July 18, 2006

Pop, Soda or Coke?

Outside my office door I have a GIS map of the usage of these terms. I come from a generation in the south where "coke" was the operative term, regardless of the flavor. For example: "Do you want a coke?" "Sure, I'll have a grape Nehi." And yeah, bonus points for any of you who actually know what a grape Nehi is anymore.

Anyway The Happy Feminist has a regional language quiz up for you. There were no telltale New Englandisms like "wicked" or "grinder," so the quiz has its limits. My results:

Your Linguistic Profile:
55% General American English
15% Dixie
15% Upper Midwestern
10% Yankee
0% Midwestern
What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Posted by binky at July 18, 2006 04:53 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Quiz-o-rama


Comments

I'm 65 general english, 20 dixie, 10 yankee - and somewhere or other I lost the other 5 b/c I got 0's on midwestern and upper midwestern.

Posted by: Armand at July 18, 2006 05:28 PM | PERMALINK

I was 50% General American, 30% Yankee, and 15% Upper Midwestern, and no that doesn't add up to 100%. Of course, if it had included the obvious missing Yankee-isms (like "bubbler" for a water fountain), I'm sure I would have skewed further in a northeasterly direction.

Ayup.

Posted by: jacflash at July 18, 2006 05:30 PM | PERMALINK

Let's see how Baltar compares to you, have suffered more of a transplant in the southerly direction.

Posted by: binky at July 18, 2006 05:34 PM | PERMALINK

I was 50% General, 25% Yankee, 20% Upper, and 5% Midwest (no west). I was surprised; I thought I'd skew more NewEngland.

Of course, they didn't have "grinder".

Posted by: baltar at July 18, 2006 05:45 PM | PERMALINK

Your Linguistic Profile:45% Yankee30% General American English20% Dixie0% Midwestern0% Upper Midwestern

how in hell did this jersey boy get 20% dixie? must be the grandmother with the north carolina accent she's kept perfectly intact since she moved to new york at like 21.

Posted by: moon at July 18, 2006 09:15 PM | PERMALINK

and note, as well, that i'm donuts on both midwestern variants, so i guess i'm not picking up too much of the midwestern-derived 'burgh vocab.

Posted by: moon at July 18, 2006 09:16 PM | PERMALINK

40% General American English 35% Dixie 10% Upper Midwestern 10% Yankee 0% Midwestern
All I have to do is pick up one more syllable in caramel to be the butt of all those family guy jokes about the South.

Posted by: Morris at July 18, 2006 11:24 PM | PERMALINK

Hey guess what? Here's the pop, coke, or soda map.

Posted by: binky at March 16, 2007 07:17 PM | PERMALINK
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