Which American Dialect is Closest to My Own? | AMERICAN DIALECT QUIZ

hello I'm Lawrence and I'm on a quest to uncover all of the memos that Britain and America lost in the pond and one of those memos pertains to dialects coming from England of course I bring my own dialect which is somewhat distinct from those that you might find in the United States or is it you see I've often wondered kind of as a a thought experiment if you could take my dialect where in the United States would it most align with as if by magic over the last couple of weeks the answer to this question fell into my lap I say fell it was actually suggested to me by two people in the comments thank you to yoshiya and don''t Ritz for sending along this American dialect quiz the idea behind it is that you take the quiz and it aims to pinpoint where it is you are from based on your dialect choices and so just to sort of test the quiz I had tarah take it earlier on today now bear in mind that my wife spent most of her time growing up in the Midwest in Indiana but did spend some time out in Charlotte North Carolina okay what I'm about to do is bring up a map of her results you'll see a splash of red and a splash of blue Terra's answer choices are most closely aligned with the splotches of red and least aligned with the splotches of blue here's what she found well that's wild the quiz actually pinpointed her in the Great Plains but as you can see from this map Indiana is nonetheless very red indicating to me that this quiz does have quite strong validity and so because of that I'm gonna test my own dialect and pit it against the United States right here today to see how English the United States is or how American I am okay here goes first question and how would you address a group of two or more people you all use you lot you lot I'm surprised that's in there you guys you and ian's you other or your well for me it's gotta be you lot I that sounds really British to me I can't imagine Americans using it honestly enough but um I'll select it I wonder if there is a part of the u.s. to which that is prominent corner of this map know what it does is it pops up this map that shows how common your response is your previous response across the US the bluer it is the least likely it is to pop up in the US and I believe them all red it is the more likely it is so question number two what do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school ad well so you've got Bob Lowe which i think is sort of quite prominent in Wisconsin from what people have told me a water bubbler drinking fountain or water fountain or other most likely I think the the words that emanate from my mouth is a water fountain I can't decide whether that's British English or if that's just Lawrence what would you call a sale of unwanted items on your porch in your yard etcetera so you've got tagged sale yard sale garage sale rummage sale thrift sale scoop sale never heard of that one carport sale sidewalk sale jumble sale car boot sale or patio say or other so among those jumble sale is the one that rings most true for me from my childhood and selling you know he-man figures to nobody I would never sell my he-man figures but car boot sale is one I remember however to me a car boot sale is when a bunch of cars all descend on the same place usually a field and they open their boots their trunks to sell things from the back of those trunks there's not usually in your garden or yard so I'm gonna go with jumble sale on that one what do you call the rubber soled shoes worn in gym class or for athletic activities I call them plimsolls so they I don't I don't see plimsolls some actually there that's I mean I know that it's not used in the United States that term I know this from just you know the research I've done over the years but since jumble sale was on the list I half expected to see it here it's not there so what do I do instead other is an option and I think I'll have to choose that too can I type it in I suppose that wouldn't help yeah so other in fact most people would not select other for that it's it's gonna be something like tennis shoes isn't it or gym shoes or sneakers this is an interest in one I've heard this debate come up quite a bit in the United States what do you call the night before Halloween I don't really have a word for that myself at least not not something that I knew of growing up in England and specifically grow up growing up in Grimsby others may and certainly in the United States they do I think it's up in Michigan isn't it one of these comes up can't remember which it is but we've got gate night trick night I think it's mischief night cabbage night goosey night that why is that Devil's Night Devils Eve I have no word for this I think there is my option that puts me in line with most of the United States of America apparently yes as I said Michigan does indeed have the term let me know in the comments below if you're from Michigan what you call it and if anyone else who's watching this calls it something because I I just don't never have okay how do you pronounce the words Mary Mary and Mary I pronounce them all differently but let's see all three are pronounced the same no all 3 are pronounced differently yes that is me what is the distinction between dinner and supper interesting on this and supper is an evening meal dinner is eaten earlier it depends where we're going with this that see supper is an evening meal dinner is the main meal that's how I define when I was a kid I'd have my dinner you know by evening meal the main meal as it says here but sometimes I might help myself to some chips from the Chinese so if my dad's had brought me some which I remember happening a couple of times and that was referred to as supper Mike that could be my family that might not