American English Dialect Test

[Delthayre]

I came across this test (http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/) recently and thought that it would make for an interesting topic.

It (http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/)'s just a test, based upon a small collection of lexical items and five vague phonological questions, that intends to establish your dialect, or rather a sort of patchwark of percentages of various dialects. It's naturally unscientific, very broad, and linguistically dubious, but it's fun and good enough to be somewhat interesting.

My results from the American Dialect Test (http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/):
45% Yankee
40% General American English
15% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Those are slightly odd results given my background, given my midland origins I should be more General American than Yankee, but I'm crazy like that.

Additionally, I have two more questions of a more obscure and dull nature.

Firstly, which of the following is more natural to you?
1. "Stand in line."
2. "Stand on line."

(I say, "in line," but up here in New York I keep hearing, "on line," and think I'm going crazy."

Do any of the following sound natural or even understandable to you?
1. It's making down ('it's raining')
2. The milk is all ('we're out of milk)
3. It's fresh out (more or less 'it's cool out when it shouldn't be')
4. It's the early part of late afternoon ('around 4:00pm)
5. I'm ferhutzed and ferhuddled. ('confused, bewildered')

(I say all of these with varying degrees of frequency, I've picked up most of them from my father and his family, who are Pennsylvania German)

And for reference, I'm a twenty year old native speaker of English from southeastern Pennsylvania who is currently attending college in Albany, New York state (I'm not sure whether or not that counts as "upstate", I've gotten mixed signals).

[Speedy Boris]

Heh... fun test. Here's what I got:
Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English
10% Upper Midwestern
10% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Midwestern It makes sense that I have an Upper Midwestern accent, being that I'm from Wisconsin. ;)

[Karl Olson]

90% General American English
10% Yankee
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

As expected of someone who has spent most of his life in a place that is the closest to having American Broadcast Standard English as it's dialect (IE: the pacific northwest.)

[Rover_Wow]

65% General American English
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

And I drink from a bottle, and not a fountain.

[Shnay]

I think the time in NY has really gotten to you, Del, as I also grew up in south eastern PA and got these results:

65% General American English
30% Yankee
5% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Firstly, which of the following is more natural to you?
1. "Stand in line."
2. "Stand on line."I say "Stand in line." The sound of "Stand on line" irks me.

Do any of the following sound natural or even understandable to you?
1. It's making down ('it's raining')
2. The milk is all ('we're out of milk)
3. It's fresh out (more or less 'it's cool out when it shouldn't be')
4. It's the early part of late afternoon ('around 4:00pm)
5. I'm ferhutzed and ferhuddled. ('confused, bewildered')I have never heard of any of these expressions.

I would like to know if anyone says "The Devil is beating his wife" when it's raining while the sun is shining.

[HumanoidTyphoon]

75% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

This greatly amused me.
12. What do you call something that is diagonal from you?

Diagonal.


Additionally, I have two more questions of a more obscure and dull nature.

Firstly, which of the following is more natural to you?
1. "Stand in line."
2. "Stand on line."

Do any of the following sound natural or even understandable to you?
1. It's making down ('it's raining')
2. The milk is all ('we're out of milk)
3. It's fresh out (more or less 'it's cool out when it shouldn't be')
4. It's the early part of late afternoon ('around 4:00pm)
5. I'm ferhutzed and ferhuddled. ('confused, bewildered')
Stand in line because....you're in line.

Never heard any of them but I like number 4.

[Bubblegum Girl]

I'm

70% General American English
15% Dixie
15% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

[Zebi]

Keeping in mind that I'm Canadian, here are my results:

65% General American English
20% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

[Ben]

I'm more of a linguistic mutt that I thought I'd be. It's probably from going to college in Chicago and spending so much time online (not on line).

70% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

And yet this test (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/lgrob/southern_dialect_quiz.htm) insists that I'm more Dixie than Yank:

61% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

A result from another quiz (http://www.blogthings.com/genderbrainquiz/) on that page:

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

From now on I demand to be called Androgynousman.

