Speaking the Language
Posted by Tina Kubala at 12/2/2008 11:12 PM 
Categories: egocentric
Tags: childhood psychology linguistics quiz
Categories: egocentric
Tags: childhood psychology linguistics quiz
| Your Linguistic Profile: |
 30% Yankee 5% Dixie 5% Upper Midwestern 0% Midwestern |
My mother would be a bit disappointed by my 30% Yankee score. Both sides of my family have been in Maine for generations. As Mom is fond of saying, when the United States celebrated her bicentennial in 1776, the tiny town my Gram is from celebrated its tricentennial. Most of the time, Mom doesn't sound too Yankee. Now when she gets worked up, it is another story. She'll go into this Down East Maine accent as if she has walked out of Stephen King's Castle Rock.
General American English is what I speak as a direct result of formative years in Western Washington. Short of hiring trained linguist, it is nearly impossible to detect a "Seattle" accent. The only thing I can think of that is common there is the phrase "you guys" as a Northwestern version of "y'all."
What the above test is missing is British. Certainly, a lifetime of Monty Python has rubbed off. Reading Kipling taught me the proper spelling of this phrase is "On my honour, my favourite colour is red." I drink hot tea no matter how hot and humid the weather. I had to include the happy results of a second Blogthings test. I'm so addicted to these things:
| You Are 50% British |
 (If not, definitely Australian. Or Kiwi. Or Canadian.) You enjoy most aspects of mainstream British culture, without being stereotypical about it. You also have a typical British temperament. You wouldn't dream of being impolite. |
Haha, this is so interesting and funny. You're half English! =D I took the quiz and laughed at the "It doesn't phase you to go to work hungover". LOL! I never do that but Australians in general are famous for that. I got 60% British. =P I speak Queen English most of the time because my country (Malaysia) were colonised by the British before. This has caused confusion between me and American friends whenever we say "can't". Nowadays we make sure we say "cannot".
What is Dixie? Is it country slang, like Dixie Chicks?
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I've never been hungover. Many of my Midwest American coworkers think nothing of it. I wonder how much it indicates nationality.
Dixie = Southern = The South. Totally a culture unto itself, and not to be confused with Texas
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I came up 60% General American and 20% Yankee and 5% Upper Midwest. I'm not sure where the other 5% went.
And the correct second person plural is not Y'all. It's Yooz. Yooz Guys is also acceptable
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LOL, I guess Blogthings isn't so good a math.
I'd be more likely to say "Yooz guys" than "Y'all" - If I say "y'all" it's more in a joking or sarcastic way. I grew up going to Southern Baptist churches, so I heard plenty of sweet Southern Belles. Wonderful ladies, but totally not me.
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Hey miss blog of the day at PPP! waving
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Wow! Thanks for telling me. I rarely log in over there anymore.
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