What Do You Sound Like?

[hatophile]

The Northeast actually has a wide variety of accents, depending on what state you're in, even to some extent what city in a particular state.

The coastal South has a distinctly different accent from the central South and Appalachian South, which also sound different. New Orleans is a breed of its own, as is Cajun Louisiana.

One can even tell a difference in many of the Midwest areas, ie, Northern Michigan vs. Indiana and Southern Ohio, vs. Chicago or Minnesota.

I think the most Un-accented folks are from the far coastal west, California, Washington, Oregon.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Accents change like crazy, even within a state, even within a town!

I have what's called a Milwaukee Accent, or a M'waukee accent, as someone from there would say. When I moved up here (we used to only spend summers in the Portage area) everyone spoke much more lazily and slower. Now, you go into Blackhawk Park, just outside Portage, where my folks live. This place is very much like the Louisiana Bayou in way of life and surroundings. The people who were born and raised way back there have thick southern-type accents. Weird, eh?

 

[Romy Overdorp]

There is NO SUCH THING.

Yeah, you're right! I love it

 

[Dan'l]

The West(?)

Well, I have visited out west a couple of times.

 

[martinsantos]

Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.


Hum! I learned English by myself, and ever though my pronounce horrible.

 

[Zombie_61]

I think the most Un-accented folks are from the far coastal west, California, Washington, Oregon.

I don't know if it qualifies as an "accent" (probably not), but I have noticed we native southern Californians tendtospeakratherquicklyandrunallofourwordstogether.

As for the quiz, I got "The Inland North", i.e. the Great Lakes/Wisconsin/Chicago area; I was born, raised, and have lived in southern California my entire life. My wife is from the Chicago area though, so maybe I got it through osmosis. [huh]

 

[subject101]

Accents change like crazy, even within a state, even within a town!

Right. Just go to London. Or try in Scotland;

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

said what?

 

[RichardH]

The Northeast :

Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.



That´s funny! (English ain´t my mother tongue)
An American friend of mine says that I pronounce certain words in a southern kinda accent (like the word "iPhone" etc) , don´t know why though! I guess I´m just a lazy sod

 

[WesternHatWearer]

Interesting. I am from the south and this quiz said I sound as if I am from the inland north. I am confident that should the creator of this quiz speak to me in person, he/she would quickly change their mind.

"You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop.""

I have visited Chicago and Wisconsin, but being mistaken as a resident of these areas, not once.
Carbonated drinks are not called "pop" where I am from. Coke, for all carbonated beverage, would be the primary. With "soda" being a distant second. Pop, has often had a negative result and has lead to it's sparse use.

 

[Stearmen]

That's too funny! They say I am 93% Inland North, 73% Philadelphia, 73% The North East, only 10% The West. I was born and razed in the West, never been East Of The Mighty Mississippi. "You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop." No one has ever asked me if I am from any of the above places! Most pick up a slight Western Drawl when I talk slow. At most, some think I am from the Mid West, probably from my parents Iowa roots.

 

[Stearmen]

I always figured since he was from Lamar, Colorado, I sounded a bit like Ken Curtis! A pretty astute gentleman, if I do say so myself! [video=youtube;a8363Z3V0Es]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8363Z3V0Es[/video]

 

[Gin&Tonics]

I'm not an American, I'm Canadian, but I do live on the west coast, so I guess the test is accurate in saying I have the non-accent of "the west." I will say, though, that folks from Washington State do say strange things like pronouncing "roof" as "ruff" and "turbine" as "turban."

 

[Zombie_61]

I don't know if it qualifies as an "accent" (probably not), but I have noticed we native southern Californians tendtospeakratherquicklyandrunallofourwordstogether.

As for the quiz, I got "The Inland North", i.e. the Great Lakes/Wisconsin/Chicago area; I was born, raised, and have lived in southern California my entire life. My wife is from the Chicago area though, so maybe I got it through osmosis. [huh]

I took this quiz again just for kicks, and this time I got The Midland: "'You have a Midland accent' is just another way of saying 'you don't have an accent.' You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio."

I found this interesting because in the mid-80s I went to school to train for a possible career in radio. During one of the classes we were required to read aloud so that the instructor (who was allegedly a linguistics expert) could assess our proficiency in doing so. Granted, I was doing my best to enunciate without sounding like I was trying to, but immediately after my reading the instructor asked where I was from because, as he later explained, he couldn't detect any accent.

 

[Nobert]

Funny thing is that there isn't exactly such a thing as "not having an accent." I have a sort of neutral, vanilla, Midlands, generic American accent, so I could say I don't really have one (a condition enforced by growing up amongst my Mainer peers, who have amongst the most pronounced accents in the U.S.). But to someone from the U.K., I would still have an American accent. Just as someone who has an R.P. English accent (the vanilla 'non-accent' of England) has an accent to my ears.

 

[Zombie_61]

Funny thing is that there isn't exactly such a thing as "not having an accent."...

Spot on. Technically, anyone who doesn't pronounce words the same way you do has an accent. And if you're one of those rare individuals who somehow pronounces every word correctly in whichever language you speak, to everyone else you have an accent...even though you actually don't. lol

 

[DNO]

I'm not an American, I'm Canadian, but I do live on the west coast, so I guess the test is accurate in saying I have the non-accent of "the west." I will say, though, that folks from Washington State do say strange things like pronouncing "roof" as "ruff" and "turbine" as "turban."

Hey...I'm in Toronto and I got 'the west' as well. A Canadian thing, I guess.

 

[Jwag]

I live in Pennsylvania. This quiz told me I have a Boston accent.

 

[Hat Dandy]

I received Northeast for my answer... however, I'm from Canada.

 

[Stanley Doble]

North Central as in Minnesota = you probably get mistaken for a Canadian a lot. That's not a mistake, I am Canadian.

 

[stevew443]

The test states that I have a Western accent. I was born and raised in WV. My dad had a mid-Ohio Valley (Tyler County, WV) accent which is quite unique and my mom was raised in the hills (Richie County, WV) and has what everyone would consider to be a thick hillbilly accent. When I am sober I sound just like my father, but get a couple of drinks into me and suddenly I am a hillbilly. I have lived in the Shenandoah Valley long enough that I have begun to pick up some of the speech patterns from this area, like saying aboot for about. One thing I am happy for is that my too long stay in New Jersey did not change whatever accent I have. In fact I think my New Jersey stay strengthened whatever WV accent that I had.