[Maxie Zeus]

70% General American English
25% Dixie
5% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
0% Yankee

I'm from southern NM, so I'm not surprised.

"Stand in line."

Heard of none of them 'em except no. 3.

[Wounded_Dragon]

80% General American English
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
Err...kinda weird, I've lived most of my life in the midwest, and yet none of it shows up. Meanwhile, I've *never* lived in New England or down south, yet those do show up...

[Chris3123]

Interesting.

This is me:

70% General American English
20% Yankee
10% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

[Kury Wagner]

45% General American English
35% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern What the? How am I not at all midwestern? I'm from Wisconsin! Interesting quiz, though.

Edit: Your Brain is 33.33% Female, 66.67% Male. Well duh, I could've told ya that.

Edit 2: 43% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

[SSJPabs]

70% General American English
20% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

Yeah that's about right. Interestingly enoug I've lived my entire life in the Upper Midwest, but about the middle of Highschool I worked to clear my speech of particular Midwestern-isms, like "Pop" for soda. Death to the dixie rebels though. ;)

[Speedy Boris]

And yet this test insists that I'm more Dixie than Yank:

61% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score! For that particular test, I got "49% Yankee. Barely into the Yankee category." Hmm. A result from another quiz on that page:

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

From now on I demand to be called Androgynousman. I got the same tally.

P.S.: "Bubbler" is wrong. ;)

[Delthayre]

I think the time in NY has really gotten to you, Del, as I also grew up in south eastern PA and got these results:
Yeah, it's strange. I've asked a few of my Pennsylvanian friends to take the test and they've all come up in a range similar to yours.

Oh well, at least I haven't been picking up a Long Island accent, because that thing is incredibly annoying.

[Mr. Pedro]

Your Linguistic Profile:

40% Yankee
35% General American English
15% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

No real surprises here, but I have no idea where I picked up anything remotely Upper Midwestern.

As for the other test.......hmmm.......well,

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male.

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve.

[Czar Gato]

55% General American
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

What classifies as "Midwestern", anyway? It seems like no one has gotten any percentage for it.

[Elven Moon]

65% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
15% Yankee
5% Midwestern
0% Dixie

It makes sense, since I live in Michigan. I don't know what 'Yankee' is supposed to mean, though.

[rrarbecy]

50% General American English
35% Yankee
5% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

Cool.

[Tienshin]

50% General American English
25% Yankee
20% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

I can see the Dixie part because as a child I picked up a lot of speech patterns from relatives who grew up in the south. The upper midwestern makes sense since I was born and raised in Ohio. As for the General American English and Yankee portions, I have lived in Boston for almost 15 years now, but I tend to avoid the local venacular as much as humanly possible.

[randomguy]

Hmm...

60% General American
30% Dixie
10% Yankee

And zero percent on the others. Interesting. I live in the South, of course, but Texas dialect and Dixie dialect don't have as much resemblance to each other as you might think. Because of this, the 30% Dixie percentage really surprises me. I don't think of myself as having a very Southern accent, either...

I do say "ya'll" a lot though.

[kiddiesunshine]

55% General American English
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern

Interesting. I'm from Chicago and have lived in Illinois most of my life, with a few years in Hammond, Indiana. I live in Edwardsville now, which is southern Illinois. They say "soda" here though and since I've lived here for 4 years, so do I. But I answered "pop" in the quiz because it's always "pop" in my head and I want to retain that part of me.

[zmanjz]

I like this test more than most.

My Linguistic Profile: EastCoast Y'all

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

[zmanjz]

I like this test more than most.

My Linguistic Profile: EastCoast Y'all

60% General American English
30% Yankee
10% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
(And I really hate when people call "Soda" "Pop" it sounds like someone's from the 50's.)

