"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

[r redden]

Barrett cool quiz. The red area covered me but the three suggested cities put me much deeper in the south than I'm from.

I have also enjoyed the "Are scales a misnomer" thread.

 

[Henry Beige]

"Frontage road" identifies me as being from Madison or the Twin Cities. I live near Saint Paul.

 

[r8shell]

I'll also say that some of the multiple choice answers are quite funny, particularly if you get the question "What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?"

I'm going to keep taking the quiz until I get that one. I want to know what the possibilities are. I once had a roommate from Dallas who said, "The devil is beating his wife." and I had no idea what she was talking about.

 

[dannyp]

Neat quiz. Thanks for the link, Barrett. It was spot on for me also. One of the questions had a tiny hot spot around the St Louis area and another was only Missouri.

This could lead to a number of discussions, like: How would the words "caught" and "cot" possibly sound different?

This made me chuckle, Rachel. It was the question that was the most distinctive for my 3 listed cities because I answered different.

 

[Wurrwulf]

When I first took this, I was expecting a large patch of red across the South. We're weird down here. I would be lost anywhere else, I guess. I'd really like to go to Maine, though, just to see how that would turn out!

 

[Peregrin]

Very cool quiz. I took it twice and got a few different questions each time, probably based on me answering questions differently. I've lived in different parts of the country in my 6 plus decades and picked up phrases or words from different places. I found it interesting that just changing one answer moved two of my reported locations. I lived in Boston for a number of years and rotary (which I used the first time taking the quiz) was the term used for a traffic circle , round about etc. When I changed my response to traffic circle, which is what we use in Syracuse, it altered two of the resultant locations from cities in Massachusetts and New Jersey to Rochester and Buffalo, NY. My wife and both sons ended with solid Central/Western NY locations.

I guess my early years in Western PA and SE Ohio have been purged from my word usage. According to my wife, who was an English teacher, soft drinks are called soda east of Syracuse, NY and pop to the west of here. I remember time spent in Pittsburgh (both of my parents families were from Pittsburgh) where it was pop. I still smile when visiting my relatives with their younz and yinz.

When I was 11 we moved from Ohio to Central NY. We would spend a few weeks in Pittsburgh every summer and my NY friends would swear I'd come back home with an accent, after just two or three weeks away.

Fun to take a walk down memory lane prompted by that quiz. Thanks for posting it!

 

[waynorth]

Amazing quiz!! I was born and grew up in Buffalo, but have lived in West Coast Canada for nearly 50 years. The quiz put me right back in Buffalo!!!

 

[5K Qs]

The semantics discussion in the scales/covers/handles/etc. thread (which I've enjoyed following) reminded me of this regional dialect quiz I came across a while back, and I thought some of y'all might enjoy it.

Here's the link to the quiz.
...
I'll also say that some of the multiple choice answers are quite funny, particularly if you get the question "What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?"

Thanks for the link, Barrett. I remember this quiz "going viral" about 4 years ago (did we say things went viral in 2013?), but I'm amazed that the scales/cover thread triggered the connection, and maybe even more amazed that you could find a link to it!

As so many have reported, the quiz has always been right on the money for me, even when I respond differently to questions for which I think there are two accurate responses; Grand Rapids MI, in or near which I've lived for 55 of my 65 years, always comes up as one of my cities (as does Detroit, but that's probably because of devil's night for Halloween Eve, and stories about the fires in Detroit on that night have always been big across all of Michigan). I'm surprised that the distinctive answer for Grand Rapids comes out to be "drinking fountain" or "pop".

Very cool quiz! It was surprisingly accurate, putting me in Texas (with a lot of red in Pennsylvania - where my family is from)
This could lead to a number of discussions, like: How would the words "caught" and "cot" possibly sound different?

...
This made me chuckle, Rachel. It was the question that was the most distinctive for my 3 listed cities because I answered different.

Gotta agree with dannyp here, r8shell. I was trying to figure out what pronunciation people used if "caught" and "cot" sound alike! I've never noticed anything other than "caught" = KAWT and "cot" = KAHT.

When I first took this, I was expecting a large patch of red across the South. We're weird down here. I would be lost anywhere else, I guess. I'd really like to go to Maine, though, just to see how that would turn out!...

Apparently I should agree with your assessment of your uniqueness, Shawn! My results show strong affinity for Michigan, and quite strong similarity to regions bordering the Great Lakes (and to Iowa??). My three bluest regions appeared to be around Boston, Philadelphia/NJ, and NOLA!!

...
When I was 11 we moved from Ohio to Central NY. We would spend a few weeks in Pittsburgh every summer and my NY friends would swear I'd come back home with an accent, after just two or three weeks away.
...

This is an issue that fascinates me, Gary. I wonder if picking up an accent is related to personality traits. One of my younger brothers, who has lived in El Paso TX, Riudoso and Albuquerque NM ever since he finished vet school about 40 years ago, quickly picked up a "Southwestern" accent soon after moving there. I lived in central Indiana for 10 years, and although it's still the Midwest, I thought they "talked funny" there; my accent was unaffected by my time living among the Hoosiers. My brother is a "people person" and has always cared what others thought of him; I'm much less outgoing, and have never really been very concerned about what other folks thought about me. Coincidence, or Grand Design???

