Mid-Atlantic?

June 15th, 2007
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Clay posted this quiz on his site first. I did it this morning because I’ve been told countless times that I don’t sound “Southern.” People don’t believe me when I tell them I’m from Charleston, South Carolina. And yet…I am. Sure, I lack the stereotypical drawl or twang, but I frequently use Southern slang like “y’all” and “fixin’ to…” Actually, I guess that’s a lie. I can’t remember the last time I’ve said fixin’ to without it being a purposeful joke. Alas. It’s what happens when you grow up in a port city in the south. You don’t really come off as Southern. Now, if I’d picked up the accent around my area, I likely would have ended up with an older Charlestonian accent, which is much closer to British pronunciation and cadence than it is to the hillbilly sound that many people immediately conjure up. Anyway, since I teach English here (and therefore, I teach my accent), I thought it would be fun to let this internet quiz attempt to sort out my particular situation. Here’s where it got me.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Mid Atlantic

Also known as a “Philadelphia accent” but also heard in south Jersey, Baltimore, and thereabouts.

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Mid-Atlantic? What the? I mean, I’d kill for a Cheesesteak Sandwich right about now, but I’ve been to Philadelphia and Baltimore…and they picked me out immediately as a visitor. Curious. Most curious, indeed. :-) Properly pronouncing words seems to throw off the calculations a bit. And one of the ones that has grabbed my interest was omitted. Do you say “pen” and “pin” the same way? If so…why? They’re completely different words with different meanings and different vowels. Pull yourself together. Sheesh. Ha ha.

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  • Ha ha - this is funny. If anyone finds a better quiz, such as the one alluded to above, post it! Ha ha.
  • Bonnie
    I got the same thing as Mel. It was the outcome I expected. I remember going to workcamps and people telling me that I was "without accent", the only way I convinced them I was actually from the south was when I actually used "ya'll" in a sentence during a casual conversation. They were like, " Oh,...I guess you are from the south. huh."

    p.s. Deas I find it hilarious that we grew up in the same house our entire lives and you came out with a yankee accent. LOL.
  • Kathy
    I didn't mean to make it sound like I use "y'all" for "you" if that's what you think....just that in mind mind it is more for "ya all" instead of "you all"....y'all is always for more than one person or should be...not that there aren't some people who use "y'all" for just one person aka "you".........
  • I only use y'all to mean "you all" and never for "you"

    ps: The registration, it does nothing!
  • Kathy
    PS- I forgot to use spell check and have noticed many spelling (aka typing errors)...sorry

    *of
    *contraction
    *nazis
    *whatever else I might have missed.....wish I could delete posts and repost haha...but that's what I get for not spell checking. =P
  • Kathy
    I've taken longer, better, more accurate accent quizzes than that one. That one is kind of short for it's purposes and isn't very thorough in my opinion. That being said, I got the Midland accent on the quiz. A lot of my vowels fall together. But to tell the truth, that is also a Southern accent trait. But there are other features that distinguish different Southern accents. I think people fail to realize that there are many sorts of Southern accents though.

    Anyway, I definitely have NOT heard you say "fixin' to" and if you did I'd probably look at you funny. Y'all is perfectly acceptable for me though- use it ALL the time haha. I was watching CSI yesterday and was anticipatng a response from a character and said his next line for him in my head....except that my version of his line used "y'all"!! ^_^;;

    I feel like pointing out at this time that I realize the "correct" spelling odf y'all is "y'all" but in my mind I still like to imagine that it is actually spelled "ya'll" partly because that's how I think of it and partly to annoy spelling nazis who can't stand that spelling. I argue that I think of y'all as more of a derivation of "ya all" where "you" changes to "ya" in fast speech and, therefore, "y'all" is actually a contraction of "ya all" whereby "y'all" should actually be spelled "ya'll". This is in opposition to the contration of "y'all" from "you all". Of course, you will argue against me- partly because you are one of said spelling nazi, I believe, and also because you just like to argue with me haha...oooooooooh well........I will continue to argue my view simply to annoy spelling nazis while spelling it "y'all" so I won't be killed by said spelling nazis.

    This was a long comment. I have too much time on my hands.
  • I say dude all the time... Ha ha ha...
  • Mel
    Hey at least you got something that makes sense. I got:

    ("Midland" is not necessarily the same thing as "Midwest") The default, lowest-common-denominator American accent that newscasters try to imitate. Since it's a neutral accent, just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from the Midland.

    So ... 18 years in Hawaii + 7 in California + 10 months in Japan = Midwest aka the most generic American English out there. Gooodie~ You know it's because they missed the question:

    "Do you say 'hella' or 'dude' often in normal conversation?" Cause that is total Nor Cal ....
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