U.S. Dialect Map

[jamesdeluxe]

While posting in the Lobster Roll thread about the word "youse," I ran across this 2013 NY Times article (a gift link/not paywalled) with a 25-question quiz that plots your U.S. English dialect/usage on a heat map, It uses obvious giveaways like sneakers vs. tennis shoes, highway vs. freeway, soda vs. pop, etc, to pinpoint where you grew up.

Give it a try and post your map here to see if it evaluates you accurately. Look at how it nailed me, with the darkest red in my native Central New York:

 

[MarzNC]

I vaguely remember seeing that quiz before. Given that I moved from NYC to Chapel Hill in central NC in high school and stayed in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) area after that, the results now reflect where I've lived pretty well. Plus I went to school in the Boston area for a few years.

I didn't think I was picking up a southern accent but I noticed when I went to the alumni gathering for North Country School in the Adirondacks in the 1980s, I could tell I didn't quite sound the same as in the late 1960s when I was a student there. My vocabulary was the same, but I was pronouncing some words slightly differently. I've done far more driving trips along the east coast than the west coast.

My daughter who grew up in the Triangle uses far more southern dialect words, such as "y'all" on a regular basis. She attended NCS and high school in Boston but came back to North Carolina for college.

My husband grew up in the midwest, mostly in the Chicago area. Needless to say, he drinks "pop" not "soda."

 

[jamesdeluxe]

My husband grew up in the midwest, mostly in the Chicago area. Needless to say, he drinks "pop" not "soda."

When I moved to the Front Range in the early 80s, I always laughed when people said pop instead of soda. It sounded like a 1950s TV show.

Can you post your overall map?

 

[jimk]

That was fun. Pretty much nailed me for home location. Number one named city (in the mid-Atlantic, not identified on this map) is a couple miles from me.
Edit, my wife just took the test and came up with Fresno, CA as her number one city. She lived near there at about age 6-8, but she has spent the vast majority of her life in the mid-Atlantic. I suppose there is something important about where you developed your earliest education and language skills that drives your dialect, even if it was just a couple of years and you left that region long ago?

 

[EMSC]

When I moved to the Front Range in the early 80s, I always laughed when people said pop instead of soda.

I've seen variations of this quiz in several publications and internet sites over the decades.

For reference I grew up calling it "Soda Pop" along the southern edge of CNY which not even an option in the quiz. Was confusing when I moved to Atlanta where all of that type of substance is called a "Coke". eg "I'll have an Orange Coke, please", or "can I get a Root Beer Coke?"

Apparently I would fit in well in huge portions of the country language wise (actual place is south of Rochester along the NY/PA border). Though it is interesting my brother lives near Pittsburg and despite being physically close-ish to where I grew up that is one of the coldest parts of my language map.

Where I have lived relative to this heat map: Central NY, Central PA (college), Western NY, Atlanta, Lake Tahoe CA, Seattle WA, Front Range CO.

 

[MarzNC]

When I moved to the Front Range in the early 80s, I always laughed when people said pop instead of soda. It sounded like a 1950s TV show.

Can you post your overall map?

Interesting, since I didn't screenshot the overall map I did the quiz again. Got some different questions. This overall map is fairly similar from what I remember. But the question "What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?" made a city in FL one of the key three instead of Arlington, VA. So FL is emphasized more and NY/New England a bit less.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Not much of a surprise here:

FYI to jimk, Fresno was one of the 3 named cities on my map. The others were Salt Lake and Denver.

One word that piqued my interest was "hoagie," which was universally used when I was at Princeton. I was curious how localized the term was since Liz had barely heard it despite living in both NY and DC for multiple years. The answer is very much so, just metro Philly and south Jersey.

the question "What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?"

I had no clue. This does not happen much in California. I associate it with Hawaii, probably because that's where I might have first noticed higher frequency.

 

[Sbooker]

I’m going to do the quiz to see what American influence I might have received. It may not work….

 

[Sbooker]

Loved the one about the drive through liquor store. We call them bottle shops and that is most often shortened to ‘bottle-o’.
My map under.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

One word that piqued my interest was "hoagie," which was universally used when I was at Princeton. I was curious how localized the term was since Liz had barely heard it despite living in both NY and DC for multiple years. The answer is very much so, just metro Philly and south Jersey.

The cultural and linguistic Continental Divide between northern New Jersey, which identifies with NYC, and southern New Jersey, which identifies with Philadelphia, is very distinct. I always find it a bit unnerving to cross the border, like finding yourself in a different country. Here are five key tells:

• Sandwich: sub (northern) vs. hoagie (southern)
• Meat: Taylor ham (northern) vs. pork roll (southern): a popular cylindrical processed pork product that dates back to the mid-1850s, used primarily in breakfast sandwiches: photo
• Professional sports-team affiliation: New York Yankees/Giants/Rangers vs. Philadelphia Phillies/Eagles/Flyers
• Accent: too numerous to list, e.g. the southern Jersey pronunciation of the word water as "wooder"
• Convenience stores: for decades, Wawa stores (based in the Philadelphia region) were only in southern New Jersey; now they're everywhere.

The geographic dividing line is a constant bone of contention. On this map, a journalist asked 20 people to plot their personal demarcation lines:

 

[jamesdeluxe]

@Sbooker: Interesting to see that you have an affiliation with my home region.

