NY Times vocabulary quiz determines where you are from

Nailed me at my home town of Sacramento with a possibility of Stockton or Santa Rosa. Since I moved here 50 years ago at 5 years old it seems accurate in my case.

It told me I grew up in Alabama. I’m from Missouri

I don’t think the tally is accurate. The individual questions kept placing me in the South/Southwest or East Texas, or the tiny stretch between Pascagoula and New Orleans (which is peculiar and unique). That made sense even though I’ve lived all over the country, as my parents were from those areas. But in the end, it decided Arlington, Washington DC, or Raleigh?! I’ve never even visited 2 of those cities!

It got one entirely question wrong. You address a single person as ‘y’all’. A group is ‘all y’all’.

And interestingly, the one place that has no special term for rain while the sun is shining is S. FL - where it happens all the time. We call that ‘rain’, lol.

Sounds like the thing is more accurate for the Northeast, maybe?

It was pretty accurate. There’s two major subtypes of the “Southern” accent. The borderline between the two runs through Alabama and is about 30 miles south of me. My girlfriend grew up on the other side of that and always picks at me about my “hillbilly” accent. We both took the quiz and it accurately divided us.

Also, “y’all” requires a minimum of two people. “All y’all” needs more than three. However, sometimes I use “y’all” to describe a large group that is acting as a collective party. For example, if inviting a friend and his wife over, I might say “y’all come.” But if I’m inviting a friend, his wife and a separate friend, I might say “all y’all.” If I know they’re all at the same location and coming in one car, I stick with y’all. I’ve noticed other people doing that too.

It thought I was from Orlando because I call that a “sunshower”.

The map hotspots were just around the new York area everything else was cold, it was extremely localised. Also the word it locked in on was sneakers which the standard term for a sports type shoe here in Aus. But I suspect you’re right, cultural influences must play a strong part.

Pegged me as Kansas City and/or Overland Park, KS, which is spot on as I grew up ~30 miles west. Interestingly, the third option was Jackson, MS, because I chose “frontage road”. Actually, there are several roads in the Kansas City area and around the state of Kansas that have street / exit signs listing them as “Frontage Road” as though that were the actual street name.

I knew that about rolypolies, because my kids have a book called “rolypolyology”. I’ve caught lots of bluefish with isopod parasites. Pretty nasty.

I got nailed extremely accurately to Long Island. The Mary, marry and merry all different was the most dramatic, apparently only the NY metro area does that.

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My stepson grew up in Raleigh. He was also given Montgomery as a choice. I wonder what it is that ties them together linguistically.

I’m from new York, Yonkers, or Jersey City.

Lorry was a dead giveaway.

New York, which coming from Australia, is…interesting.

Also, the tip of Florida is red, which means I should probably see a doctor.

There are a whole lot subtypes under those. ‘Yall’ can certainly be used for one person, but only when y’all are addressing them directly. For a group, ‘all y’all’ can each call me ‘y’all’ if you speak to me directly, otherwise, I’m ‘she’ or ‘her’. I’ve used them that way countless times, never ran into any misunderstanding or dispute, and others did the same. There are definitely some variations on that, though - sounds like you got one of them. Both of my parents used it in the style I described - one from East TX, the other the MS coast.

The ‘ant’ vs. ‘ain’t’ question got me, though. Where she was from, it’s ‘ant’. For his sisters, ‘aint’. And you don’t mix them - that would be rude.

The thing with that one little stretch of coast is all oddball local patois from the French and Creole words. My father once took all his grandchildren (all raised on the West Coast) to a family reunion, and they came back complaining they couldn’t understand anyone, lol. Maybe the test should have asked about bogs, wetlands, marshes, swamps, and swomps, lol.

I hear very distinct differences in people from different part of the South - but that probably comes from moving around a lot? As a kid, you learn to adapt really quickly. I don’t use ‘Southron’ publicly as a rule. I use more neutral Mid-Western/Southwestern speech for that. But I use it at home and amongst my own, just as people from many subcultures do.

Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know there is a major, major rivalry between people from AL and GA around the Columbus area, in which the Goobers are held to be ‘lower-class and talk funny’. That one surprised me.

Yep, “Sneakers” was my tell too apparently. I knew they were an Americanism (they don’t use the term here in Canada) but I had no idea that it wasn’t used across the US. I was also pleased to see “Katty-corner” which I’ve always said, and been ridiculed for (by those claiming that I am just inventing it because I like cats).

Orlando’s inland and not south. Dunno for sure, but I doubt they get as much of it there?

I wonder about that one. I hear people from other parts of the US say ‘kitty-corner’, but in the South, they may say ‘katty-corner’, or ‘katty-wampus’. (No idea what that last one comes from,just never heard it anywhere else.)

It did not work for me. I tried it yesterday (Firefox and Chrome) and again today. Today I get this error: “Sorry, an error has occurred. Keep this link to save your answers and view your map later.” I click the link and it leads me back to the beginning of the test.

It places me (British born, lived in Oz, living in NZ) as being from New York. I have visited …

It would be a really interesting tool if it expanded to being able to pinpoint where worldwide English native speakers came from.

Well, I grew up in northern Wisconsin and people always seem to think that I am some sort of foreigner… When I got married someone at work was overheard saying “he just married her to get his green card” – which is quite funny because my wife is Hispanic, so most people would assume the opposite.

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I’m supposedly from just south of the lakes. That’s probably as accurate as they could get, considering that my family is partly from Lancashire.

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They need to add a 'murica/America item to weed out all you darn fur’ners.

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