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What Kind of American Accent Do You Have?
The Economic Policy Journal ^ | 11-24-2011 | By Xavier Kun

Posted on 11/25/2011 4:19:03 PM PST by 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


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: accent; accents; language; linguistics; region; slang
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To: beaversmom

I eat peecan pies.

Now. when buying toothpaste, do you present a discount coo-pon or que-pon?


281 posted on 11/26/2011 1:04:47 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: blam

Does Herb grow ‘erbs, or does ‘erb grow herbs?


282 posted on 11/26/2011 1:08:53 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: afraidfortherepublic
cor-ner. Is there any other way?

I grew up saying kwun-ner up in Sussex County, New Jersey. No one had a problem with it until I moved to Oregone.

283 posted on 11/26/2011 2:01:09 PM PST by Tramonto (9 9 9)
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To: buccaneer81

A guy named Jean Luc Picard with a British accent makes about as much sense as a cyborg from the future having a German accent.


284 posted on 11/26/2011 2:15:29 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER ( Celebrate Republicans Freed the Slaves Month.)
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To: blam
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The South
 

That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.

The Midland
 
Philadelphia
 
The Northeast
 
The Inland North
 
The West
 
Boston
 
North Central
 
What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

285 posted on 11/26/2011 2:18:41 PM PST by Semper Mark (Pray. Vote. Buy ammo.)
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To: blam

“The West” for me.

I guess it fits, having lived in California, Utah, Colorado.


286 posted on 11/26/2011 2:24:16 PM PST by Zman516
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To: ROCKLOBSTER
A guy named Jean Luc Picard with a British accent makes about as much sense as a cyborg from the future having a German accent.

LOL! It's certainly been a long time controversy.

Picard's Accent

287 posted on 11/26/2011 2:25:13 PM PST by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: jellybean
Carbonated drinks are called soda. I know very few people who call it pop

Here in Ohio it's the opposite.

Growing up in Boston it was soda, but the old timers called it tonic.

288 posted on 11/26/2011 2:29:57 PM PST by buccaneer81 (ECOMCON)
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To: ntnychik
Since I just spend 4 hours battling a bad virus just to get online, I'm not going off site to take the test, lol. I was born and lived in Pennsylvania till I was about 8yrs, so I was always called a Yankee down in Texas.

But - when I visited relatives up north I was kidded about a Texas accent! So, I'm half and half, lol.

289 posted on 11/26/2011 7:24:57 PM PST by potlatch (*snip*~ Having the right to be angry does not give one the right to be cruel. ~*snip*)
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To: Revolting cat!

That’s a toughie—not positive, but I believe I say que-pons. How about you? Also there’s eye-ran and eee-rahn. I think I heard someone on the radio one time, might have been for the word Iran, use the two different pronunciations within the space of a few seconds.


290 posted on 11/26/2011 8:35:19 PM PST by beaversmom
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To: beaversmom

I say ‘coo-pons’, that’s how I must have first heard it. There are lots of words I have a problem with, especially at a nursery, or a hardware store outlet, even a furniture store, though I can’t at the moment recall any of them. But there is always ‘chingaletta’, as a replacement for any word you don’t know or don’t know how to pronounce.


291 posted on 11/26/2011 8:50:26 PM PST by Revolting cat! (Let us prey!)
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To: DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis

“I’m from Virginny, born and raised,”

So do you say “about” in an odd fashion? I guess I do since I’ve had people ask me if I’m Canadian, but it’s just a bit of Tidewater accent from growing up in Virginia.


292 posted on 11/26/2011 9:59:48 PM PST by Pelham (Islam. The original Evil Empire)
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To: Blue Highway

Hmm....this quiz/questionnaire about accents tells me that I have a Philadelphia accent.

Tell me what results you get.


293 posted on 03/31/2012 4:37:52 PM PDT by perfect stranger (Nobama)
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To: right way right

The Northwest is well-known to have ‘no accent’. It’s how radio and tv people learn to speak so they can get a network/national job.

http://www.gotoquiz.com/results/what_american_accent_do_you_have

“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.


294 posted on 03/31/2012 4:51:09 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: blam

Not even close. I was born in on Long Island, but have lived in the Washington, DC suburbs since I was 6. It places me from Chicago or nearby.


295 posted on 03/31/2012 5:05:44 PM PDT by sitetest (If Roe is not overturned, no unborn child will ever be protected in law.)
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To: Markos33

Funny story to mark my spot. The new gal up the street is from Argentina and studying english. But she is embarrassed to speak it - but she does okay.

“But it is hard, so many words are same but mean different. Like ‘beach’.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A place for a vacation, or a mean girl.”

!!


296 posted on 04/04/2012 1:05:12 AM PDT by 21twelve
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To: afraidfortherepublic

three


297 posted on 04/04/2012 1:56:26 AM PDT by apmoh
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To: blam

Raised outside Philly. They’re saying I’m from Boston. Other accent tests consistently call me Western or Neutral. Mother called it “cosmopolitan”, but there isn’t enough British English to rate cosmopolitan.

Yo! Tsup? Djeetyet?


298 posted on 04/04/2012 2:39:32 AM PDT by Born to Conserve
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To: blam

*


299 posted on 04/04/2012 2:52:10 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (I LOVE BULL MARKETS . . .)
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To: 21twelve

That reminds me of a country song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTT2LEyjdC4&ob=av2e


300 posted on 04/04/2012 3:19:53 AM PDT by Semper Mark (Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?)
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