For your viewing pleasure...

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Kim at Oh So Sinister posted a regional dialect quiz the other day. The idea is everybody says a list of words and answer a few questions and then everybody listens to one another's responses to hear the similarities and differences between dialects from different areas. I thought it sounded kind of fun.

I have been told I sound like a Canadian. I have also been mistaken for someone from New York and someone from Ohio. I don't think I have an accent at all, but I'm sure nobody does.

So here are the words you're supposed to say and the questions you're supposed to answer:

Say these words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Now answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

And here is my response:

Proof: I don't have an accent. from Amy Wheaton on Vimeo.



Note: please excuse my flat hathead hair, the nice line on the side of my nose from my glasses, my overall lack of enthusiasm (this was done pre-9am and pre-caffeine) bad lighting, floating head/turtleneck effect and the fact that I can't say 'pecan' and 'mayonnaise'.

You Might Also Like

12 comments

  1. Emily JaneJanuary 13, 2011 at 12:52 PM

    LOL I love it!! I am so doing this but I am terrified of the results, lol. I can't say "pecan" either!!

    PS. You are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. FB @ FabulouslyBroke.comJanuary 13, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    I am playing your video and doing this when I get home. Perhaps an Anonymous upload :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    I saw coupon the same way.
    Your Aunt is north eastern, but your pecan is southern.
    You are a mix.

    It was fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MichelleJanuary 13, 2011 at 3:03 PM

    You say "route" the more formal way (in my Sothern Cali opinion) and you totally say pecan the wrong way...haha just kidding :) I say it the other way though.
    I think Canadians speak in a more formal way at least compared to where I live. I definitely didn't think you had an accent, you sound like a normal human being. haha

    ReplyDelete
  5. AmyJanuary 14, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    Emily Jane - thanks :) You should do it!
    FB - do it! I bet you'd sound completely different!
    besswess - it was pretty fun. Glad I'm not the only one who says coupon 'wrong'!
    m - so happy i sound like a normal human being!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. FB @ FabulouslyBroke.comJanuary 14, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    I don't say "A boot" either.

    And you're so pretty. :) I can see us being friends if I ever knew you IRL :)

    Okay.. time to listen and maybe try my own.

    ReplyDelete
  7. brynJanuary 14, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    ok you definitely have an accent, but only when you say certain words. you may not say "aboot," but when you say "without" and words of the like, it doesn't sound like OUT, it sounds like oat or OOT. poof! canadian :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. MeJanuary 15, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    What a cool idea. It's actually kind of neat to have a voice to all the words you write!

    I think you sound like a person from Connecticut. We all sound like you. There's always the data debate. Aunt is Aunt and "A-N-T" depending on your family. My family always called them queue-pon's too, but I changed it since adulthood made fun of me for it. I forgot how you said New Orleans - We all say New Or-Lens.

    I know what this apparent "rolly poly" bug is, but we never called them that. We called them "EWWWWWWWWWWW THAT BUG IS GROSSSSSSSSS!" And not everyone calls them sun showers. Most people call them "it's raining and sunny at the same time, weird."

    ReplyDelete
  9. ValJanuary 16, 2011 at 2:35 PM

    you may not think you say "a-boot" but any other word that has the "ou" sound you definitely do have that tendency eg - "with-oot". lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. Emily JaneJanuary 16, 2011 at 5:47 PM

    I did it! I look appalling lol but it was fun, just uploading it :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. suzyJanuary 17, 2011 at 8:18 AM

    hahah yeah you sound "canadian" to me. (i'm from saskatchewan). but really, there are so many ways people from here talk (you go east to quebec and they all have french accents, you go further east to newfoundland and they have their own little newfie accents, etc.) so to be more specific, you sound like a western canadian to me.

    ReplyDelete
  12. HelenJanuary 17, 2011 at 12:40 PM

    You are definitely Canadian! Most British people can't distinguish between American and Canadian but after living in Toronto for a year I usually can - it's subtle but the pronunciation of things like "about" are a giveaway (not "aboot" but there is definitely a different way that Canadians say it). I also love the fact North American English and British English have such different words - fizzy drink, trainers and a shopping trolley would be what I would use. Thanks for posting this - it was really interesting!

    ReplyDelete