[KuwabaraTheMan]

75% General American English15% Dixie10% Yankee0% Midwestern0% Upper MidwesternWell, I do technically live in the south, the 10% Yankee surprises me, though.

[Karl Olson]

I'm more of a linguistic mutt that I thought I'd be. It's probably from going to college in Chicago and spending so much time online (not on line).

70% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

My English is less Regionally Biased than Yours. ;)

And yet this test (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/lgrob/southern_dialect_quiz.htm) insists that I'm more Dixie than Yank:

61% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

I've gotten yankee or dixie depending on which I pick because I use a lot of those terms interchangably.


A result from another quiz (http://www.blogthings.com/genderbrainquiz/) on that page:

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

From now on I demand to be called Androgynousman.

No, I'll just call you Mana. (http://www.blue-period.fsnet.co.uk/graphics/glbible5/047.jpg) ;)

Meanwhile, I am a girl apparently: Your Brain is 66.67% Female, 33.33% Male.

...unless I flop the questions I felt could go either way, then I get this: Your Brain is 40.00% Female, 60.00% Male.

Basically, I defy catagorization.

[Delthayre]

Apparently my brain is 53.33% female and 47.67% male.

These results have been fairly interesting. Despite the test's limitations, it seems to peg people fairly well, I suppose there's a certain virtue in simplemindedness.

I can certainly now decide that my use of language is regionally anomalous. I've had a number of Pennsylvanian friends take it and comparing that against Shnay's and Zmanjz's results, it seems that 60% GA with around 30% Yankee or thereabouts is closer to the regional average.

I'm all so unsuprised that no one's found them selves at ease with the five Dutchy-isms I listed above. They're very particular, I only have them because my father's family is rural PA Germans from Schuylkill county and I've picked it up from them.

[Fatneck]

55% General American English
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern

I swear when I heard someone call pop "soda" for the first time I thought they were crazy.

And from the gender test...
Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male

I feel so handsomely pretty.

[SSJPabs]

Second Test
33.33% Female
66.67% Male

You have a total boy brain
Logical and detailed, you tend to look at the facts
And while your emotions do sway you sometimes...
You never like to get feelings too involved

That's about right.

Also, Del, the reason people say "on line" is because of the creeping Britishisms into American language. Papers like the NYT tend to say "qued up" (or how ever its spelled) instead of "lined up" and they say "went missing" instead of "gone missing." Some articles have been written about this in the LA Times, and I know for a fact, Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly has blogged a handful of posts about it.

So please, all of you, say "In Line" you know I do! Keep those Britishisms back in Britain where they belong.

[Rover_Wow]

My results:

Your Brain is 33.33% Female, 66.67% Male

You have a total boy brain
Logical and detailed, you tend to look at the facts
And while your emotions do sway you sometimes...
You never like to get feelings too involved

Well, it's consistent with my gender...

[James]

50% General American English
30% Yankee
20% Dixie
0% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

Pointless for a Brit really, as there were some terms in there where we just don't use... sneakers/tennis shoes are trainers.. shopping trolley not cart... we don't use the term "blow off" (but it's the nearest of the three..)

But anyhow.. this is how this Brit scored! :D

[Delthayre]

That's consistent with the results of a few other Brits (well, technically one is South African, but living in England) that I know and have had take the quiz.


Also, Del, the reason people say "on line" is because of the creeping Britishisms into American language. Papers like the NYT tend to say "qued up" (or how ever its spelled) instead of "lined up" and they say "went missing" instead of "gone missing." Some articles have been written about this in the LA Times, and I know for a fact, Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly has blogged a handful of posts about it.

So please, all of you, say "In Line" you know I do! Keep those Britishisms back in Britain where they belong. It's definitely a New York thing. I had never heard it up here and until I picked up on the fact that it was a regionalism I thought that I was going crazy. Of course I can't blame my decreasing ability to seperate my dreams from my memories on regional useage, so my descent into hell continues unabated.

