What Kind of American English do you speak?

**Tonichelle** · 04-20-2005, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by childfreegirl

Didn't ya know? All northerners are Yankees.

I knew that one!!!!!!!

**Lucy25** · 04-20-2005, 10:16 PM

I'm from Michigan too - I wonder which question we differed on to make you more Yankee than me!

Well, here is what I answered:
1. The level of a building that is underground is called the: Basement
2. What do you call the night before Halloween? Devil's night (Definitely!!

)
3. You bring back your groceries in a... Bag
4. The act of covering a house or area in front of a house with toilet paper is called...TP'ing
5. You call sweetened, carbonated beverages: Pop
6. You drink from: A drinking fountain
7. You tend to call the sweet spread on top of cake: Frosting
8. Do you use the word cruller? No (had never even heard of this)
9. What do you call a traffic situation in which several roads meet in a circle and you have to get off at a certain point? Something else like a circle, traffic circle, or roundabout (traffic circle)
10. What do you call an easy class? A blow off
11. If it's raining while the sun is shining, you call it: You have no term for it
12. What do you call something that is diagonal from you? Kitty corner
13. What is the four wheeled contraption you push around your groceries in? Shopping / grocery cart
14. You work out in...Tennis shoes
15. "Y'all"... Is not something you say
16. The second syllable in pajamas sounds like: The A in jam
17. Does "caramel" have two or three syllables? Two
18. Do you pronounce "aunt" like "ant"? Yes
19. "Route" rhymes with... Out
20. Mary / marry / merry... Are pronounced the same

Which one was different?

**Piel** · 04-20-2005, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Aloft04

....I cringe when I hear "y'all" and find it painful to listen to the cook on the Food Channel named Paula something....she hurts my ears!!

My sister in law sounds exactly like Paula Deen and it is like nails on a chalk board. There is a difference in sounding "Southern" (Dixie Carter) and "country"(Paula Deen).

**sk8er1964** · 04-20-2005, 10:41 PM

Originally Posted by Lucy25

I'm from Michigan too - I wonder which question we differed on to make you more Yankee than me!

Well, here is what I answered:
1. The level of a building that is underground is called the: Basement
2. What do you call the night before Halloween? Devil's night (Definitely!!

)
3. You bring back your groceries in a... Bag
4. The act of covering a house or area in front of a house with toilet paper is called...TP'ing
5. You call sweetened, carbonated beverages: Pop
6. You drink from: A drinking fountain
7. You tend to call the sweet spread on top of cake: Frosting
8. Do you use the word cruller? No (had never even heard of this)
9. What do you call a traffic situation in which several roads meet in a circle and you have to get off at a certain point? Something else like a circle, traffic circle, or roundabout (traffic circle)
10. What do you call an easy class? A blow off
11. If it's raining while the sun is shining, you call it: You have no term for it
12. What do you call something that is diagonal from you? Kitty corner
13. What is the four wheeled contraption you push around your groceries in? Shopping / grocery cart
14. You work out in...Tennis shoes
15. "Y'all"... Is not something you say
16. The second syllable in pajamas sounds like: The A in jam
17. Does "caramel" have two or three syllables? Two
18. Do you pronounce "aunt" like "ant"? Yes
19. "Route" rhymes with... Out
20. Mary / marry / merry... Are pronounced the same

Which one was different?

The sunshower one (raining while the sun is shining). Guess it comes from the PA side of the family - or maybe the side that came here from Canada

. Everything else was exactly the same!

**chuckm** · 04-21-2005, 07:17 AM

Mary, Marry and Merry are all pronounced differently (at least us General American/Yankee folks differentiate).

Phonetically, Mary is "maery" (as in 'fairy'), Marry is "mahry" (as in 'carry'), Merry is "mer'ry" (er as in 'furnace'). I believe the upper Midwest pronounces all 3 as "mer'ry".

**childfreegirl** · 04-21-2005, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Piel

My sister in law sounds exactly like Paula Deen and it is like nails on a chalk board. There is a difference in sounding "Southern" (Dixie Carter) and "country"(Paula Deen).

IMO, Dixie Carter lays it on a little thick. That may just be the way she talks, but when I think of a typical southern accent, that's not what I think about. Different parts of the south have different accents. I realize that, but too much is too much. And IIRC, Paula Deen is from Savannah and she has a resturant there. I've been to Savannah a couple of times. Lovely town and I'd love to go back. If for nothing else than the sweet shops on River Street. Yum!

**brad640** · 04-21-2005, 01:52 PM

I ate at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah and it was not as good as I expected after seeing her cookbooks and tv show. There are better places to eat, and you have to wait a long time for a table now because of her Food Network celebrity and they don't take reservations. The food is typical southern fare, very heavy and filling. I had the crabcakes and they were not the best I have ever had. It seemed like most people were getting the buffet which was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. I shied away from that because it was looking like a feeding frenzy, and the strange thing was that the buffet was beside a huge window and all the people waiting on their table were outside on the sidewalk gazing at the buffet. The atmosphere was not the best. The servers were frantic and we were not able to relax and enjoy ourselves because you could tell they were cycling customers through as quickly as possible. So if you are in Savannah and want to fight with a bunch of hungry tourists to get your meal, go to Paula's, otherwise go to Elizabeth on 37th for authentic and fabulous southern food.

**K-Mo** · 04-21-2005, 07:24 PM

I'm from Tucson, AZ

60% General American English
30% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern

**Hermione_Granger** · 04-22-2005, 07:11 PM

75% General American English
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

**katherine2001** · 04-22-2005, 07:35 PM

I live in Montana now, but I was an Air Force brat so I've lived in just about every section of the country. I spent 18 years in South Carolina (where my Dad was born and raised--my Mom was from Oklahoma). Mine came out like this:

35% General American English
30% Dixie
20% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
5% Midwestern

I guess my being an Air Force brat shows in the results.

**katherine2001** · 04-22-2005, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by hongligl

My Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English
25% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Considering I've never been to the states, I thought that mine would be close to 100% GAE

I've never lived in the UK, but I've read so many British books that I think I could take a test on British English and do pretty well on it. I've picked up a lot of British slang over the years.