DVDizzy Forum

I was just wondering...whenever I read posts, or course my mind is reading it in English as pronounced in southern New Jersey. According to new people in town and other people met outside of town, most people here apparently say words like "crayon", and "water" differently (sounds more like crown and woo-ter with the accent on the woo, and woo as in "wood" not WooHoo).

There are other, better examples, but my main question is, what is your accent? And please do not limit this to just the US. We do have members from around the world, so I was wondering, in comparison to the US English since most of the board members are from the US, what is your accent? British? Austrailian? Filipino? German?

Yankee Test:

After taking this awesome quiz (link below), I found out there are lots of different ways Americans speak English through accents on words and syllables, but also through just phrases and popular terms. For example:

Where I live, the sandwich you buy at Subway is usually called a hoagie.

Here's another:
What's the night before Halloween called?

* Beggar's night
* Devil's night
* Mischief night
* Cabbage night
* No special word

My answer will be "Mischief Night." I had never heard those others ones before in my life and my ignorant little mind thought everyone called it Mischief Night.

Here is the quiz for our American members. You'll be surprised of some of the other choices and just how different our speech can be.
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html
I'm only 20% Dixie!

Great idea for a thread, Kram!

I'm from a suburb of a small city in North Carolina... everyone around here tells me I sound extremely <i>non</i>-Southern, bordering on yankee. I get a mixed reaction from people in different areas... I've had some Northerners tell me they are surprised to learn I'm from the South, yet a lot of the feedback I get for my podcast is from people who comment on how very southern I sound, so I'm not sure. I definitely have far less of drawl than most of the people from around here and don't use as many of their phrases (it's not quite Blanche Deveraux around here, but it's pretty close to stereotypical southern dialect).

That's why I was surprised to get a score of "88% Dixie. Do you still use Confederate money?" on that test. Wow! I'll post my answers below, but for many of these questions it depends. For example, I tend to pronounce "route" as "root," but sometimes use "r<u>out</u>."

How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like the word ant

How do you pronounce caramel?
Two syllables ("car-ml")

How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek

How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Rhymes with job

How do you pronounce "route"?
Rhymes with root

Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
Yes (Well, there's a twinge of that 'kawt' in it, but not really)

How do you address a group of people?
Y'all (most common, but this one really varies)

What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Yard sale (Garage sale was also an option, but around here at least, that is strictly for indoor sales only)

What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Sub (the only one of the available options that would ever, ever be used here... no one would know what any of those others are)

What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
Crawdad

What do you call gym shoes?
Tennis shoes (I remember when I was a kid, I was asked about my "sneakers" and I had no idea what the person was talking about)

What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
Icing

What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Access road

What do you put groceries in?
Bag

Where might you get water in a public building?
Water fountain

What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
Soft Drink

What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
Rolling

What's the night before Halloween called?
No special word (I never knew anyone had a word for it)

What's a drive through liquor store called?
I don't go to such (though it would always be referred to as the ABC Store, regardless of whether it was actually the ABC Store)

What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
Doodle bug

...Looking forward to seeing others' answers!

-Aaron

Interesting quiz, Kram. I would say that I was shocked by my results, but I'm aware of my strong southern accent. I scored: 100% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?!

I figure my pronouncing Aunt like ain't, my pronouncing caught like kawt, and my calling that long sandwich a Po Boy are what gave me the 100% Dixie score. I also catch myself saying "Y'all" a lot, it's a hard habit to break.

34% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

46% Dixie.

I'm afraid that test doesn't work for me, a lot of my answers aren't listed. Probably due to being a New Zealander, no option for Gidday or whatever.

But I have a Kiwi accent, which tends to be a lot faster than what most people are use to. Apparently it can also be mistaken for an Australian accent, don't know why though.

Edit: Though with my own accent, a lot of people say I don't sound like a NZer, but they have no idea where it could come from. Dreamland maybe? But according to most people it does sound more kiwi than anything else.

Despite the obvious Aussie accent, I took the test and came up with:

61% Dixie. Just under the Mason-Dixon Line

Actually, I'm way, way, way under Mason-Dixon line. I'm in the southern hemisphere in fact.

Hogi Bear wrote:But I have a Kiwi accent, which tends to be a lot faster than what most people are use to. Apparently it can also be mistaken for an Australian accent, don't know why though.

It's funny. People I know from overseas say they can't tell the difference as much, but Australians and Kiwis will know each other apart after two words. The vowel sounds are a little different. It is the same with Americans and Canadians, I imagine.

Nice thread, this...mate!

74% Dixie. Your neck must be a little pink!

