Dialect Quiz

[ack1961]

Same here.  I think the ones that pegged me were "Mischief Nite"  & "sneakers".

yup...dead give-aways.
Here's one thing I've learned in my many years: if you say "crawdad" or "pop", you ain't from anywhere near Newark.

[tore00]

It says I am from Baton Rouge, New Orleans or NY. You know where I am from, but in these cities there is a lot of Italian and French.

[dadagoboi]

It says I am from Baton Rouge, New Orleans or NY. You know where I am from, but in these cities there is a lot of Italian and French.

New Orleans was the number 2 destination for Italian immigrants after NYC in the early 20th Century.

[westen44]

It says I am from Baton Rouge, New Orleans or NY. You know where I am from, but in these cities there is a lot of Italian and French.

It's an approximation.  I think they only have hard data from select cities.  In my case, it shows my cities as Birmingham, Jackson, and Baton Rouge.  Although I'm not from any of them, I'm close enough and have lived in or near all of them.   

[westen44]

New Orleans was the number 2 destination for Italian immigrants after NYC in the early 20th Century.

I lived there for years and the Italian influence is all over the place, much more than I was expecting. 

[tore00]

Also in my case I can say that it is correct!

[Highlander]

New York, Jersey or Yonkers... I guess that's one of the closest places to London... 

[rahock]

Had me right on the money in Michigan.
Right

[westen44]

New York, Jersey or Yonkers... I guess that's one of the closest places to London... 

Obviously, a person from outside the U.S. is likely to identify with that form of American English most prominent in movies, television, the media, etc.  A Dutch friend scored as being from California.  That's no surprise since she told me long ago that her English was mostly acquired from a deliberate attempt to imitate American movies and TV.  Essentially, she knows Hollywood English (although that's not a real term and I'm just making it up right now.)  However, her American accent is so authentic that almost everyone she encounters in the U.S. thinks she is American and many people in Ireland also thought that when she lived there.  She has even corrected me a few times when I lapse into a regional tendency to sometimes accent words on the first syllable when it should be on the second one.  For instance, "umbrella," "insurance," etc. 

Another feature of this quiz is that is also tells a person the type of American English which is the most different from his.  Massachusetts English is the most unlike what I speak. 

[exiledarchangel]

If I was American, my choises would be Portland/Vancouver, Boston or Providence. OTOH if I was an American things would be different, like I would know what the heck is a drive-through liquor store...

[dadagoboi]

If I was American, my choises would be Portland/Vancouver, Boston or Providence. OTOH if I was an American things would be different, like I would know what the heck is a drive-through liquor store...

Like drive thru fast food only drunker.  I doubt you'd find them in the places you mention.  Louisiana and parts of Florida, yes.

[westen44]

I would like to emphasize that this can be a fun quiz, but it's really basic.  I like it and have probably wasted time on it taking the different versions, though.  One thing I just tried out of curiosity is to put a secondary response on purpose.  In other words, I put drinking fountain instead of water fountain, tractor-trailer instead of 18 wheeler, access road instead of service road.  These secondary responses are words I might say sometimes, but not always.  So, they would be authentic.  However, when I did it this way, my results came out as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and New York.  I've never even been to New York, although many people do comment on the fact that the New Orleans accent sounds similar to the New York one. 

[Grog]

Kitty-Corner apparently located me correctly in the Minneapolis/St Paul area............ Pop put me fairly close.

[Dave W]

Kitty-Corner apparently located me correctly in the Minneapolis/St Paul area............ Pop put me fairly close.

I grew up in Houston, and we said kitty-corner. But pop is a northern thing. We called it soda water -- that may not still be true, but it was when I was growing up. Calling all soft drinks coke was a deep south thing.

This doesn't account for all sorts of regionalisms. Eau Claire is just 90 miles away, but people there have thrift sales. Not garage sales. Back when I first moved here, a lot of people called rubber bands "rubber binders" -- not so much anymore. Go to Milwaukee and you can drink out of a bubbler, not a water fountain. And so it goes.

[Highlander]

Mine was just how I speak and what I know from here, not from what I may have picked up, as in ignoring drive thru booze... that must be the NYLon thing...