just be Britain it might also just be Grimsby don't know don't know how regional that is in the United States I suppose I'm about to find out not that regional at all it looks like most people don't define it that way in the US interesting okay I'm not gonna be that American am i yeah I might be discarded to the Atlantic at this at this rate do you pronounce cot and port the same no I do not I did not partaketh the cot court merger so those are different for me they are of course different for pockets of the United States as you can see from that map here's an interesting one how do you pronounce aunt as in you know yacht your auntie some people in the United Kingdom would say aunt I do if I want to sound smart but if I'm rushing things I say hand because that's that's the northern in me and the options of course with the vowel as in our or to sound like aunt it's that so my aunt sounds like an aunt she's not strong as an aunt and of course most of the United States agrees with me right on right on as you say in America do you still say that I mean it's an old term now isn't it what do you call an easy high school or college class I just I don't know got Krypt course trip course bird blow-off meat or other I don't have a word for that but that's not option this time so I guess I'll go with other just say my other option is easy class what do you call the long sandwich that contains cold curds lettuce and so on its sub for me just because of Subway but I see these other options which I know to be regional and I'm I'm not in those camps I'm merely a sub now isn't a substitute that that's a soccer term or it could be an educational term substitute teacher what do you call a drive-through liquor store that I don't even know what that is I've not encountered those in Chicago thus far but then again we don't drive here so that's probably why but then I don't remember them in Indiana we always walked in there's something more personal about that isn't that I suppose okay well prove through party barn boot there could be a barn beverage barn no don't know any of those I'm gonna have to go with I've never heard of such a thing is that controversial it might be I don't know I'll do it and we'll see if anyone agrees looks like there's agreement on the west coast and if you look at the map agreement in Indiana and Chicago so they're obviously not that prevalent in those necks of the woods there is always going to be exceptions of course but we will see what do you call the small freshwater Lobster found often found in lakes and streams is a crawfish crayfish craw craw fish crawdad mud bug that sounds disgusting I wouldn't eat that Bo I have no word for this critter so I have to say growing up in England I didn't really have a word for this but I've lived in the United States long enough that it's it's sort of cemented itself in my vocabulary I think I'm most likely to say crawfish and that's just because of the the menu options that I see in these neck of the woods I don't know if crawfish is uniquely particular to this part of America I guess we're about to find out actually apparently it's not unique to it in fact it's unique to the south mostly that's that's weird why do I normally find that on menus maybe they're just trying to be southern oh it's because I I've eaten a lot yes in Indianapolis which is modeled after you know Creole food in Louisiana so that that's probably why okay next one how do you pronounce the first syllable in lawyer apparently like that rhymes with boy yes or rhymed with flaw so now it's the first one rhymes with boy and that is like a lot of the top portion of the United States interesting okay so what do you call the insect that flies around in the summer and glows in the dark so we don't have those in the United Kingdom as far as I'm aware they're hard to miss I tend to I mean I know them as lightning bug and Firefly I think those are the two main options here but well in fact option number three I use lightning bug and Firefly interchangeably I think I have since moving to the US and once again since I've lived here long enough now that is a cemented part of my vocabulary and so I'll choose that go with that how does that play into the map in general most people don't they choose one of the other apparently that's wow that's wild guys come on have some flavor to your words I don't want to think of insects and flavor the same time how do you pronounce crayon like that with one syllable which rhymes with a man or with two syllables and it sounds like crayon that's I mean that's very American I suppose that's closest to what I would do but mine's more crayon not crayon so I've got to be honest here haven't I Iook on how to achieve the system to try to be more American so we'll see I believe I'm gonna go with other because I don't see my option there what do you call something that is across both streets from you as an intersection or diagonally across from you in general kitty-corner Oh so it's this this words of which there are many variants in the US don't have it in the UK this is in fact an American coin in Ch where you go kitty corner katakana catty corner kitty cross kitty Wampus that's my favorite but in general I don't use these term they've not sort of entered my vocabulary and in fact my option is right there I would use only diagonal come on there must be more Americans that use diagonal than this map suggest interesting let me know in the comments below what you say I'd be very interested to see which regional differences come up there what do you call the area of grass in the middle of some streets Boulevard Midway traffic island island neutral ground I have no word for this median or other yeah I mean I suppose I would call it a median but then again I think that's been influenced by living