How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like aint

How do you pronounce caramel?
Three syllables ("car-a-mel")

How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek

How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Rhymes with job

How do you pronounce "route"?
Rhymes with root

Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
Yes (and caught = kawt) but i could only choose one so it was caught = kawt

How do you address a group of people?
Y'all

What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Garage sale or yard sale i chose garage sale

What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Sub

What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
Crawdad

What do you call gym shoes?
Tennis shoes or tenna shoes i hope i spelled that right lol

What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
frosting

What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Access road

What do you put groceries in?
Bag

Where might you get water in a public building?
Water fountain

What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
coke

What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
tping

What's the night before Halloween called?
i just call it halloween eve

What's a drive through liquor store called?
I don't go to such

What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
roly poly

I'm from the Midwest - more specifically, Milwaukee Wisconsin.

How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like the word ant

How do you pronounce caramel?
Two syllables ("car-mel")

How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek

How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Like the word Jam

How do you pronounce "route"?
Rhymes with root

Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
No

How do you address a group of people?
You All or All of You

What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Garage Sale

What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Sub

What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
I have no idea....

What do you call gym shoes?
Tennis shoes

What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
Frosting

What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Frontage road

What do you put groceries in?
Paper or Plastic Bag

Where might you get water in a public building?
Bubbler

What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
Soda

What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
Toilet-Papering

What's the night before Halloween called?
Hallow's Eve

What's a drive through liquor store called?
There's No Such Thing

What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
Pill Bug


Wow - My answers were different for a lot of these things!

Interesting this. Being an aussie theres plenty on there that isn't relevant to me. One thing I will say tho, when I was in the US last year, I found that some people had a really hard time understanding some of the words that I was saying. Things as simple as words like:

water - (pronounced like war-tah) to aussies
coke - (pronounced like c-oh-k) to aussies (dunno how that one wasnt understood)

Ah well would have to go again to see if it was just me...

This quiz was great! I'm 78% Dixie, and I should hope so since I'm from Louisiana. I don't really have that much of an accent though(at least to me). Whatever accent I do have only shows on certain words, but it can be heavy after being around someone with a heavy accent or even hearing someone on TV with one.

46% Dixie, barely in Yankeedom.

I live in Chicago, and I say "soda" or refer to a specific brand name instead of saying "pop" like everyone else does. I dunno where I got it from; I was born and raised here...

36% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

I had trouble figuring out the most accurate way to answer them (especially since some of the terms just don't ever come up for me). But I would personally say my dialogue is as non-regional-specific as anyone's in this country.

21% Dixie. You are a Yankee Doodle Dandy

^ Great my dream came true

This is what you get if you pick all of:

a=19% Dixie. Wow! You are a Duke of Yankeedom!

b=53% Dixie. Barely in Dixie

c=44% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

d=57% Dixie. Barely in Dixie


Favorite:
Q. What is spread onto the tops of cakes?
A. Don't know
Result: Do you eat your cake bare?

This is so funny!

Ok- here were my results...( i think i did this once on myspace before)



How do you pronounce Aunt?
Like the word want

How do you pronounce caramel?
Three syllables ("car-a-mel")

How do you pronounce creek?
Rhymes with meek

How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?
Rhymes with jam

How do you pronounce "route"?
Rhymes with root

Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same way?
Yes

How do you address a group of people?
You all (HEY YOU GUUUUUUYS!)

What kind of sale is it on the front lawn?
Garage Sale (or yard sale- i use both...)

What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings?
Grinder

What's the tiny lobster that crawls around in creek bottoms?
Crayfish

What do you call gym shoes?
Sneakers

What's that road along an Interstate highway?
Service Road

What do you put groceries in?
Bag

What is that bubbly carbonated drink called?
Soda (Pop's your father!)

What's it called when you throw toilet paper over a house?
TP'ing

What's the night before Halloween called?
Cabbage Night (Though- in MA we used to call is Devils Night- but Cabbage is more common in my dialect now)

What's a drive through liquor store called?
I don't go to such (WHAAA??)

What's that bug that rolls into a ball when you touch it?
Pillbug

MY RESULTS:
6% Dixie. You are as Yankee as they get!!
Nice...w00t! w00t! Boston represent, baby!

I am 25% dixie. I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy. But the New York Yankees SUCK! GO BOSOX!!!! [/masshole]



-JM

Just Myself wrote:I am 25% dixie. I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy. But the New York Yankees SUCK! GO BOSOX!!!! [/masshole]



-JM

IM WITH U ON THAT!!!

BOO SPANKEES!
Keep your SOX on!!!

Im not american, but I was bored and did the test anyway... looks like I am "29% Dixie. You are a Yankee Doodle Dandy"...

43% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

36% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

Since most of my family's from New York, it makes sense that the way I speak is very "Yankified." I think if I had taken this quiz a few years ago, my Dixie score would've been even lower than that. My redneck friends' terms have been rubbing off on me lately.