The Yankee Or Dixie Quiz

[PeaceBlondie]

My sister just sent me this, and she barely qualified as a Yankee after spending the first 50 years around Chicago as a Yankee and 14 years in Florida (Dixie).

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencer...dixie_quiz.html

The test shows differences in vocab and pronunciation in the USA. I hasten to add that almost all Americans understand the two accents interchangeably, while they still make jokes about it. My score was 63 - definitive Dixie. I moved from Chicago to Texas at age 18.

How will Londoners, Dubliners, and natives of Perth or Alice Springs score on this? I imagine the Canadians from the prairie provinces are "Yankees"or Great Lakes States.

[Thaddeus]

50% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

TFFT

[Ijustwannateach]

I'm mortified that my score was 78%! (didn't think my southern heritage showed so clearly!)

[mopenyang]

58% (Dixie) - Not a surprise.

[PhilHarries]

52% Barely into the Dixie category.

Not surprising, only significant time I spent in the US was in the northeast (New Jersey which I had to learn to pronounce Noo Joisy) but the project, and client, was in the south (Louisiana which I also had to learn to pronounce Loosianna - or something like that).

[wolfmanjack]

43% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

By yankee they must mean east of the mississippi river and north of the mason dixon line. Since i am from the Northwest I just barely made it into the yankee category.

There are a few questions with no southern answer so i do not know why they appear in the quiz.

[Jingthing]

74 percent Dixie. I grew up in a SE Civil War border state, with Yankee parents. More cracker-fied than I would have predicted, y'all.

Edited July 24, 2008 by Jingthing

[Tywais]

50%. Grew up in Texas, moved to the North (Chicago) so guess they balanced each other out. Though I remember when I moved from Texas to the north I had a major southern drawl.

[twschw]

52% Raised in Chicago and moved to Texas when I was 19. The foundations are Yankee but the icing is Dixie.

[Xangsamhua]

Definitely Dixie (78% from memory). And I'm a native West Australian!! Just shows what kind of Americans I've been around (or what sort of movies I watch?).

A fun quiz. Thanks PB.

[Groongthep]

Wow, there are a lot of us with Illinois and Texas connections. I grew up in Illinois (but not in Chicago) about 150 miles west in Rock Island We didn't have a "southern" accent like they do in the more southern part of the state. At least that's what I thought before some trips back there made me notice some definate "country" sounding terminology. At 18 went to college in Texas for 2 years; came back and finished college at Northern Illinois Uni.. After that moved back to Texas (Austin) for a year or 2 before joining the Navy. Did 4 years in the service mostly in Hawaii but stationed in Rhode Isand, San Diego and Seattle for short periods too. Got out, became a Merchant Seaman and have never had a permanent home for more than a year or two in any one place since. My home of record for the last 22 years has been Seattle but I only spend short periods of time there each time I get off a ship. Have been coming to Thailand 2 or 3 times a years for 1 to 2 months periods every year since 1988. Am now 52 years old. Scored 50% - a Yankee, but just barely.

[PeaceBlondie]

It is the great series of in-country migrations that has melded the old regional accents. Southern Blacks who say aunt to rhyme with jaunt find native Bostonians saying it that way. So many White folks migrated to Texas from the Rust Belt, 1975-1985, that Houston was sounding like Detroit. Both Bush presidents are transplanted New Englanders. Retired New York Jews soften their Yiddish accents in Florida. Etc.

[Rionoir]

38% (Yankee). A definitive Yankee.

I lived almost my whole life near Milwaukee, no surprise there. When I clicked BUBBLER it actually said Milwaukee specifically hehe... that's the one that always gives us away up here.

[dingdongrb]

68% (Dixie) for me.... Strange as I was born and raised in Ohio and lived there until 21. Moved to Colorado and lived there for the next 25 years until I moved to SE Asia (China & LOS).....

[mizzi39]

38% yankee, no real surprise, since I was born and raised in and around Boston, so Red Sox all the way for me!

