old England, not New England)
I suspect that the way people in those three cities pronounce words is far similar to how I do it than a lot of people in my own country. It would be really interesting to see one of these for the many accents and dialects of Britain.
Nailed me as upper midwest.
That’s funny. I’d have expected East Midlands to be more NY – Yonkers – Baltimore – Providence than all those west coast places. (I too call a firefly a firefly – that’s one of the ones I thought might be a midwest inheritance.)
Madison; Milwaukee; Rockford. Grew up near Chicago, have lived near Milwaukee for over 34 years.
Nailed it.
This is the second test of this type I’ve taken. Same result.
Cool. I was able to take the test a second time and pretend to be a Mainer, my adopted state. Got it on the money.
Hmmm, NY, Yonkers, or Jackson. Strong affinity to eastern and southern states. Coming from NZ it doesn’t ring that true based on the accents I’ve heard from those area. Least like, was Spokane and Grand Rapids.
Given my answers to few particular questions (“kitty-corner” was one), city-wise, I’m from Grand Rapids, Pittsburgh, or Seattle. We watched a lot of American television growing up in London, Ontario, so influence from Michigan and Pennsylvania usage makes sense, but Seattle?
I can’t imagine what a UK version would make of me. My accent and dialect are a sort of Yorkshirey, Teessidey Geordie with a hint of County Durham Pit Village. Unless I’m talking to someone else, when my accent changes completely.
I’ve taken this one before, and it again accurately caught my New York dialect. The “most distinctive” item was “sneakers”, which surprised me.
I got Aurora and Rockford, Illinois and Tulsa Oklahoma. I was born in the deep south, raised in rural Wisconsin not far from Madison and lived for twenty years in OKC, so it’s a fair guess. I used ‘gym shoes’ and ‘tennis shoes’ interchangeably until I moved to Germany. Now they’re ‘sneakers’.
Despite a lot of inaccurate answer choices* it managed to color the Lehigh Valley region deep red, as in spot on. The most distinctive word for the 3 highlighted regions (Philly, Newark/Paterson, Yonkers) was oddly “sneakers”. I miss the “hoagie” question that is usually the dead give-away word.
* And some I kind of “edited” to account for what I grew up with vs. what I’ve learned since and such.
Boston, Worcester, Springfield, which is pretty accurate, as I grew up in suburban Boston (though I haven’t lived there for over 30 years). The most distinctive item was “rotary”.
They used data from the Harvard Dialect Survey to create the quiz, and the heat map is based on responses from 350,000 responses back in 2013.
I’m disappointed they didn’t ask about those little, colorful sugary things they sometime put on your ice cream (jimmies, of course).
It nailed me as Birmingham, AL. Joke’s on them: I’ve never even been to the states except to change ‘planes.
But I did live in the ur-Birmingham for four years…
(It also gave me Honolulu and New York.)
Just went through it a second time, with a slightly different set of questions (but the same answers for the commons questions), and got Oxnard, Santa Clarita, and Santa Ana/Irvine. I’ve never lived in California, and have spent about two weeks there during my lifetime. The keywords in this case were “firefly” and “drinking fountain”.
So, questionable test-retest reliability.
WaM @ 14, Sprinkles! Who wants Jimmy all over your ice cream.
Everyone at work makes nice fun of me for having a ‘posh’ voice just for the phone! Apparently I’m a lot politer, don’t swear at all:) and use longer words and never say ‘tuthbrush’.
In reality I have a mongrel midlands/welsh combo:)
bascule
Rob @ 17,
Sprinkles, eh? And what do you call the stuff that the waiter grates over your pasta? Grates?
I’ve known a couple of people from Yonkers, but I don’t recall their speech patterns.
New York has a different accent from New York. Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, various places have distinctive speech patterns. I remember having discussions in high school (my school drew students from all over the city) about the difference between a Queens accent and a Brooklyn accent. (I was from Manhattan and had neither accent.)
Higgins: “You can spot an Irishman or a Yorkshireman by his brogue. I can place any man within six miles. I can place him within two miles in London. Sometimes within two streets.”
