Pop? Soda? Coke? Soft drink?
Wash or warsh? Creek or crick? Carmel or cara-mel?
Here’s a quiz about regional differences in speech and language. See if the quiz can predict where you’re from. Take the quiz here.
When I took it, the quiz correctly guessed at my peripatetic past. Born in upstate New York, moved overseas at a young age, college in the midwest and Texas, grad school in the northeast, married a die-hard Texan, moved to the Pacific Northwest… No wonder I’m so confused. Click “Comments” to post your results. Be sure to mention where you’re from.
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April 12, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Pam
Hi Susan,
Glad that this quiz got back on wordpress
I scored 70% Dixie - “That is a pretty strong Southern score!” so says the quiz……….interesting !
Born in Calif, as was mom, dad from Michigan, stepdad PA, grandmother from WY and CO.
Must be the reading I do !
Pam
April 12, 2008 at 1:35 pm
MargaretD
40% ‘Barely a Yankee’????? Check out question #15 - that really pin-pointed where I’m from - Southern Wisconsin. I lived here all my life.
April 13, 2008 at 7:24 am
katrinastonoff
48% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.
Born and raised in Phoenix. I live in the Pacific Northwest now (halfway between Seattle and Portland).
April 13, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Barb H
I cheated, because I live in Australia, but I thought it would be fun to try this anyhow, just to see the result. I showed up as 60% Dixie!!! But I had to cheat on that last question. I’ve never heard of any of those bugs.
April 14, 2008 at 10:19 am
april
41% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.
Hm… I wonder what the other 59% is. I was raised in Massachusetts and Connecticut, went to college in Pennsylvania and have lived in the DC Metro area for the last 10 years.
April 14, 2008 at 11:01 am
Michelle
I tested 60% Dixie.
I was born and raised around Lincoln, Nebraska. Husband is in the Air Force and we have lived 5 years in Texas, 2 1/2 in Oklahoma, back to Nebraska for 2 1/2, 1 in the Philippines, 2 in Colorado, 1 in Kansas, 3 in Montana, 2 in Florida, and the past 9 months in Ohio. I’ll admit I picked up the Y’all in Texas and still use it. I used to call the bubbly drink “pop”, but over our many moves that has become soda. The poor waiter in Oklahoma didn’t know what I meant when I ordered pop!
April 15, 2008 at 5:17 am
naomi
39% (Yankee). A definitive Yankee.
Well, this isn’t surprising, being I’m from Canada. It’s amazing where Canadian phrases match geographically in the USA. So, I guess I’m a Yankee when it comes to my speak patterns.
April 15, 2008 at 5:20 am
naomi
Okay, I had to do it again because I didn’t follow directions. *sigh*
45% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.
That’s better. I have some generic speech patterns. The quiz did show that in a very clear way. It also showed some patterns from Western USA, Midwest, and one or two of the Northeast. Interesting.
April 16, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Terri Farrell
49% Barely into the Yankee category.
I was born in New York City, New York.
My parents were born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
When I was threeyears old, my parents moved to California where
I was raised and I still reside. But, growing up, every chance I got
I always went back to spend the summer or the fall in New York
and New Jersey visiting my cousins and relatives.
As a New Yorker, I would go to the shore rather than the beach.
And I would be in the front or back lawn as opposed to the front
and back yard.
But what was funny to me was whenever I’d go back to NY, for a
visit I was always told what a lovely “Californian accent” I had.
I had no idea or clue that Californians even had an accent.