American Accents in the Golden Era

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'm from either Bakersfield, Fresno or Glendale.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I've taken that quiz several times and it always places me squarely in Jackson, Mississippi, even though I grew up in Florida. I've spent most of my adult life in Texas though, so I'm sure that skews my dialect a bit, especially given the way the quiz works.

 

[scottyrocks]

I took the quiz. There were some questions that I had more than one answer for, but my results, as taken, were 'Yonkers/Jersey City/New York (City).' I grew up in Brooklyn, so it's accurate, afaic.

Edit: I just took it again. Some of the questions were different, but those that were, offered definite correct answers for me. This time, I am from 'Philadelphia/Yonkers/New York (City).'

 

[sheeplady]

It says I am from Buffalo/ Rochester (which is close) with either a touch of Providence or Milwaukee depending upon which time I take it. (If you retake it again and again, you'll notice a few questions are different.)

While I am not from any of those places, I suppose they don't really have any cities that are closer to where I am from (which is the middle of nowhere in upstate).

 

[scottyrocks]

That ^ is something I've noticed that NYers do, regardless of who they are talking to: refer to upstate NY as 'upstate,' as if someone from, oh, I don't know, Idaho, is supposed to know that it's 'upstate New York.'

 

[vitanola]

I took the quiz. There were some questions that I had more than one answer for, but my results, as taken, were 'Yonkers/Jersey City/New York (City).' I grew up in Brooklyn, so it's accurate, afaic.

Edit: I just took it again. Some of the questions were different, but those that were, offered definite correct answers for me. This time, I am from 'Philadelphia/Yonkers/New York (City).'

I keep getting "Yonkers" and "Patterson, New Jersey". How Odd!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I just took the quiz again and this time it says I'm from either New York, Boston or Minneapolis/St Paul and I've never been to any of those places.

 

[3fingers]

Whaddaya know. I'm from where I'm from.

 

[Nobert]

This has gotten me thinking about a boxed set of records I had when I was a kid, a series of recorded fairly tales, from Snow White to The Wizard of Oz. It was obviously made around the fifties/early sixties; the Cinderella version was especially good, the fairy godmother narrated the story and blamed the impermanency of her charms on a cut-rate wand: "That's the last time I buy a wand just because it's on sale."

Anyway, most of the voice actors had accents that I associate strictly from older media, and that I can't recall ever hearing in real life--Aladdin, in particular, had a voice that seemed more appropriate to hawking the Herald Tribune or apologizing to Perry White for calling him "Chief" for the 300th time, than messing around with Genies and caves full of treasure.

 

[Nobert]

Whaddaya know. I'm from where I'm from.

That's always a reassuring feeling.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Somewhat Torontoish Ontario? The Great Lakes region seems to have a sort of identity that transcends national borders. And, as a linguistic side note, I've known some Canadians who get their hackles up when it is suggested that they all say "aboot."

Pittsburgh's kind of interesting, since it has a dialect that is seemingly totally idiomatic to that city. Any western Pennsylvanians who would care to weigh in on Pittsburghese?

Canadians don't say aboot but Americans with their charming southern accents, say 'a bay oat'.

 

[Nobert]

Canadians don't say aboot but Americans with their charming southern accents, say 'a bay oat'.

I certainly don't remember any Canadian saying "aboot" during the time my family lived there. Of course, I wasn't paying much attention at the time, being more concerned with things like watching Mr. Dressup and being frightened of the trains that regularly rumbled past our neighborhood playground.

 

[sheeplady]

That ^ is something I've noticed that NYers do, regardless of who they are talking to: refer to upstate NY as 'upstate,' as if someone from, oh, I don't know, Idaho, is supposed to know that it's 'upstate New York.'

It's for two reasons:
A. If we say we're from New York, people think we're from the city. If we say we're from New York State, people think we're from the city. If we say we're from New York State but not from New York City, people think we're from the city. So we don't even say NY.
B. If downstaters can say they're from NY, and everyone knows what they mean, we should be able to just say upstate.

Most of that is gentle ribbing.

 

[rjb1]

I took the quiz and it says I'm from Birmingham AL. Not too bad, since I'm from Nashville. (Especially for a quiz cooked up by a couple of Yankee Havahd professors.)
The odd thing is that there was a highly-matching area just on Long Island. That seems hard to believe. (Alabama = Long Island?)

 

[Zombie_61]

Born, raised, and lived my entire life (so far) in southern California, but the quiz says I'm from Lexington (Kentucky), Chattanooga (Tennessee), and/or Huntsville (Alabama); the closest I've ever been to any of those cities was the week I spent in Loganville (Georgia) with my wife.

Then again, it might explain why I tend to speak with what I (and others) call a "southern drawl" when I'm really tired, even though no one in my family is/was from "the south". [huh]

Edit: Interesting. I took the quiz again out of curiosity, and four or five of the questions were different. This time it said I'm from Fresno, Bakersfield, and/or Glendale (California), so it's getting closer. lol

Edit again: My wife, who was born and raised in the suburbs south of Chicago but moved to southern California with her family when she was 16 years old, just took the quiz. It said she's from Salt Lake City (Utah), Modesto (California), and/or Fresno (California).

 

[HoosierDaddy]

[video=youtube;RO1kmfLmGRA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO1kmfLmGRA[/video]

 

[Nobert]

I took the quiz and it says I'm from Birmingham AL. Not too bad, since I'm from Nashville. (Especially for a quiz cooked up by a couple of Yankee Havahd professors.)
The odd thing is that there was a highly-matching area just on Long Island. That seems hard to believe. (Alabama = Long Island?)

Some of these details seem to crop up in different areas. Hudson Hawk mentioned "Viennas" pronounced "Vie-en-ahs," as a southernism. As it happens, there's a tiny hamlet near where I live called Vienna, and that's almost exactly how it's pronounced.

One question that didn't seem to be on this test: When someone sneezes do you say:

-Bless you
-God Bless you
-Gesundheit
-Whatever you've got, don't give it to me

 

[LizzieMaine]

Some of these details seem to crop up in different areas. Hudson Hawk mentioned "Viennas" pronounced "Vie-en-ahs," as a southernism. As it happens, there's a tiny hamlet near where I live called Vienna, and that's almost exactly how it's pronounced.

One question that didn't seem to be on this test: When someone sneezes do you say:

-Bless you
-God Bless you
-Gesundheit
-Whatever you've got, don't give it to me

"Cover your friggin' mouth."

 

[scottyrocks]

It's for two reasons:
A. If we say we're from New York, people think we're from the city. If we say we're from New York State, people think we're from the city. If we say we're from New York State but not from New York City, people think we're from the city. So we don't even say NY.
B. If downstaters can say they're from NY, and everyone knows what they mean, we should be able to just say upstate.

Most of that is gentle ribbing.

Yes, it is amazing how, to so many people outside of NYS, anywhere in New York State is New York City.

 

[Sapphire]

Cool... did the test and it seems that I am from New York, Jersey City or Yonkers. Dunno if that's a good sign or not as I am not even a native English speaker - and I usually try to speak more British English than the accent from the colonies eep: