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 |
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 | PERMALINKI 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 | PERMALINKLet'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 | PERMALINKI 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 | PERMALINKYour 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 | PERMALINKand 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 | PERMALINK40% 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.
Hey guess what? Here's the pop, coke, or soda map.
Posted by: binky at March 16, 2007 07:17 PM | PERMALINK