[Nomad97]

53% Dixie. Not too bad for a true-blue Brit out of Blighty!

[samsara]

57% dixie. 6 years in the deep south (sc) and 5 yrs chicago, 2 yrs kc, 1 yr dc, 3 yrs stl, and 1 yr atl.

[Jingthing]

I spent most of my life in Northern California, and yet 78 percent Dixie. I demand a recount!

Edited July 25, 2008 by Jingthing

[TheWalkingMan]

63% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

Surprising score as I am from California and have only been below the the Mason-Dixon line 3 times for a total of about 10 days.

TheWalkingMan

[keddy]

I spent most of my life in Northern California, and yet 78 percent Dixie. I demand a recount!

As an Anglo I looked at the test with curiosity expecting to have a little more in common with the south. However I realised we have completely different accents ( though we do say the word route that rhymes with toot) and different terminology, so I couldn't answer most of the questions as none were applicable. As Oscar Wilde said The Americans and English have everythng in common apart from language.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

38% a definite Yankee. Was born and lived in Detroit until 13 then moved west to northern Idaho.

Surprised that my first 13 years had so much influence on my language. Spent most of the last 20 years in Australia.

Good one PB

[OriginalPoster]

By yankee they must mean east of the mississippi river and north of the mason dixon line. Since i am from the Northwest I just barely made it into the yankee category.

The classic definition of "yankee" is as follows:

"For foreigners, a "yankee" is an American. For American southerners, a "yankee" is a northerner. For northerners, a "yankee" is somebody from New England. For New Englanders, a "yankee" is somebody from Vermont. For Vermonters, a "yankee" is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."

I scored 38% on the test and to me a Yankee is someone from Vermont.

Edited July 25, 2008 by OriginalPoster

[CosmicSurfer]

By yankee they must mean east of the mississippi river and north of the mason dixon line. Since i am from the Northwest I just barely made it into the yankee category.

The classic definition of "yankee" is as follows:

"For foreigners, a "yankee" is an American. For American southerners, a "yankee" is a northerner. For northerners, a "yankee" is somebody from New England. For New Englanders, a "yankee" is somebody from Vermont. For Vermonters, a "yankee" is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."

I scored 38% on the test and to me a Yankee is someone from Vermont.

Wasn't "Yan Kee" originally from "North" Korea??????

CS

[CosmicSurfer]

64% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

Something wrong here... I'm originaly from and grew up in Montreal.

I only left in my late 30's.

Must be the Cajun-Acadian influences.

CS

[merlin1]

Good fun, PB.

46% Yankee. I grew up in Toronto and Montreal. I'm not sure how they score this thing. One would have thought a simple continuum between Yankee and Dixie with 50% as a cut off.

I think a lot of it is arbitrary. The balled up bug is a Roly Poly and they somehow associate this with the South? Weird. I suspect most Cdns don't even have a name for it.

The night before Hallowe'en is called Mat Night in Montreal (yes, you stole people's front door mats) although this wasn't a choice. It doesn't have a name in Toronto.

Cdns drink pop, not soda. There is very little regional variation in Cdn English both in terms of pronunciation and usage. I think we all say icing and not frosting but I'm open to suggestions on that one.

[Chaimai]

61% Dixie and I am also a Brit.

I also find myself thinking that this post is somewhat incongruous with PB's earlier post:-

"Please, Pleas For More Intelligent Discussions On Thai Visa"

[cobra]

I do declare I may succumb to the vapors, mortified I am,

Good Sirs, I contend the quiz is a sham by scheming, no good, sassy mouth northern Federalists,

Edited July 25, 2008 by cobra

[PeaceBlondie]

For those of us who moved from one region to the other, the differences were usually so minor that if they called soda by another name - such as pop - we changed without realizing it, and knew both names (or combined them, such as soda pop).

I'm glad to take flack for being the phony intellectual. This discussion transcends some of the silly polls.