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The Staff of SOH
What kind of American English do you speak? (Quiz)
- Thread starter Cloud9Gal
- Start date
Wing_Z
Charter Member 2011
I don't speak any kind of 'American' English....I speak the real thing!
Well I thought I did, too!
But I scored 35% General American English!
Maybe we've been infiltrated more than we know.
On this topic, I wondered if I could ask all those who rhyme "route" with "out", when they go from here to there...
How do you say "route" when talking about what the Germans did to the English football team the other day?
Henry
Retired SOH Administrator
the brits
H
Cazzie
SOH-CM-2024
40% General American English
30% Dixie
20% Yankee
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern
The questions are too generalized for various regions of the country, there is no way anyone could be 100% one or the other. I don't speak Yankee at all and anyone who knows me, knows dang well I don't. This is a fluke quiz, there is nothing substantial about it. It is a joke, trust me, my German is more phonetically correct than my English! :>)
Caz
30% Dixie
20% Yankee
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern
The questions are too generalized for various regions of the country, there is no way anyone could be 100% one or the other. I don't speak Yankee at all and anyone who knows me, knows dang well I don't. This is a fluke quiz, there is nothing substantial about it. It is a joke, trust me, my German is more phonetically correct than my English! :>)
Caz
Our high school foreign exchange student (senior year) was from England. First day of school he turned around to the girl sitting behind him and asked her for a rubber. I only wish I would have been there to see her reaction.
Moparmike
Administrator
The questions are rigged man! They need a whole lot more to get a true flavor of my speakage.
-A cruller? Nope...that's just a frilly doughnut to me. Up here we have longjohns, bismarcks, bear claws, apple fritters, and doughnuts.
-What day is wash day?
--Monday.
--You wash clothes?
--Every night after work.
-How do you greet your neighbor in the morning?
--Howdy?
--Good morning
--Hey ________! (insert your choice of expletive here)
--Wie gehts (Seriously...pass through south-central ND sometime and ask this one. More'n likely you'll hear "Alles gut" or "So gehts" in reply.)
-The evening meal is...
--supper
--dinner
-The noon meal is...
--lunch
--dinner
--a snack
-Do you know the difference between the cellar and the basement?
-What you call a u-turn while driving...
--a "you-ie"
--a ****hook
--"Oh _____, that was our turn-off!"
<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>I'm with you Mopar, some of them answers I ain't ever heard before,LOL.
You Speak General American English!
</TD></TR><TR><TD>50% General American English
30% Dixie
15% Yankee
5% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
You Speak General American English!
</TD></TR><TR><TD>50% General American English
30% Dixie
15% Yankee
5% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
tonybones2112
Charter Member
I'm Appalachian-American, and speak thusly.
Bones
Bones
HighGround22
Charter Member 2014
Well, "up here" in Canada, there's a similar dilemma. But as I understood it from my childhood, dinner was the big meal of the day. If you had it at noon (as we did in the Military) then dinner was at noon, so you had supper in the evening. And where most families have the big meal when everybody gets home from work/school, then it's lunch and dinner. But on a Saturday, it could be breakfast, lunch and supper, 'cause there's no "big meal".
So as retirees, it's not uncommon for my wife to announce that there'll be no dinner today, so I know it'll be a (smaller) lunch and supper.
In'erestin' . . . .
LOL...reminds me of a true story from my life....just after I emigrated I was living with my soon-to-be in-laws and asked the lady of the house (my future M-i-L) if she would like me to 'lay the table ready for dinner'. I couldn't understand why she gave me a very strange look until my fiancée pointed out that in Canada they 'set' the table not 'lay' it! :isadizzy:Our high school foreign exchange student (senior year) was from England. First day of school he turned around to the girl sitting behind him and asked her for a rubber. I only wish I would have been there to see her reaction.
Prior to me emigrating I used to call my fiancée on the phone twice a week and about 3 weeks before I was due to leave she asked what I had been doing and I replied 'humping boxes' (a perfectly normal British phrase).....after she had stopped spluttering I had to explain that I had been carrying heavy boxes downstairs for hours as the international removal firm had been that day to collect the goods I was having sent over by sea.
Well, I grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland/Delaware and was influenced by the local rural life and that of watermen. M R Ducks?
