What type of american english do you speak?

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The discussion revolves around participants sharing their results from an American English dialect test, revealing a variety of linguistic backgrounds. Many users report high percentages of General American English, with some expressing surprise at their results, particularly those from regions like the Midwest or the South. There are humorous exchanges about regional dialects, such as the pronunciation of certain words and phrases unique to specific areas. Participants also discuss cultural references, like the saying "the devil is beating his wife," and how such expressions vary across regions. The conversation highlights the complexities of American English and the influence of personal history on dialect perception, with some users noting their experiences living in different states and how it affected their linguistic identity. Overall, the thread showcases a light-hearted exploration of language and regional differences in the U.S.
  • #31
Ivan Seeking said:
Since nearly everyone on Network TV talked just like me, it was implicit in my thinking that I spoke correctly and everyone else in the country had an accent. It only hit me when one day someone commented on my accent...what...MY accent? Hmmmmm. :eek: Never thought about that way before. I was floored! Of course I immediately reailized my naivety and had a good laugh about it.

The exact same thing happened to me when I was living in New Jersey. I'm thinking to myself "I have an accent? You're the one that talks like some Mafioso wannabe straight out of the Sopranos."
 
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  • #32
65% General American English
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Yankee

I can understand the 15% Upper Midwestern comes from (I was born in Northern Minnesota), don't know about the 10% Dixie however.
 
  • #33
55% General American English
20% Yankee
15% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern

I've lived in Houston, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia, Chicago, Illinois, Saratoga Springs, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Kansas City, Missouri & Washington, DC. I guess I've picked up bits and pieces. :biggrin:
 
  • #34
Your Linguistic Profile:
70% General American English
15% Yankee
10% Dixie
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern
 
  • #35
juvenal said:
The Bergen/Passaic County area in northern NJ. "Guido" central.
I'll have to ask my friends who went to Bergen Catholic. One of them grew up in Bergen County, the other is from NY, but still went to Bergen Catholic. As far as I know, they both still call it mischief night, but maybe they adapted to the rest of us later in life.

I remember being surprised it was called anything else when I moved to MI. They call it Devil's Night there, and then turn into little arsonists! It shocked me to no end that they not only had a nastier name for it, but took it to such an extreme...I thought egging a house was bad enough, but to set fire to things should land the little cretins in jail!

hypnagogue said:
And tell me, when it's raining while the sun is shining, who in the world says "the devil is beating his wife"!?
I was wondering the same thing. With some of those questions, I've heard people use the other terms, just never adopted it myself, but that one just sounded too bizarre to be true! It just doesn't make any kind of sense at all.
 
  • #36
Moonbear said:
hypnagogue said:
And tell me, when it's raining while the sun is shining, who in the world says "the devil is beating his wife"!?
I was wondering the same thing. With some of those questions, I've heard people use the other terms, just never adopted it myself, but that one just sounded too bizarre to be true! It just doesn't make any kind of sense at all.
That's a very well known saying in the south.
 
  • #37
Evo said:
That's a very well known saying in the south.

Come to think of it, I guess it does make some sense. After all, whenever I see a duck-billed platypus, I immediately think to myself "The devil is committing insurance fraud."
 
  • #38
85% General American English
10% Yankee
5% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

Why isn't there any "Californian"

"How do you pronounce 'Hello'"

1) Hello
2) *quick head bob upwards*

What are males?

1) Sir
2) Mr.
3) Dude
 
  • #39
Maybe it's from a twisted It's a Wonderful Life adaptation?

"Look Daddy. Teacher says every time it rains while the sun is shining, the devil beats his wife."

eh OK, I'll stop. For now.
 
  • #40
80% General American English
5% Dixie
5% Midwestern
5% Upper Midwestern
5% Yankee
 
  • #41
hypnagogue said:
Come to think of it, I guess it does make some sense. After all, whenever I see a duck-billed platypus, I immediately think to myself "The devil is committing insurance fraud."
That's so strange. I only think of Satanic insurance fraud in conjunction with warthogs.
 