Re Jimmies
I lived in the Boston area for several decades. I delighted in the characteristic terms like “jimmies” and “tonic” and “grinder” and “rotary”; I wouldn’t use them myself, but I recognized and enjoyed them. My kids still live in the area, and I look forward to hearing the accents (from other people; they sound more like New Yorkers like their parents) when we have opportunity to visit. Indeed, hearing any accent from the Northeast induces a wave of nostalgia in me, here among the Southern accents.
Got me in Wichita, Lincoln, and Omaha. Seems to be because of how I say pajamas. Most of my answers were rather broadly dispersed, with a tendency toward the north west, which is weird, because I have spent a total of 4 days in that area, and only for conferences. But the fact that I have lived 50 years in the Great Plains has definitely put my accent at where I live. Though my mother, who taught me to talk, was from New York, you wouldn’t know it to hear her talk. She sounded more like…well, Wichita.
Decided to try again, using the alternatives I sometimes use for things, but don’t use as often, and got New York and Yonkers.
Bah, quiz does not have ‘bottle-o’ and is therefore incomplete.
WaM @ 19, close!
‘Grated XXXX’ is exactly what I’d call it, along with ground pepper, or minced whatever.
You have to remember, NZ white colonists were very practical and down to earth souls. I mean, calling our two biggest islands North and South should be a give away. One of the valleys I regularly drive through has many many streams. The bridges across these are called Bridge 1 through Bridge 47. It sings to the heart honestly. That said, there is poetry and beauty in the names of many of our places, especially in the mountains.
New York, Providence, Yonkers. I speak modified New Zealand English, which sounds pretty much like London English (not cockney, innit, but educated London English).
I had a boyfriend who was a good mimic. He could demonstrate the difference between Edinburgh Scots and Musselburgh Scots – Musselburgh being about 8 miles from central Edinburgh.
rob,
I was joking about the “grates”– most people in the US say “sprinkles” as well.
We spent a couple of wonderful weeks in NZ a few Julys ago–a few days in Auckland for a conference, and then hopping around the islands. Made it as far south as Te Anau, with a day trip to Doubtful Sound. And of course ran into a Basque guy running a food truck. They’re everywhere.
Sackbut,
Maybe a third of the population of our suburb consisted of families who moved out of Boston and retained the accent; the rest were (like my family) migrants from other parts of the country (New York State in our case) or world. So my vocab is mixed–I say “rotary” and “jimmies”, but “soda” and “sub”. And my pronunciation is mostly rhotic, though the closer I get to Park St. the more I begin to drop my rs.
Jimmies? Sprinkles?
We say “hundreds and thousands.”
Got solidly in the Southeast, so they’ve got me bang to rights, even if people up here don’t really notice my Southern accent (and I use a shit-ton of Britishisms).
It put me at Newark and Jersey City. My parents grew up in Kearny, NJ, which is right next to those two cities.
Dialects diverge due to isolation, not distance per se.
How much cross-traffic and dating is there between New York and Yonkers?
WaM, no worries. I hope you make it back here one day – let me know.
Latest, hundreds and thousands was the term of my (long lost) youth. Sprinkles seemed to take over when I was in my twenties.
Funny story about Doubtful Sound (one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places anywhere). I proposed to my beloved there. Deck of the ship at the mouth of the sound, setting sun over the ocean, all that stuff. Very romantic. She said yes. Over a decade later we’re still not married. Our friends bring up the ‘doubtful’ part of the equation regularly.
I’m impressed! It put me in Buffalo or Detroit, which is exactly right, because those are the two closest American cities to Toronto.
Wow, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Stockton. Nailed it, nearly triangulated me for the first 45 years of my life.
I’ve heard you speak, Ophelia, and I’ve heard those unguarded moments where your deep Texas drawl comes out. You’re not fooling me.
It placed this Australian (literally never left) in New York, Yonkers, and Jersey City. I could have gone for “youse” (but that’s mostly a country/rural/bogan thing (in place of bogan, read “hick”, “redneck”, or word that means uncultured person)) and numerous options on rubber soled athletic shoes.
