Thursday, September 21, 2006

What kind of American English do you speak?

I feel like I have standard American English. My dermatologist here in Japan told me he couldn't understand me sometimes because I spoke English with an accent. Liz, from Missouri, and I, from Tennessee, have different vocabulary and phrasing every once in a while. I say "mess-pot" and she says "mess-cat" (as in, "My roommate is such a mess-pot"). I call every dark carbonated drink "coke" and Liz calls it "pop". I say "y'all" and have taught Japanese to say "y'all". According to this quiz, I do mostly have standard American English with a dose of twang and a random touch of Upper Midwestern. Not really sure where the Upper Midwestern comes from. Is it bad if I say I'm relieved there's no Yankee in my accent? :)

Your Linguistic Profile:
60% General American English
25% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
0% Yankee

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

thats so interesting Katie! Hey you wanna know silly result I got?

45% General American English
40% Yankee (!!!!)
10% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% upper midwestern

.....definitely im not YANKEE!!
yaiks! haha.

Anonymous said...

Interesting quiz! Here's my profile Katie...looks like I lost my southern accent:
----
70% General Am. English
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
----
A couple of other thoughts about wording...I actually say "soda" rather than "pop" (cause I'm not a true midwesterner, haha) AND have you ever heard the weather term "wintry mix?" My friends from Colorado tell me there's no such term, but in MO and IN the weathermen use it all the time! How bout in TN?

Anonymous said...

Your Linguistic Profile:
50% General American English
30% Dixie
10% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

is this because i am an english teacher or because i took voice lessons?