What Kind of American English do you speak?

Lynn226 · Apr 19, 2005

hongligl said:
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

You've been watching too much American television.

Longhornliz · Apr 19, 2005

60% General American English

20% Dixie

15% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

only 20% dixie, I'm ashamed of myself. Yall I'm fixin to have a coke to calm my nerves I do declare.

Lucy25 · Apr 19, 2005

JOHIO2 said:
Lucy, a cruller is basicallly a glazed or sugared donut. Around here, it means a fried cake made of two twisted pieces of dough. Though some people will call a ring-type donut a cruller (to me, a round donut is a donut). Hey, do you think we could get Krispy Kreme to twist some of their dough and bring the word "cruller" back into use?

Thanks for this information! Around here a donut is a donut. Speaking of which, I love donuts. I think they are just about my favorite food! :love:

Piel · Apr 19, 2005

Hey Liz what kind of coke are you going to have? Make mine a ginger ale.

Ladskater · Apr 19, 2005

My results:

45% General American English
25% Yankee
20% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern

Am I a mixed up Canuck? Hm...something wrong here.

sk8tngcanuck · Apr 20, 2005

Your Linguistic Profile:
75% General American English
10% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern

Another mixed up Canuck apparently!

sk8er1964 · Apr 20, 2005

Lucy25 said:
Here's mine:
60% General American English
25% Upper Midwestern
10% Yankee
5% Midwestern
0% Dixie

I guess Michigan is Upper Midwestern? I have no idea what that one word even is, "croller" or however it was spelled. Anyone know what that is? It's definitely "pop" and "grocery cart" and "drinking fountain" and "tennis shoes". I think that cellars and basements are two different things.

65% General American English
25% Upper Midwestern
5% Midwestern
5% Yankee
0% Dixie

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

childfreegirl · Apr 20, 2005

Mine was:

55% General American English
25% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

Not really surprising, considering my mom's from the Florida Panhandle and my dad's a transplant from the UP of Michigan at the age of ten. I pride myself on being half Yankee and half Southern. So hating snow, traffic, any kind of cooked greens, hog jowls and pickled eggs seems to come naturally to me. As does being irked by all the conservative freaks down here in the Bible Belt. And yes, I say "y'all".

childfreegirl · Apr 20, 2005

sk8er1964 said:
I'm from Michigan too - I wonder which question we differed on to make you more Yankee than me!

Didn't ya know? All northerners are Yankees. :laugh:

Aloft04 · Apr 20, 2005

I've lived west of the Rockies all my life and mostly on the coast. Mine was:
70% General
20% Upper Mid-West
5% Mid-West
and gratefully -zero- 0% Dixie

....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!!

Tonichelle · Apr 20, 2005

childfreegirl said:
Didn't ya know? All northerners are Yankees.

I knew that one!!!!!!!

Lucy25 · Apr 20, 2005

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!! :laugh:

)
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 · Apr 20, 2005

Aloft04 said:
....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 · Apr 20, 2005

Lucy25 said:
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 :biggrin:

. Everything else was exactly the same! :agree:

chuckm · Apr 21, 2005

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 · Apr 21, 2005

Piel said:
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! :love:

brad640 · Apr 21, 2005

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 · Apr 21, 2005

I'm from Tucson, AZ

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

Hermione_Granger · Apr 22, 2005

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

:rofl:

katherine2001 · Apr 22, 2005

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.

What Kind of American English do you speak?

Lynn226

Longhornliz

Lucy25

Piel

On Edge

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~

sk8tngcanuck

sk8er1964

childfreegirl

childfreegirl

Aloft04

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Lucy25

Piel

On Edge

sk8er1964

chuckm

childfreegirl

brad640

K-Mo

Hermione_Granger

katherine2001

Similar threads

Connect with us