 

[ChrisC]

@Sbooker: Interesting to see that you have an affiliation with my home region.

The Australian has a New York Southern Tier vocabulary? Lol.

And possibly Miami?

 

[ChrisC]

One word that piqued my interest was "hoagie," which was universally used when I was at Princeton. I was curious how localized the term was since Liz had barely heard it despite living in both NY and DC for multiple years. The answer is very much so, just metro Philly and south Jersey.

Binghamton, NY - you could order a 'spiedie' sub or pizza.
Pudgies Pizza https://pudgiespizza.com/menu/

Montrose, PA - my aunt/uncle/cousins - you can only order hoagies.

The NY-PA line was strong: taxes, drinking age, subs-hoagies, etc.

My uncles/cousins wanted to have horses, and land in PA was cheaper.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Pudgies Pizza

I know this one!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Liz' map:

Liz only lived in the northern Chicago suburbs from 8th-11th grade. But her father grew up and met her mother there. Upon reflection, perhaps my strong dialect connection to Utah and Colorado does not come from skiing, but from my mother growing up the mountain states including high school in Salt Lake.

The cultural and linguistic Continental Divide between northern New Jersey, which identifies with NYC, and southern New Jersey, which identifies with Philadelphia, is very distinct.

Despite the lines on that map, Princeton is/was firmly in the southern camp. Wawa was the nearby convenience store. I never saw another one until Wawa signed up to host a bunch of Tesla superchargers in Florida by 2020. Is the Jersey Shore nearly all southern?

Accents and sports team affiliations were driven by Princeton having a nationally diverse student body, which I recall being very rare in 1970. NY, NJ and PA sent the most students but collectively totaled around 40% IIRC. I'm curious whether Dartmouth had become less regional (NY + New England) by the time ChrisC went there.

Loved the one about the drive through liquor store.

California has liberal liquor laws but I had never heard of this!

 

[jasoncapecod]

Many people have told me I have very strong NYC accent...Many years ago I was in a bar in Wyoming talking with friends.. Random guy taps me on the shoulder and asks me if I'm in the Mafia...( i'm just a nice jewish boy from the suburbs)
James can confirm my accent...

 

[Sbooker]

Liz' map:
View attachment 47245

Lia only lived in the northern Chicago suburbs from 8th-11th grade. But her father grew up and met her mother there. Upon reflection, perhaps my strong dialect connection to Utah and Colorado does not come from skiing, but from my mother growing up the mountain states including high school in Salt Lake.


Despite the lines on that map, Princeton is/was firmly in the southern camp. Wawa was the nearby convenience store. I never saw another one until Wawa signed up to host a bunch of Tesla superchargers in Florida by 2020. Is the Jersey Shore nearly all southern?

Accents and sports team affiliations were driven by Princeton having a nationally diverse student body, which I recall being very rare in 1970. NY, NJ and PA sent the most students but collectively totaled around 40% IIRC. I'm curious whether Dartmouth had become less regional (NY + New England) by the time ChrisC went there.

California has liberal liquor laws but I had never heard of this!

My kids were fascinated with Liz’ accent when they met her in Mammoth quite a few years ago now. In my house risotto has been dedicated to Liz ever since - and that will no doubt continue.

 

[EMSC]

Pudgies Pizza

I know this one!

But did your family of 5 order Sheet Pizza's from there on occasional weekends or for parties? Semi-staple order if we ever got Pizza (pickup only, no deliveries back in the day) They are the typical Pudgies greasy and also HUGE.

"Sheet 26"x18" 32 Slices" or rarely the combo meal "Sheet Pizza 32 Slice, 40 Jumbo Wings, 4 Blue Cheese, and (2) 2-Liter Sodas"

Liz only lived in the northern Chicago suburbs from 8th-11th grade

I continue to be surprised at the language heat map showing upstate NY and Wisconsin-ish areas as hot at the same time. NY does not use the term Bubblers for example (upper midwest only term for a water fountain/drinking fountain).

 

[jasoncapecod]

But did your family of 5 order Sheet Pizza's from there on occasional weekends or for parties? Semi-staple order if we ever got Pizza (pickup only, no deliveries back in the day) They are the typical Pudgies greasy and also HUGE.

"Sheet 26"x18" 32 Slices" or rarely the combo meal "Sheet Pizza 32 Slice, 40 Jumbo Wings, 4 Blue Cheese, and (2) 2-Liter Sodas"



I continue to be surprised at the language heat map showing upstate NY and Wisconsin-ish areas as hot at the same time. NY does not use the term Bubblers for example (upper midwest only term for a water fountain/drinking fountain).

In parts of New England they use Bubbler

 

[MarzNC]

The Australian has a New York Southern Tier vocabulary? Lol.

And possibly Miami?

There are a lot of former New Yorkers who moved to Florida in the last few decades.

In the Triangle area of North Carolina it's very hard to find "natives" who grew up mainly hearing southern accents. In fact the town of Cary came to be known as Containment Area for Relocated Yankees by the 1990s. Not just retirees, but also plenty of people coming to work in research and tech companies. I only heard southern accents most of time in the early 1970s when I was at the summer program for high school students from all over the state, meaning a few students from each of the 100 counties.