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Thread: Take the accent quiz!

  1. #1
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Default Take the accent quiz!

    This is really very interesting...

    What part of and where in the U.S. is your accent from?

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/amer...cent-quiz.html

    It correctly tagged me as being from "the Midlands" (Midwest).

  2. #2
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    It thinks I am from the North East and it is correct. Odd that vowel differentiation should distinguished a New Yorker/North East accent as the region tends to get mocked for its accents and yet the vowel differentiation is actually proper.

    This is the quote from the results:
    Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
    So they were close, though I don't have much of a NYC/ North Jersey sound. Most of the questions concerned vowel differentiation and my responses match the dictionary pretty well. I think their were only 2 questions that were not vowel differentiation so I am guessing a far longer and far more accurate test is probably out there.

    Also I have taken this before or something very close. My wife had stumbled over it.

  3. #3
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Tried it, even though I'm Canadian, and it gave me the same answer as EH, which makes sense -- he's really not that far away, geographically or culturally.

  4. #4
    Oliphaunt
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    Gave me Midland too. I guess the years of living in big cities has drained the WI/MI out of my accent.

  5. #5
    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
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    Oh, this got me all kinds of wrong! It says I have a Midlands accent, and it's less Southern than anything.
    So, I'll whisper in the dark, hoping you'll hear me.

  6. #6
    Wanna cuddle? RabbitMage's avatar
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    According to this I also have a Midland accent. I debate the accuracy. I think I sound pretty Californian with an occasional twang of Arkansas.

  7. #7
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Mine is "Inland North," which is pretty much dead on. I have a very typical Chicago accent, though not QUITE as bad the Superfans from SNL:


  8. #8
    Oliphaunt The Original An Gadaí's avatar
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    "Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak."

  9. #9
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Midland. Apparently, the 5+ years in Texas and 10+ in Utah are dragging my accent off the Eastern Seaboard, kicking and screaming.

    (Before living in Houston, I would never have believed that anyone pronounced "bag" in a way that rhymed with "vague," but it's a very typical Southern black thing.)
    "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."

    find me at Goodreads

  10. #10
    Elephant artifex's avatar
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    Non-accented Midland. Fine by me; most any accent that Utahns peg as "not from here" (I get asked fairly often where I'm from, though I am more or less a native) would be.

  11. #11
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp View post
    Midland. Apparently, the 5+ years in Texas and 10+ in Utah are dragging my accent off the Eastern Seaboard, kicking and screaming.

    (Before living in Houston, I would never have believed that anyone pronounced "bag" in a way that rhymed with "vague," but it's a very typical Southern black thing.)
    It's also a very typical white Wisconsinite thing!

  12. #12
    Porosity Caster parzival's avatar
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    Gave me a 'Midland' (I'm in the California Midland area). I always liked this map, even if it appears more precisely drawn than it should be, as the location data points are actual samples of speech you can compare.

  13. #13
    For whom nothing is written. Oliveloaf's avatar
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    Inland North.

    Okay.
    "I won't kill for money, and I won't marry for it. Other than that, I'm open to just about anything."

    -Jim Rockford

  14. #14
    Porosity Caster parzival's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by RabbitMage View post
    According to this I also have a Midland accent. I debate the accuracy. I think I sound pretty Californian with an occasional twang of Arkansas.
    A section of California is considered to be "Midland" (See the map I posted previous.) I think the accent is similar enough in most respects. Although there is definitely a dialect variation — take a look at the Harvard Dialect Survey for extensive results and you can see that some questions reveal the "actual" midland.
    Last edited by parzival; 01 Mar 2012 at 03:17 PM.

  15. #15
    Prehistoric Bitchslapper Sarahfeena's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Oliveloaf View post
    Inland North.

    Okay.
    I would say you and I have pretty much the same accent. You say "salsa" weirdly, but I guess that's a problem with your Spanish accent, not your English accent!

  16. #16
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Apparently I have an inland north accent. Whatever that is...

