Linguistic Locality
Crouchback pointed me to a quiz that purports to tell what your accent is with a simple set of word comparison questions. So far it is three for three in a very small circle of friends. In regards to that result, disturbingly, I could have easily been mistaken for a SoCal surfer when I first moved to Chicago. Dude.
| What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The West
Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you’re a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta. | |
| The Midland |
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| Boston |
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| North Central |
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| The Inland North |
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| Philadelphia |
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| The South |
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| The Northeast |
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| What American accent do you have? | |
Huh. It thinks I am from Philadelphia. I mean it _really_ thinks that. Strange since I no relationship with Philadelphia at all. I don’t even work with people from Philly to absorb their manner of speech.
What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you’re not from Philadelphia, then you’re from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you’ve ever journeyed to some far off place where people don’t know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn’t have a clue what accent it was they heard.The Midland The Inland North The South The Northeast Boston The West North Central What American accent do you have?
I am also West, apparently. I guess I’ve been assimilated?
It thinks I’m from the Inland North, and suggest that people will ask me if I’m from Wisconsin or Chicago. How about that.
I have no accent, apparently, but I have a good voice for TV or radio.
So there you go.
-w-
Okay, I’ve lived in Philadelphia, and there is definitely a “Philly” accent (although I think more people think of it as a “Jersey” accent), and Katherine DEFINIETLY doesn’t talk like that!