Geographical weirdness...

[fajrdrako]

So. I did this quiz, the Yankee or Dixie quiz, and I must confess that not only am I neither Yankee nor Dixie, I don't even know what those terms mean. They have been explained to me by Americans, and I know one is northern and one is southern, but I never remember the dividing line because I have no reason to remember; in my vocabulary, Dixie is a kind of cup and "Yankee" is an old-fashioned word from a song.

Anyway, weird result: it says I'm a southerner. Which makes no sense at all. I'm not south of anywhere.

Most people think I sound Irish.

Comments

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I am 48% Yankee, just barely. Most of my answers were parallel with 'only in Michigan' (Devil's Night) and 'Great Lakes area,' which would make sense since that's where I am. It's not just North and South, it's also Midwest, which is a whole other accent, apparently, very nasal. Of course, we're far east Midwest... I'm not entirely sure of where the lines are drawn either.

[ryui.livejournal.com]

Actually, if most people think you sound Irish, it makes perfect sense that you got Southern. The southern US was settled by middle class Scots and Irish, and the Dixie accent shares a number of basic sounds with those dialects. 0_~

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You come by it honestly! I would have expected a "Great Lakes area" answer, because I'm not that far from the Great Lakes, but noooo....

My husband had a midwest accent, I think. He was from Missouri. On the other hand - I get hopelessly confused by American accents, so I really don't know! I remember there were certain words I used to ask him to say over and over (like 'dawn') because they sounded so interesting and strange when he said them.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Interesting thought. That might extend to vocabulary. The earliest settlers in Ottawa were mostly Irish, too. But people around here don't generally think I sound like other people from around here. It's all a mystery to me!

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Well, it means you use terms a Southerner might use, so it just means your common terms for things are similar. I got 49% Yankee, which means I speak the commonplace, non-regionalized American English, according to this survey. Now, if they'd asked if the vowels in corn, barn, forty, fork, far, for, horse and born all sounded the same, it would've pegged me as a St. Louisan, had I said yes. (Here, most people eat "carn" with a "fark", then get to the zoo by driving on Hwy. "farty.")

And I think you sound Scottish. You have a lovely accent.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Definite geographical weirdness. It's got me pegged as a Southerner. ::raises faintly surprised eyebrow::

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the kind words on my accent! Maybe it's genetic, as many of my ancestors were Scots. (This is highly suitable for a Dunnett fan.)

It just goes to show that accents are a very complex thing.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

If it confuses you further, some people can't quite place my accent. My father has a semi worn-off English accent (left England in his twenties - calls it a Detroit-English accent *shrug*) that apparently affected my own accent just enough for it to sound 'off' per my region.

I really want to hear your voice now! ;)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you will hear my voice sometime or other - we're bound to meet at some Dunnett gathering or spit. And I almost believe in miracles: you might win a lottery and come to Malta. Who knows?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, you're further south than I am - it makes some weird kind of sense if you don't mind senselessness.

Accent quiz

[fcrawford.livejournal.com]

I've just done the quiz and come out as Dixie, which is strange as I'm from Lancashire, and despite having lived in Leicestershire for the last 20 odd years still sound as if I come from the North of England. Interesting the way language travels.

Fiona

Re: Accent quiz

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that all us non-Americans are coming out as Dixies, which probably means something, though I don't know what!