What Kind of American Accent Do You Have?

The Economic Policy Journal ^ | 11-24-2011 | By Xavier Kun

[blam]

What Kind of American Accent Do You Have?

November 24, 2011
Xavier Kun

To most Americans, an accent is something that only other people have, those other people usually being in New York, Boston, and the South. And of those other people, half of the ones you meet will swear they "don't have an accent."

Well, strictly speaking, the only way to not have an accent is to not speak. If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from). Go through this short quiz and you'll find out just which accent that is.

1. What is your age? Under 18 Years Old 18 to 24 Years Old 25 to 30 Years Old 31 to 40 Years Old 41 to 50 Years Old 51 to 60 Years Old Over 60 Years Old 2. What is your gender? Male Female

3. We're going to start with two ordinary words, "cot" and "caught." Do you think those words sound the same or different? Same Different Same, no wait I mean different, well, I don't know...

4. What about "don" and "dawn"? Same Different Same...ish. Maybe a little different.

5. OK, what about "stock" and "stalk"? Same Different Almost, but not quite, the same

6. Now then how do "collar" and "caller" sound? Same Different Almost, but not quite, the same

7. Do you think the word "on" rhymes with "dawn" or with "don"? dawn don Well, I don't think don and dawn sound any different in the first place so on would obviously rhyme with both

8. Moving on, what do you think about "Mary," "merry," and "marry"? All 3 sound different Mary and merry sound the same but marry is different from them All 3 sound the same

9. Our next word is "horrible." How does that first vowel sound? It's just like in the word "whore." It's the same "o" sound as in "hot." Neither one

10. Now for "pen" and "pin." Don't worry about what others say is correct, just tell us how they come out in an ordinary conversation. Same Different Close. Pen sounds almost, but not quite, like pin.

11. What about "feel" and "fill"? Same Different Well, I think they're different even though they sound very, very similar almost to the point of being the same

12. When you say "about," does the "ou" sound like the "ou" in "loud"? No Yes

13. Last question. When you say "bag" does it rhyme with "vague"? Yes No

[Revolting cat!]

I often have trouble being understood ordering an almond croissant. I don’t know how to correctly pronounce ‘almond’, I think I pronounce it with the ‘L’ silent, but even when I say ‘al-mond’ they still don’t understand me.

[Revolting cat!]

I usually take British Airways when travelling to Europe (which airline I do recommend), and some of the stew staff speak with such strong Cockney accent that I don’t understand them when they propose chicken or beef, or ask if i want ice with my tomaHto juice.

[Chunga]

Born in Mississippi, raised in Atlanta

My accent is "The Midland"

[Moose4]

Amazingly enough, it got mine right as “The South.” I’m central Virginia born and raised and have a *very* slight Southern accent. I can dial it up and down but it comes out more when I’m tired.

What’s odd is that my part of Virginia (the Lynchburg/Roanoke area, basically the Blue Ridge Mountains and foothills) has a very odd and distinctive accent where “ou” sounds don’t get pronounced as “ow,” but almost as “oo.” My mom, and to a lesser extent my dad, both born and raised in or near Lynchburg, pronounced “house” in a way that I almost can’t spell...not “hoose” but maybe “heyerse?” I can pick out somebody from that part of Virginia a mile away still, but weirdly, I didn’t get the accent. I prounounce “ou” as “ow” like most of the rest of the country.

Of course there is no “Southern accent”...there’s dozens of different ones. I’ve lived in Virginia and both Carolinas and it’s very easy to tell regional differences apart with a bit of practice. Hell, in South Carolina, go fifty miles inland from Charleston and the accents completely change from the classic Foghorn Leghorn/Fritz Hollings Lowcountry drawl to something that sounds more like Alabama or Mississippi.

}:-)4

[GrannyAnn]

I was born and raised in Arizona. Moved to Pensacola FL as a teenager. The girls my sister and I hung with one day asked us why we always called them guys, like “come on you guys, let’s go you guys, what are you guys doing?”

We then switched to y’all.

[muggs]

We refer to soft drinks as pop in Ohio too.

[hinckley buzzard]

The Midwest is home to standard American English--the anchorman accent, as you say. Get away from Pittsburgh but then from Ohio west to, say, Nebraska, Kansas, maybe Colorado, no accent.

[Fiji Hill]

The quiz correctly identifies me as being from the West.

[Category Four]

I was born in Oklahoma, and lived there the first 22 years of my life. After that, eight years in Nebraska, now six in Iowa. Couple that with Mom's being from Northwest Ohio, and you get:

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

Carbonated beverages are, more often than not, "soda" (65-35 over "pop").

Dad and my brothers have a gentle kind of accent, like a thin layer of butter on a biscuit. This accent is not to be confused with the shotgun-blast-of-rock-salt accent you hear from Paula Deen, Reba McEntire, et al.

[hope]

Southern here...raised by two hillbillies in SE MI. Spent the last 33 years in AZ. Everyone here tells me I have a midwest accent.

[Eaker]

Paula Deen’s accent is as fake as it can be.

[GrannyAnn]

What you call drinks may not be the best test. My mom was from Minnesota so I grew up calling it pop even though I'm from Arizona.

[Category Four]

Then why would she use it, unless it’s her way of mugging for the camera. (From what I understand, she’s not slouch at cooking, but that’s another discussion.)

[ROCKLOBSTER]

t drives my CA babe wife nutz when I call Coke “pop.”

Why?

That's what it is.

[ErnBatavia]

I was born in Brooklyn, but am forever grateful that my parents moved us to accent-free California when I was all of two months of age — totally avoided that guttural accent.

[Eaker]

I have no idea why she would use such a horribly fake accent unless it is a trademark of some sort.

I can’t stand to listen to her because of it so I cannot comment on her show or cooking skills.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Paula Deen’s accent is as fake as it can be.

So is it true that Christiana Amampour is really from The Bronx?

[buccaneer81]

but like the voices of reporters Keith Morrison

Morrison is Canadian, from Saskatchewan.

[GlockThe Vote]

Nu Yawk all the way.

[Mmogamer]

Said I was from the South, as I’m born and raised in Ga. hit it right on. Though I have been asked if I was from the Midwest before, the cute New Hampshire girl I once talked to thought my southern accent was cute.