in the US I think I learned that term I learned it from my grandfather in law as he was trying to teach me how to drive he failed I failed it wasn't his fault I'm gonna go with median what do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining i don't think i have a word for that sun shower the wolf is giving birth this graphic the devil is beating his wife that's even more graphic what is that monkey's wedding just fox's wedding pineapple rain liquids Sun I have no term or expression for this I'm going to have to choose that one I who says these things let's have a look wow it's varied across the US but most of the US does agree with me looks like it's just the south and that does not end parts of the north - how do you pronounce the second syllable of pajamas very much like that and so with the bow as in jam or with the vowel as in palm the second one what do you call the small road parallel to the highway what does that I mean I don't drive so that again this could be could be bias here against this answer but frontage road service road access road I've heard of access road I think I'd probably say that if I was you know pushed for something to say feed a road gateway we have them but I have no word for them hunger I'll go with access road because I do I definitely heard of it I think I'd be encouraged to use it now that I'm apparently slightly Americanized what do you call the large wild cat native to the Americas so what this mountain lion cougar Puma who Mountain Cat Panther Catamount Mountain screamer you sure that's a cat's name that painter or other I've heard of cougar being you know indigenous to the Americas all of these presumably are they don't surely describe the same type of cat though I'll go with cougar just because I've heard it on mass in the US and I've certainly used the word so cougar cougar that's that's some more likely to be heard up toward the Pacific Northwest how do you pronounce being just like that with the vowel as in sit as in sea or as in set it's definitely as in sea that's very rare in the United States and I remember that because when I first moved to the United States I was brought up on it by my father-in-law who noticed in nobody house since weirdly love maybe I've stopped doing it been no I do if I'm in a hurry I will say bin like if it's one if it's a sentence that flows together very fast then bin might come out I should have probably pulled that now I think about it anyway do you call the the sweet spread that is put on a cake frosting or icing a caller icing yeah cuz that that's I think that's the usual term in in British English in general okay and then finally what do you call a big road on which you drive relatively fast is it a highway a freeway a Parkway Turnpike Express right though there's a lot of options basically one option that seems to be absent from this is motorway to go with others that's that's Paul I have available to me okay that was a lot of fun the quiz is over but now it is time to reveal the results which three cities in America is my dialect most closely aligned to is it the East Coast which you know we've seen house quite a high concentration of English ancestry is it Utah or has the highest concentration of English ancestry or have I become Americanized without further ado here are the three cities with which my dialect is most closely aligned will they have it a happily surprising outcome this quiz aligned my dialect most closely with the south of the United States perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised by that a lot of the linguistic elements that shape the south harken back to Elizabethan England and as you can see from the map the three cities that I'm most closely aligned with are Memphis Tennessee Birmingham Alabama and Atlanta now it looks like the reason that Atlanta is specifically included is the word access road is apparently common there that's not something I need before today don't even know if it's common in England I just I know I've heard it before I know I've even said it before and so that is why I am like that with Georgia's capital as for the South in general it looks like it comes down to how I pronounce pajamas apparently we have that in common and it looks like the biggest reason of all apparently is the way in which we describe that drinking apparatus that you may find in schools drinking fountain at least according to this quiz is all the rage in the southern United States so that's it throw away my British passport I am officially a southerner that's it for this episode let me know in the comments below how you'd answer this quiz and don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that my videos don't get lost in the pond and a big big shout out to my patrons without whom none of this would be possible from the writing to the research to the southern ization of lawrence Brown if you would like to become a patron of this channel you can do so at patreon.com slash lost in the pond all patrons will have access to my secret live stream and those of you that pledge five dollars or more a month will get access to not only that but my secret podcast and more until next time have a good day y'all thank you for watching this episode of lost in the pond don't forget to hit my stupid little face to subscribe and please share this video with the world hit me up on Twitter Instagram and Facebook and if you would like to support this channel please do so at patreon.com slash lost in the pond [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Lost in the Pond

Views: 350,767

Keywords: Finding America, Laurence Brown, American English, dialect, quiz, Birmingham, The South, Y'all, Yinz, Vlogmas 2019

Id: nwRdbqcEnoY

Length: 17min 2sec (1022 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 15 2019