  • #42
It's an old New Orleans superstition "When there is sunshine and rain together, a colored nurse will tell the children, "Gadé! djabe apé batte so femme." (Look! the devil's beating his wife!)"

http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/hearn/nos.htm

NEW ORLEANS SUPERSTITIONS
by Lafcadio Hearn
from An American miscellany, vol. II, (1924)
originally published in Harper's weekly, December 25th, 1886

hypnagogue said:
After all, whenever I see a duck-billed platypus, I immediately think to myself "The devil is committing insurance fraud."
:smile: I think you just started a new saying!
 
  • #43
Evo said:
"Gadé! djabe apé batte so femme."
"Gadé!" must be "Regardez!" and "batte so femme" must be "bat sa femme", but "djabe apé" must be some character from Vodun, not exactly "the devil".
 
  • #44
zoobyshoe said:
"Gadé!" must be "Regardez!" and "batte so femme" must be "bat sa femme", but "djabe apé" must be some character from Vodun, not exactly "the devil".
It doesn't translate literally, I'm wondering if it's the cajun bastardization, kind of bad slang French? Remember these aren't French speaking, they're slaves in Louisiana. Some of the cajun is undecipherable.
 
  • #45
zoobyshoe said:
"Gadé!" must be "Regardez!" and "batte so femme" must be "bat sa femme", but "djabe apé" must be some character from Vodun, not exactly "the devil".

"djabe" would "diable". Djabe is the cajun pronunciation. It is more of an old french than modern french.
 
  • #46
"Gadé! djabe apé batte so femme." Is more of a way the cajun speak but it can "translated" to international french into "Regardez! Le diable bat sa femme"
 
  • #47
iansmith said:
"djabe" would "diable". Djabe is the cajun pronunciation. It is more of an old french than modern french.
Wow, thanks Ian!
 
  • #48
60% General American English
20% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
5% Midwestern
5% Yankee

[edit] That makes almost no sense... I have lived in California for a total of 17 years, Minnesota and South Dakota about 5 years each... What the heck is Dixie?
 
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  • #49
iansmith said:
"Gadé! djabe apé batte so femme." Is more of a way the cajun speak but it can "translated" to international french into "Regardez! Le diable bat sa femme"
Yep, you're right that "djabe" must be diable. But this isn't Cajun, it's Creole. The "apé" is what's puzzling me. It might be "apre" (with a circonflex over the a) which means "severely, harshly".
 
  • #50
30% Dixie. Surprised it wasn't higher, being born and raised (not reared, notice) Alabamian. This was something they constantly tried to correct us on in grammar school: "You RAISE corn, but you REAR children."
 
  • #51
80% General American English
10% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

I guess. The insurance fraud one is good. Don't see many platypuses these days though...
 
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  • #52
I could'a swere that HRW was dixie!
 
  • #53
70% General American English
20% Dixie
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
I would have to say this test is surprisingly accurate... for me.
 
  • #54
yomamma said:
I could'a swere that HRW was dixie!
No, no - that's Pixie. :biggrin:
 
  • #55
I could make a comment, but it would cost me more chocolates
 
  • #56
55% General American English
25% Yankee
10% Dixie
10% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

What's Dixie?
 
  • #58
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #59
50% General American English
25% Dixie
20% Yankee
5% Upper Midwestern
0% Midwestern

I don't think this says much, because on more than one question I had to chose at random because there was no 'none of the above'.
Saying that, I'm pretty sure I speak English English, rather than any type of American English (with maybe a we bit of Scottish).
 
  • #60
Chi Meson said:
50% yankee, 40% Gen Am. (that seems to be Southern Connecticut in a nutshell), 5% dixie (that must've been my 5 years at UVA),
0% midwestern. (No surprises, I freaked out the first time someone asked "Do you want a sack for your pop?")

A sack for your pop? Where in the midwest were you living? I was born and raised in Green Bay, WI and have spent the last 8 years in Milwaukee. (I have never before lived outside of Wisconsin...) I have never heard of calling a grocery bag a sack... I am so confused.

But these New Englanders (I just moved here about a month ago) are sometimes completely unintelligible. I will go to the grocery store and the checkout person will say something and all I can do is smile, cause I have no clue what they just said to me...
I have so much to get accustomed to...
Cheers,
Ryan
 

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