Regional things a student should know

[MizzBee]

I was Midland on one, Neutral on the other, which makes sense, born and raised in Indiana and any other weird things knocked out of me by living in a large city during my 20s.

[Lafalum84]

H took the quiz and it pegged him as Northeast, which is correct - born and raised in NJ, spent the last 25 years in New England.

Then we went thru the test together (since it had me as southern) and there were only 3 questions we answered differently.

[SteveMA]

Took the quiz, gave me the correct accent for where I live. .

[scmom12]

lafalum84 - I do say tent and tint the same, but still gave me neutral..now if it had asked how I pronounced "aunt"

[Lafalum84]

Hahaha - Aunt! I grew up in NJ saying Ant, but my SC relatives say Aint, and people here in Mass say Ahnt. I try to adjust to whatever locale I'm in (when in Rome...), but sometimes I resort to saying, "My mother's sister."

[smorgasbord]

The first quiz gave me "Midland," and the second quiz gave me "Mid Atlantic" (I'm from DC, so it sounds right).

They were so impressed with their first experience with southern hospitality.

That was me when I spent a week in the South not too long ago. I also noticed that as the day went on, I started having a bit of a Southern accent myself by evening.... every day! Does anyone have a similar experience?

[MizzBee]

I pick up Southern quickly, but not any Eastern accents. I also don't pick up the nasal twang of Michigan or Chicago. But give me a little drawl and my brain clicks in like a Scarlett O'Hara impersonator.

[MomTheChauffer]

To Weatherga & Saintfan-Nanaimo Bars are so good and easy to make. My daughter had to make them when her school was celebrating the students heritage. My daughter chose "Canadian". She couldn't have chosen "Irish"?? Had to have a friend from Hamilton Ont explain them to me. And you get real used to Canadian accents after a while "a-boot" for "about".

[geeps20]

playing around a bit with the quizzes and it seems you get a neutral accent when words that are spelled differently are pronounced the same...sorry, hawk and hock, or thought and lot do not rhyme, the are spelled differently for a reason...just saying

[MizzBee]

geeps, seriously with all the weird spelling and pronunciations we have in the hodgepodge that is American English, your statement doesn't make sense. What "neutral" seems to mean is that there is a significant part of the country where those do rhyme, and it is the white-bread US-where broadcasters are taught to emulate. It doesn't make someone better or worse if they sound like they are from "flyover country". If this thread does anything is highlight the fun diversity in our languages.

BTW, I have been practicing trying to say merry, Mary,marry differently for a few weeks. can't do it but DS has been fun saying it differently.

[Marsian]

MizzBee -- I can't say them differently either. It's a strain on my mouth muscles even to try. Fortunately, I like the way I talk, so I wouldn't change even if I had the option!

[Tintern]

We used to use "wicked" all the time when I was growing up in MA in the 60's and 70's. Kind of went out of fashion but I it's used all the time now in the Boston area.

[geeps20]

^wicked alive and well in RI..my son said the Aerosmith concert was wicked good..

[Lafalum84]

wicked = very

[Tintern]

One quiz pegged me as a "midland" other as a "western". I grew up in Boston and was born in the Midwest. Oh well.