Then, in my Junior year of HS, moved to South Jersey ... humphfffff ... followed then by a move to the Appalacians at Coeburn VA. Then back to the Eastern Shore. Later moved to Texas with a bit of draw and Texan courtesy, then to New Mexico with influence by TexMex Spanglish. I am so screwed. LOL
Then, in my Junior year of HS, moved to South Jersey ... humphfffff ... followed then by a move to the Appalacians at Coeburn VA. Then back to the Eastern Shore. Later moved to Texas with a bit of draw and Texan courtesy, then to New Mexico with influence by TexMex Spanglish. I am so screwed. LOL
35% General American English
35% Yankee
25% <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace>Dixie</st1lace>
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o> </o>
<o></o>
Plus a decent dose of Kiwi mixed with some Canadian slang
Pete.
35% Yankee
25% <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
ffice:smarttags" /><st1lace>Dixie</st1lace>5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o> </o><o
></o> Plus a decent dose of Kiwi mixed with some Canadian slang
Pete.
<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>You Speak General American English!
</TD></TR><TR><TD>65% General American English
20% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
That's how citizens from the proud state ofArizona speak.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>65% General American English
20% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
That's how citizens from the proud state ofArizona speak.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
That test is so bogus. Must have been developed by some snooty fella from New England or somesuchplace. There were questions on there that I could not answer correctly because they didn't even look in the right dictionary to find the words that I use.
Question 2: What do you call the night before Halloween?
Beggar's Night
Question 9: What do you call that roundy round traffic thing (not exactly how the question was phrased, but close enough)?
I don't call it anything, as I have NEVER SEEN ONE OF THOSE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Heck, the place I grew up in had more roads that were dirt or gravel than were paved. And where I live now, there are more potholes than pavement. There ain't none of those roundy round traffic things.
Question 10: What do you call an easy class?
A Cake Walk or A Breezer
Question 11: If it's raining while the sun shines?
I don't call it a thing other than a prediction of rain the following day.
Question 16: How do I say the second letter in pajamas?
I don't say pajamas, I say jamas or jamies.
Now, if this test is going to be a real test of one's dialect, it needs to be made much more encompassing and indepth.
OBIO
Oh, the results that I got from taking the test and being forced to say things that I don't normally say:
50% General American English
20% Dixie
15% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
5% Midwestern
Question 2: What do you call the night before Halloween?
Beggar's Night
Question 9: What do you call that roundy round traffic thing (not exactly how the question was phrased, but close enough)?
I don't call it anything, as I have NEVER SEEN ONE OF THOSE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. Heck, the place I grew up in had more roads that were dirt or gravel than were paved. And where I live now, there are more potholes than pavement. There ain't none of those roundy round traffic things.
Question 10: What do you call an easy class?
A Cake Walk or A Breezer
Question 11: If it's raining while the sun shines?
I don't call it a thing other than a prediction of rain the following day.
Question 16: How do I say the second letter in pajamas?
I don't say pajamas, I say jamas or jamies.
Now, if this test is going to be a real test of one's dialect, it needs to be made much more encompassing and indepth.
OBIO
Oh, the results that I got from taking the test and being forced to say things that I don't normally say:
50% General American English
20% Dixie
15% Yankee
10% Upper Midwestern
5% Midwestern
mfitch
Charter Member 2015
The responses are much more interesting than the quiz. By nature these quizzes are simplistic, but the details coming out are fun to read.
I agree with the many comments about a need for more options. Route is pronounced both ways depending on the moment. I have never taken an easy class: if it is easy, work harder (disclaimer: I am a professional educator and student).
Not in the quiz but also ambiguous for me are the pronunciation of "cyclic" (cyc like sick or psych) and corollary (stress on first or second syllable). I had faculty from South Africa (trained in Birmingham, England), multi-citizenship Britain-Canada-USA, as well as US from all over.
The most amusing story was a lecture on public key cryptography by a Chinese professor trained in Canada. As is common with (some region?) of China, the 'l' is not pronounced and he would sometimes drop it when writing "public" as well.
I agree with the many comments about a need for more options. Route is pronounced both ways depending on the moment. I have never taken an easy class: if it is easy, work harder (disclaimer: I am a professional educator and student).
Not in the quiz but also ambiguous for me are the pronunciation of "cyclic" (cyc like sick or psych) and corollary (stress on first or second syllable). I had faculty from South Africa (trained in Birmingham, England), multi-citizenship Britain-Canada-USA, as well as US from all over.
The most amusing story was a lecture on public key cryptography by a Chinese professor trained in Canada. As is common with (some region?) of China, the 'l' is not pronounced and he would sometimes drop it when writing "public" as well.
lefty
SOH-CM-2023
LOL! I have to admit, I do love the British Accent
Well I just wonder what C9G means by that ? Hugh Grant (I'll bet
), or Sean Connery, or Ringo Starr ??We have just as many regional variations as you guys - when I come to the States I am accused of being Canadian !
Och aye the noo ? (Never heard anyone say that in my life.......)