- GT

 

[Bartleby]

When I was 11 we moved from Ohio to Central NY. We would spend a few weeks in Pittsburgh every summer and my NY friends would swear I'd come back home with an accent, after just two or three weeks away.

When I moved to Texas from NY, everyone would pick up on me being a yankee. When I would go back to NY they would call me "Tex" for sounding "southern." Now, having lived in Texas for many years, a lot of folks on both ends say they think I sound like I am from New Orleans. I take all three as a compliment.

 

[mrknife]

interestingly, my patients think I have a southern accent even though I am from brooklyn

 

[btb01]

Glad you all enjoyed the quiz! (I'm enjoying the commentary! )

It's interesting how well it can pinpoint where you're from (and not necessarily where you live now). My wife was born in central Illinois and lived there until she was around 13 years old, at which point her family moved to Arkansas (we met in English class that year, and started dating the following year.) Despite having lived in Arkansas for longer than she lived in Illinois (and now living in Arizona), her map puts her right back in Illinois.

I'm going to keep taking the quiz until I get that one. I want to know what the possibilities are. I once had a roommate from Dallas who said, "The devil is beating his wife." and I had no idea what she was talking about.

There are definitely some hilarious (and head-scratching) answers for that one.

 

[r8shell]

Kids learn languages faster, and I think a lot of it depends on how old you are when you move to a new region. I was 12 when we moved to Texas, and my mother would bring me with her to translate because she couldn't understand the guy at the hardware store. He sounded like Boomhower from King of the Hill, but I could understand him.

 

[knarfeng]

Reasonably accurate for me. Says the three cities with the most similar dialect are Fresno (darkest), Bakersfield, and Glendale (still pretty dark) in that order for darkness of red. I grew up within spitting distance of Glendale, and lived in that part of California for about 50 years. So that's pretty accurate.

 

[Jack Black]

Great stuff Barrett, I enjoyed that!

 

[Jack Black]

I'm going to keep taking the quiz until I get that one. I want to know what the possibilities are. I once had a roommate from Dallas who said, "The devil is beating his wife." and I had no idea what she was talking about.

I got that one! Never heard any of those phrases before

 

[Peregrin]

This is an issue that fascinates me, Gary. I wonder if picking up an accent is related to personality traits. One of my younger brothers, who has lived in El Paso TX, Riudoso and Albuquerque NM ever since he finished vet school about 40 years ago, quickly picked up a "Southwestern" accent soon after moving there. I lived in central Indiana for 10 years, and although it's still the Midwest, I thought they "talked funny" there; my accent was unaffected by my time living among the Hoosiers. My brother is a "people person" and has always cared what others thought of him; I'm much less outgoing, and have never really been very concerned about what other folks thought about me. Coincidence, or Grand Design???

I don't think that explains it in my particular case. I've always been more of a listener than a talker.
I was exposed to the Pittsburgh accent and dialect basically from birth, and it was reinforced by my parents and through many visits to Pittsburgh as I grew up.

 

[WhittlinAway]

I'm enjoying this discussion of dialect. Words are fascinating!

My map shows rather broad influences:

I attribute this in part to the fact that I grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, have parents who were born in Missouri—which my dad pronounces with the last syllable sounding like uh instead of ee; I usually do, too, depending on audience—went to college in Boston and have lived in California ever since. I've always enjoyed words and phrases and tend to pick up interesting ones from my friends and coworkers who come from all over.

My favorite from the quiz is what you call a sweetened carbonated beverage. I call it soda now, but, growing up, it was "coke". As in: "would you like a coke?" "yes, please, I'll have a Dr. Pepper."

 

[JB in SC]

Great stuff Barrett, I enjoyed that!

Jack, you're from the South after all

 

[btb01]

Great stuff Barrett, I enjoyed that!

Thanks for taking the quiz and posting your results, Jack! I was curious to see what kind of results someone from the UK would get. How many times did you have to answer "other"?

My favorite from the quiz is what you call a sweetened carbonated beverage. I call it soda now, but, growing up, it was "coke". As in: "would you like a coke?" "yes, please, I'll have a Dr. Pepper."

It's all "coke" to me, Greg!

Today we celebrated Eleanor's first birthday by going to our favorite local brewery/restaurant for "Christmas in July." Here she is with Santa Claus!

 

[Jack Black]

Jack, you're from the South after all

Thanks for taking the quiz and posting your results, Jack! I was curious to see what kind of results someone from the UK would get. How many times did you have to answer "other"?

Today we celebrated Eleanor's first birthday by going to our favorite local brewery/restaurant for "Christmas in July." Here she is with Santa Claus!

A pleasure my friend I was very surprised that I only had to answer 'other' once I think, and with the 'sunshine and showers' thing, the option was something like'We don't have a word for that' I might do it again to see if it turns out different

Looks like a fantastic first birthday Barrett, Happy Birthday to Eleanor