There is an increase in British useage penetrating American speech. Phrases like, "send up," are slowly gaining equal currency and perhaps coming close to superceding more traditional American terms like, "parody." Next thing you know we'll be calling things, "naff," and talking about, "autumn leaves."

[Ben]

My English is less Regionally Biased than Yours. ;)

Oh yeah? Well my Japanese is... actually after a year in Kansai it's probably more regionally biased than yours too.

No, I'll just call you Mana. (http://www.blue-period.fsnet.co.uk/graphics/glbible5/047.jpg) ;)

I think I've just found my costume for Halloween this year. It would certainly scare all my Korean students.

Meanwhile, I am a girl apparently

Who didn't see that coming. ;)

[Wounded_Dragon]

Your Brain is 46.67% Female, 53.33% Male
Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve
Well, I think people who know me might dispute the level-headedness, but I do tend to wear my heart on my sleeve.

[Karl Olson]

Oh yeah? Well my Japanese is... actually after a year in Kansai it's probably more regionally biased than yours too.
My japanese consists of fragments picked up at random from various anime. You've got Japanese; I've got effectively nothing, so I concede on that point. I've just not had time to wedge in a Japanese course into my curriculum. I hope to get at it one day, but probably won't happen for a while.

So basically, you speak better Japanese than me... because you can actually speak Japanese.

I think I've just found my costume for Halloween this year. It would certainly scare all my Korean students.
That'd certainly be one for the TZ photo album. :anime:

Who didn't see that coming. ;)
Like, I said, it varies because I split 50/50 on a lot of those questions. I suppose this makes me either a.Mana (gender confused) b.Charlie Brown (wishywashy.) It does however put more weight behind the honorary fan girl status awarded to me by Rabi~en~Rose. :sweat:

[MahouShoujo13]

I got:

55% General American English
35% Yankee
10% Dixie
0% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

[Tenku]

Well, I must be the only one with this:



55% General American English
25% Dixie
20% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern



That "Ya'll" really does roll off my tongue. I used to be 'proper' but oh... 10 years living in the South really changed it (particularly living in Louisiana for 7ish years). I'm countrified! *goofy grin* :D



For the Gender test:

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male
Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

I'm not levelheaded. I panic at the slightest thing gone wrong.:sweat:

[Feslmogh]

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English30% Dixie20% Yankee0% Midwestern0% Upper Midwestern

Southen Dialog quiz...

81% (Dixie). Did you have any Confederate ancestors?

[SilverKnight]

Test 1:

60% General American English
20% Dixie
20% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Test 2:

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male
Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

So, yeah. Go me. :)

[PressureCooker]

65% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern


11. If it's raining while the sun is shining, you call it:

The Devil is Beating His Wife
A sunshower
You have no term for it

Um... The Devil is beating his wife? WTF? Never heard of that one before...:eek:

Other than that, seems about right. Born and raised in California, mother was from PA and father from CA.
Just not sure where the Dixie comes from tho...:shrug:

[Lucky Bob]

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English
30% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
0% Yankee

Quick note about the Devil beating his wife. In Dutch, the same event is called, "Kermis in de hel", which being interpreted is, "Carnival in Hell."

Another useless fact.

[Yash]

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English 20% Yankee 10% Dixie 5% Midwestern 5% Upper Midwestern

[Melon109]

I got:

70% General American English
15% Dixie
15% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Thought I could get higher in Dixie. I also say "stand in line" and do not say any of the others.

[purplehairedwonder]

I got:

70% General American English
10% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern

Which is sorta funny because I grew up in the South, so you would think I would talk more like a Southerner. But my parents are both from the North, so I guess that rubbed off.

[EightOh]

My Linguistic Profile:
65% General American English
20% Dixie
15% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

[Aquagirl15]

80% General American English
15% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Dixie
0% Midwestern

Weird, cause I live in Missouri. I'd think I'd get the most for Midwestern. :shrug: :confused: