Harvard Dialect Survey

[bendted]

This really spooky how it pin points where you are from just by answering a few questions.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-quiz-map.html

[maxpowr9]

I know I am "Bostonian" due to my accent and don't need some silly quiz to prove it.

Really just have a "stranger" say "water" and the results will be proven.

A Bostonian would pronounce it: wahhhdahhh. It sad but true.

However, people have mistook me for Southern because I use 'reckon' a lot.

[unloadonme]

My result appears to be a tie between New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu. Yeah, right!

[Callum]

I'm Buffalo/Rochester/Newark. New Yorker I guess.

[Vitamin]

Mine said Vegas even though I've never been there in my life.

[Rickrock]

Although there were a few questions which didn't show maps of my area, the end result was right on. It showed Toledo, Cleveland, and Akron, all in Ohio, and I am in the Cleveland area.

[Alnitak]

Yeah. It pinpointed me right on Baltimore and that was sick.

I think the cot/caught distinction gave it away. The Baltimore accent on that is very distinct particularly.

[opinterph]

Hmm. Most distinctive city matches: Lexington KY, Louisville KY, Amarillo TX. I drove through Amarillo a couple times, but have otherwise only visited Texas from within the Dallas airport. And beyond the Land Between the Lakes region of Kentucky, I’ve never spent time in that state either.



Oh well. I’m not surprised the northeast is somewhat blue and take consolation in the fact that most of my map indicates “more similar.”

[nycguydowntown]

got me---Jersey City, Yonkers and---------- NYC

[GreyUnderscore]

New York, Boston, and Yonkers.

I wasn't aware that drive thru liquor stores exist.

[Vitamin]

New York, Boston, and Yonkers.

I wasn't aware that drive thru liquor stores exist.

I think I've heard of them in Louisiana, but nowhere else.

[glasvegas]

New York, Providence and Pembroke Pines. Bit silly really.

[jensu846]

I apparently should live in Grand Rapids MI.. .oh well.

[G-Lexington]

Denver, Aurora and Tucson. Good enough.

Lex

[Axxess]

Seattle, Modesto, Corona. Somewhat close, I guess.

I find it interesting that never hearing of a drive through liquor store puts me in Modesto.

[altlover85]

They pegged me from New York City, Yonkers, and Baltimore. I can see the NYC and Yonkers part, although I was raised in upstate NY, so it's a little off.

[rocabar]

Not bad. . .

Baton Rouge, LA, Jackson Ms, Little Rock Ak.

I was born in Louisiana - Close to Baton Rouge.

[eastofeden]

My closest was Fremont California...then Corona California. The whole state of California was the darkest red color for me.

Pretty damn close...grew up in San Jose California and Fremont is the next city over and I lived between 9 (the least) and 27 (the most) miles from Fremont during my childhood with the exception of the few years I spent in Upstate New York.

(I never heard of a drive through liquor store either..this quiz is my first time)

What specifically put me in Fremont and Corona was "Firefly" ??????

What do you call the insect that flies around in the summer and glows in the dark?

firefly

[Kabluey]

From the other side of the pacific I'm told I'm closest to Fort Lauderdale, and after that somewhere near Boston.
Figures.

[Yooper]

Grand Rapids, Rockford, Detroit.

Solidly Upper Midwest.

Quiz doesn't take into account the Canadian influence to the Upper Peninsula with the Eh? You Betcha, fer sure, or some other weird sentence constructions there are.

Several of my individual answers placed me in the Colorado area, though, but the clearly regional questions obviously disqualified me.

I never got a drive through liquor store question, so some questions must be based on others (there are two within several blocks of my current Northern Colorado residence).

[Kulindahr]

Very badly written. I answered most questions with "other" because I use more than one depending on context, primarily who I'm with.

So my map looked like a washed-out watercolor with hardly any focus of color, just the two spread all over randomly.

[eastofeden]

We must have similar accents.

You from California too?

They say there are no Native Californians...but pretty much everyone I know (ALOT of people that is) is a Native Californian

[eastofeden]

^ yup, born and raised in California my whole life.

Well...there ya go...I wonder how they came up with "Fremont" though...seems odd...why not San Jose for me?...it is right next door

Have you ever heard of a drive through liquor store? I didn't even know they existed until this quiz

[Kulindahr]

Yeah Fremont is a weird choice, never heard of a drive through liquor store either.

I saw several in Colorado. We just called it a drive-through liquor store, or The drive-through.

[eastofeden]

Yeah Fremont is a weird choice, never heard of a drive through liquor store either.

I think they were covering their asses because with Fremont...a hop on the San Mateo Bridge from Fremont will put you almost in San Francisco ..or close enough...and Fremont could be a suburb of Oakland as basically the only thing between Fremont and Oakland is Hayward..and Fremont is a next door neighbor to San Jose...so you got three major American Cities and one little known one that they probably use so they are "close enough" ...maybe a similar story for Southern California and Corona?

[evanrick]

took the survey..the top 3 cities i speak like were all in arizona. ive never been there.

[frankfrank]

The only deep red part of my map was on southeast Michigan, where I grew up - but, generally, the entire north (out to about the Rockies) was some shade of red. Oddly, there was a reddish pocket in the tri-state Delta (Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana - strongest in Mississippi), and pretty much the rest of Dixie was some shade of blue, or white (neutral).

I'm kind of surprised that "crawfish" didn't make me more "southern" - they were "crayfish" where I grew up, but generally I call them crawfish now, probably BECAUSE of restaurant menus, and the term is pretty much never used outside of the food context.

Also very strange, and I don't understand this at all, the ONLY "really deep blue" patch on the map was Scranton-Williamsport area of Pennsylvania. The contrast of that small area was rather stark. I didn't realize that area had ways of talking which were almost like another planet, LOL.

I apparently should live in Grand Rapids MI.. .oh well.

DETROIT, Grand Rapids MI, and Minneapolis showed up for mine, with Detroit BY FAR the reddest. **NAILED IT**!! I grew up in the Detroit-Ann Arbor area.

I'm SURE that the biggest giveaway was the night before Hallowe'en, which I call Devils Night. That is PURELY a Detroitism. Another Detroitism that would have nailed it, is if they questioned what I call a bar that serves liquor after hours/after curfew. I've always called it a BLIND PIG. I don't think that's used anywhere else. I'm guessing they're called speakeasys elsewhere...or just as likely, no commonly-used term for them?

(I never heard of a drive through liquor store either..this quiz is my first time)

What specifically put me in Fremont and Corona was "Firefly" ??????

Actually, I call then fireflies as well, but that didn't put me out there. I noticed on the map for that question, "firefly" is entirely a Western term. As for drive-thru liquor stores, it's not even a new concept. There was one in downtown Ann Arbor when I was a kid (and it's STILL THERE) - The Beer Depot, I think - and I'm older than dirt.

Have you ever heard of a drive through liquor store? I didn't even know they existed until this quiz

ibid.

[frankfrank]

My map never loaded the first time I took the quiz, though.

I remember a question that didn't repeat (on the set which did load the map for me), though: How do you pronounce CARAMEL?

I almost marked it "carrah-mel" until I realized I had to mark "both carrah-mel and car-mel" (or however it was worded) because I *ALWAYS* call the confectionery "carruh-mel"...except I also always say "Car-mel corn." [THANKS DEJA!! of course not many will know what the thanks is all about.]

I remember there were one or two, but I forget which, now - where my answer showed the ENTIRE map being various shades of blue, thus meaning that my way of saying it is rare. I do know that "aunt" came CLOSE to that - I usually pronounce it like "haunt" with the missing H. I think the map showed some light pink shades around the mid-Atlantic, and up around the Dakotas...strange.

I think that the strangest thing out there - which wasn't asked, is how SARSAPARILLA is pronounced. Probably too obscure to ask, but I've ALWAYS heard it pronounced "SASparilla." It's not spelled that way, not even close.

[Kulindahr]

Tried it again -- I swear I got different questions this time.

I answered eight of them with "other" because it wouldn't let me answer them truthfully. It ended up with a map showing me talking most like Seattle, Spokane, Salt Lake City, and upstate New York over toward Buffalo -- and least like Jersey or Philadelphia.

[GreyUnderscore]

There are different questions I just don't know how many. The second time I took the survey I got a question about the pronunciation of the word Crayon.

[Alnitak]

My map never loaded the first time I took the quiz, though.

I remember a question that didn't repeat (on the set which did load the map for me), though: How do you pronounce CARAMEL?

I almost marked it "carrah-mel" until I realized I had to mark "both carrah-mel and car-mel" (or however it was worded) because I *ALWAYS* call the confectionery "carruh-mel"...except I also always say "Car-mel corn." [THANKS DEJA!! of course not many will know what the thanks is all about.]

I remember there were one or two, but I forget which, now - where my answer showed the ENTIRE map being various shades of blue, thus meaning that my way of saying it is rare. I do know that "aunt" came CLOSE to that - I usually pronounce it like "haunt" with the missing H. I think the map showed some light pink shades around the mid-Atlantic, and up around the Dakotas...strange.

I think that the strangest thing out there - which wasn't asked, is how SARSAPARILLA is pronounced. Probably too obscure to ask, but I've ALWAYS heard it pronounced "SASparilla." It's not spelled that way, not even close.

It's called elision

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision

[Kulindahr]

It's called elision

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision

The classic example being Worchestershire sauce, which looks like "war-chester-shire" but is pronounced "wurshter-sure".

[star-warrior]

As a brit, lol, I seem to hail from either Honolulu, Yonkers or New York.

[Callum]

I redid it and scored Detroit/Chicago/Newark. Guess it sort of makes sense being from Toronto.

[star-warrior]

As a brit, lol, I seem to hail from either Honolulu, Yonkers or New York.

I redid it too, still Yonkers and New York, but Baton Rouge now instead of Honolulu.

[bankside]

The classic example being Worchestershire sauce, which looks like "war-chester-shire" but is pronounced "wurshter-sure".

Wœstr sauce.

[blackbeltninja]

New York, Jersey City or Yonkers for me. All wrong, of course.

My hotspots were almost all northeast (from DC through the New England area was dark red) with Miami, New Orleans, LA and San Fran also showing up distinctly in dark red. For quite a few I had to answer that I didn't have a term for it.

-d-

[backagain]

Boston, Worcester, Providence

All with 60 miles.

Boston was correct.

The dialect wouldn't be hard to detect.... er is not errr but aaahhhh.

Off to play pokaaahhhh

[frankfrank]

It's called elision

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision

Very strange, I don't see the article quoting perhaps the most common elision that I'm aware of in Spanish: "of the" [masculine gender], where "de el" becomes "del." Every bit as common as the most common one in English [isn't?]. And perhaps the most common one I know about which doesn't have an apostrophe.

What about maitre d' ?? ...of WHAT?? The "hotel" usually simply disappears. Is that considered an elision?

The classic example being Worchestershire sauce, which looks like "war-chester-shire" but is pronounced "wurshter-sure".

Uh-oh - I needed TWO "h's" for the first word in this part of my post, so I STOLE ONE from Worchestershire. Now it's spelled correctly. D'oh!

[rareboy]

Not surprisingly, it wants to place me in Boston, Minneapolis and Spokane.

[bankside]

People. Worcestershire Sauce. Pronounced Wœster.

[unloadonme]

People. Worcestershire Sauce. Pronounced Wœster.

I say Wus-ter-sher.