New York, Yonkers, Sacramento. With a special distinction for ‘sneakers’ which I suspect is more generational than geographical.
I’ve never lived in any of those places.
Birmingham, Atlanta, and Baltimore.
Wat.
Like seriously: wat?
My Mid-Western American Standard sticks out like a sore-ass thumb in a crowd of people from the South. (But I’ll fight all you damn Yankees on the proper way to make tea when it’s hot as a mug.)
Just noticed that there’s a “least similar” button, so I did it again and got New Orleans, Jackson, and Detroit. Detroit because I don’t have a name for the night before Halloween.
You’ll note that most of the questions focus on vocabulary rather than pronunciation, even though it’s the latter that stands out most when we think of regional dialects (“pahk ya cah” and all that). I think that makes sense for two reasons: first, people are pretty bad judges about their own pronunciation (even after some pretty intense training back in my undergrad days, I’m not entirely sure about my own); and second, pronunciation is a lot harder to change than vocabulary, and so in a country with a population as mobile as the US we may hang on to pronunciations from other parts even when we adopt the vocab of our peers (I don’t drop my “r”s, but sneakers are sneakers and a rotary is a rotary).
“Sneakers” is an odd one though. I hesitated over it. I would think it’s more a matter of time than of place. Sneakers aren’t really a thing any more, because that other kind of shoe (whatever it’s called) is better. Sneakers were just flimsy canvas on rubber, without any of that supporty structure that running shoes/trainers or whatever else you call them have. I ended up putting trainers but it felt like cheating because it’s UK dialect (or at least I thought it was) and I’m a Yank.
What’s a rotary?
Yeah, sneakers is probably as much a marker of age as regional dialect.
A rotary is an infamous deathtrap that most of the rest of the country calls a “traffic circle”. They were widespread in the Boston area even back in the ’70s (and probably earlier).
Ohhh right, what’s called a roundabout in the UK. And yes what I called traffic circle on the question.
I’m not sure why Americans think roundabouts are deathtraps, they are perfectly safe over here. I can only assume it’s something to do with not being used to them.
So I did some googling, and apparently the state (sorry, Commonwealth) of Massachusetts distinguishes between “roundabouts” (smaller, usually residential or one-lane streets, no lane changes needed) and “rotaries” (larger, several lanes so you have to know when to change, often on fairly large, fast-moving roads), even if most speakers don’t make that distinction.
@latsot, it’s the larger ones that are the death traps*–it’s the combination of high speed roads, multiple lanes often requiring quick lane changes, and the fact that MA drivers are notoriously aggressive and unruly.
*Death trap is a bit of an exaggeration–I don’t think a lot of people die in rotaries, but they are dicey.
*shrug* – the big ones are (mostly) fine over here. We’re used to them, though, and lane changes are second nature, as is giving way appropriately.
They only work if you follow the rules and the spirit, though, I expect that if a significant portion of drivers didn’t, deathtrappery might well ensue.
We have some insanely complicated systems of orbiting roundabouts here, which can admittedly be terrifying.
Here’s a pretty good illustration of the differences. It’s the weaving that gets people, along with usually poorly marked lanes. Also, there are often a few more roads leading in and out.
And Massachusetts drivers tend to look on other drivers as the enemy.
New York, Jersey City and Providence. I’ve never been to Jersey City or Providence, and not to New York City since 1961 (perhaps surprising, but true). The only part of the USA where I’ve ever lived is Berkeley (and Alameda, if you count that as different). I thought that choosing “lorry” would immediately label me as British, but apparently not. Is there anywhere in the USA where “lorry” is current? My accent is RP (not ideal: I wouldn’t mind sounding more plebeian than I do, but things are what they are). If you really want to know, check here: https://www.beilstein.tv/video/metabolic-control-analysis-meets-systems-biology/ (I’m not the one with the German accent).
There was a traffic circle in Berkeley on Marin Avenue that wasn’t exactly a death trap, as everyone took it very slowly, most having no idea what they were supposed to do. Nowadays Google Maps indicates that it goes anticlockwise, as God intended, but I’m pretty sure that in the 1960s it went clockwise, which was crazy. I think it was the only traffic circle in the Bay Area, and maybe the only one in California.