  17. #17
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Inland north = where most of the Americans who immigrated from your country ended up.
    "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."

    find me at Goodreads

  18. #18
    Wanna cuddle? RabbitMage's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by parzival View post
    Quote Originally posted by RabbitMage View post
    According to this I also have a Midland accent. I debate the accuracy. I think I sound pretty Californian with an occasional twang of Arkansas.
    A section of California is considered to be "Midland" (See the map I posted previous.) I think the accent is similar enough in most respects. Although there is definitely a dialect variation — take a look at the Harvard Dialect Survey for extensive results and you can see that some questions reveal the "actual" midland.
    So if I'm reading that map correctly, San Joaquin Valley=Midlands?

    Yeah, that sounds about right.

  19. #19
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp View post
    Inland north = where most of the Americans who immigrated from your country ended up.
    Is this true?!

  20. #20
    my god, he's full of stars... OneCentStamp's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by spitz View post
    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp View post
    Inland north = where most of the Americans who immigrated from your country ended up.
    Is this true?!
    Yep. Wisconsin, Michigan, and the rest of the northern Midwest were big hotbeds of German immigration.
    "You laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at you because I'm on nitrous."

    find me at Goodreads

  21. #21
    Member Elendil's Heir's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by OneCentStamp View post
    Yep. Wisconsin, Michigan, and the rest of the northern Midwest were big hotbeds of German immigration.
    Heavy concentrations in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, too.

  22. #22
    Elephant artifex's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Heavy concentrations in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, too.
    And quite a few in Texas, but apparently the Texas accent wins.

  23. #23
    For whom nothing is written. Oliveloaf's avatar
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    Mine came up Shikaguh
    "I won't kill for money, and I won't marry for it. Other than that, I'm open to just about anything."

    -Jim Rockford

  24. #24
    The Queen Zuul's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by RabbitMage View post
    Quote Originally posted by parzival View post
    Quote Originally posted by RabbitMage View post
    According to this I also have a Midland accent. I debate the accuracy. I think I sound pretty Californian with an occasional twang of Arkansas.
    A section of California is considered to be "Midland" (See the map I posted previous.) I think the accent is similar enough in most respects. Although there is definitely a dialect variation — take a look at the Harvard Dialect Survey for extensive results and you can see that some questions reveal the "actual" midland.
    So if I'm reading that map correctly, San Joaquin Valley=Midlands?

    Yeah, that sounds about right.
    I got the Midland accent as well and I never noticed any distinct differences between how I speak and how you or yours speak. A certain friend of yours who grew up not far from me had the same accent as well.

    However, up in the northwoods I'm told I sound "angry" and "southern."
    So now they are just dirt-covered English people in fur pelts with credit cards.

  25. #25
    A Groupie Marsilia's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by Zuul View post
    However, up in the northwoods I'm told I sound "angry" and "southern."
    Yup! I remember being told how much like your sister I sounded, to the point that they thought I must be the other daughter that was moving up there.
    So, I'll whisper in the dark, hoping you'll hear me.

  26. #26
    Aged Turtle Wizard Clothahump's avatar
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    It correctly identified me as being from the South.
    Political correctness will be the death of our country.

  27. #27
    Administrator CatInASuit's avatar
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    Tried for a laugh: Apparently I'm from the Northeast. Then again, it is close to the UK as you get.
    In the land of the blind, the one-arm man is king.

  28. #28
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by CatInASuit View post
    Tried for a laugh: Apparently I'm from the Northeast. Then again, it is close to the UK as you get.
    Yeah, the Thurston Howell "Hahvahd" type accent is, while not British, within throwing distance of a BBC newsreader accent.

  29. #29
    Stegodon kk fusion's avatar
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    Like apparently the other L2 speakers here I got "Inland North". Perhaps that's what you hear on TV?

  30. #30
    Mi parolas esperanton malbone Trojan Man's avatar
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    What's L2?

  31. #31
    Oliphaunt Rube E. Tewesday's avatar
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    Quote Originally posted by spitz View post
    What's L2?
    Second language. I suspect kk fusion is right, they learn to talk like the man on the six o'clock news.

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