WaM:
We do have both kinds but I’ve hijacked the thread enough!
Plus I remember being involved in a similar conversation here once before. I’m sure there is some research on cultural attitudes to roundabouts, I should look that up instead of boring everyone here.
Some shoe manufacturers and sellers still use the term “sneakers”. It’s easy enough to find “leather sneakers”, and I run across ads for such things online frequently enough.
Re rotaries as death traps: they are fine if used as marked and in accordance with correct driving practice. They are difficult at overly high speed and used improperly. The Concord (MA) Rotary is supposed to be negotiated at 45 mph, not 70, and there is much confusion about whether exiting the circle from the inner lane (or proceeding around the circle from the outer lane) is appropriate.
Roundabouts only work for socialists, or populations with a theory of mind.
/s
latsot,
I don’t think you’re the guilty party for the threadjacking.
Sackbut,
Yeah, I know that one well. But for me the worst were the series of rotaries as you enter Cambridge from Arlington on Rte 2. First there’s the sudden decrease from four to two lanes, and then three rotaries in a row. The worst of the worst was the one by Fresh Pond, where the Alewife Brook Pkwy meets Concord Ave. Yes, they work well if everyone knows and follows the rules, but, well, Mass drivers.
I know those well, and now I’m going to have nightmares, darn it. Route 2 has more than its share of terrible intersections.
The most hair-raising roundabouts I’ve encountered were in France. In the UK, the convention is that vehicles entering a roundabout give way to those already on it, exactly the same as joining a main road from a side street or a motorway from a slip road. In France the convention seems to be reversed, with cars entering a roundabout having right of way, which probably explains why every roundabout I encountered in France was more akin to a car-park.
That said, if you’re an adrenalin junkie I can recommend driving in Rome for the ultimate thrill. All road laws, traffic signals and signs are seemingly advisory-only. Get into a car and all bets are off, it’s a free-for-all that makes driving in London seem like a Sunday afternoon tootle through the most remote of country lanes in comparison.
Buenos Aires 2006, I’d been in the country for about 90 minutes when we come to a roundabout in the middle of a 12 lane road (six each way from memory). Taxi I’m in enters in the far right lane, clips the apex of the roundabout (left lane) and exits in the far right lane. All done at speeds above limit in heavy traffic. Eyes on stalks material. No one else seemed phased.
Believe it or not, it’s not as simple as that (if you call that simple). At all normal small to medium roundabouts the convention is the same as in the UK: traffic already on the roundabout has priority. On very large and important roundabouts, like around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the convention is reversed in the way you say. The inconsistency seems absolutely designed to produce accidents.
And there’s another thing, which is that in the US the convention when joining a main road from a side road is not to “give way” but to STOP, not least because there’s a stop sign. The lack of stop signs on side streets in London is a menace to pedestrians. Drivers all too often don’t “give way” to pedestrians but keep right on going, even if we’re already part way across.
AoS,
I’ve never been in Rome, but I did spend some time driving in and around Palermo. What I quickly learned was: don’t look back. You’re not responsible for what’s behind you; your task is to avoid the things in front of you. I don’t know if that’s actually a rule (implicit or explicit) in Sicily, but it served me well.
London doesn’t count.
I’ve not driven in Rome either, but I was once told that a red light in Rome means that you may stop if you wish, but you should bear in mind that the person behind you may not wish to stop.
Having said that, I should add that the traffic in Marseilles (whereI live) is nowhere near as chaotic and undisciplined as it may appear to a first-time visitor. A very important point is that drivers in Marseilles are very tolerant of what other drivers do regardless of whether it is legal; no one thinks it is their duty to police what others do. If you see someone trying to get into the flow from a minor side road you try to make it easier for them, not more difficult. I expect that it’s similar in much of Italy, but completely different in Germany and Belgium.
Likewise, though in my case it was 16 years: 1970–1987. In view of your posting name I wonder if we came across one another — I don’t call myself Enzyme, but I could.