# Describe your idiolect **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 26, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792 "2026-03-26T18:39:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/81 "2026-03-27T21:18:03Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Don’t think slapping a table counts, any more than my ASL signs. I do. It contains facial expressions. Eye contact and knowing who you are communicating with. It’s noise though, just not with your mouth. If I’m in the kitchen, and my Wife makes that two slap sound while making a chess move from another room. I know what that means. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/82 "2026-03-27T21:40:10Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > The question in that survey that surprises me the most is that sneakers is just specific to the Northeast and tip of Florida (which is probably all NY retirees.) I thought the same thing about the retirees. And I’ve also never heard it called anything other than a service road. That answer is why my three cities are Philadelphia , Yonkers and NYC, where I have always lived. > [@Thumper668](#): > > The NYT quiz put me in Newark/Paterson/Yonkers, but this was primarily because I call the night before Halloween Mischief Night. I probably should have answered that I have no word for this because I haven’t thought about it since I was about 12. Nah, you shouldn’t have said you have no word for this , you have a word, you just don’t use it because it just never comes up in conversation. I have no word as in “What’s special about the night before Halloween?” I once looked up Mischief Night - everything I could find listed in the Wiki article (including Nairing people) happened on Halloween itself. > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > The first vowel in Madison is also lax, so the pun involved in “Mad man” doesn’t really work for me I’ve always though it was sort of a double pun. The one involving Madison Ave, and the one involving “ad men” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/83 "2026-03-27T21:55:55Z")
Okay. Whatever works for you. But I do believe you’ve missed the point of the OP. No hassle, I don’t really care. Just thought you might wanna reread the the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/84 "2026-03-27T22:06:36Z")
An idiosyncrasy I used to have: When young, I somehow got it into my head that _knowledge_ is pronounced with a diphthong: /ˈnaʊlədʒ/, as though the first syllable rhymed with “owl.” I was in my 30s before I noticed that I was the only one who said that. Now I say /ˈnɑlədʒ/ with the pure vowel, but when I do I’m still thinking /ˈnaʊlədʒ/ and my lips almost become rounded. Old habit. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/85 "2026-03-27T22:24:01Z")
The quiz put me in Winston-Salem, Birmingham, or Montgomery. I grew up on the Tennessee/Virginia border, but my parents grew up in central NC. I picked up dialect from both places. Winston-Salem is about 3 hours from where I grew up and 90 minutes or so from where my parents grew up. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/86 "2026-03-27T22:39:39Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > > [@themapleleaf](#): > > > > the word “route”, I sometimes say “ROOT”, sometimes “ROWT”. > > Me too! Thought I was the only one. Is there method to your madness? I say “_root_ 66”, but “what _rowt_ should I take?” > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > What’s that called? The PIN/PEN merger, I think. > [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > > > “segue” (which surely is “seg”) > > It would be if it was French or derived from French - it certainly looks like it might be, but in fact it’s an Italian word in which all the vowels are pronounced. Try “forte”. As a musical term it’s derived from Italian and is two syllables. Meaning strength or strong point, it’s from French and has only one syllable. I lived in Michigan as a kid, and Illinois as a teen, so presumably my basic accent is Inland North, slightly modified by my mother’s north-Florida accent. The technical terms used in Wiki’s article on the [Northern Cities Vowel Shift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Northern_American_English#Northern_Cities_Vowel_Shift) (tensing, fronting, lowering, &c) are pretty much gibberish to me, so I don’t know if I share that feature. I do not have the COT/CAUGHT merger, but do have the FATHER/BOTHER. I also have the full MARY/MERRY/MARRY merger. I found an audio file by a man who pronounces the three words differently, and I pronounce all three as he does _Mary_. “Fairy”, “ferry”, “Barry” and “bury” all rhyme with Mary. COT vowel: “rot”, “lot”, &c; “chock” and “chocolate”; “bother”; “doll” CAUGHT vowel: “log”, “dog”, &c; "chalk\*; “ball”, “call”; “talk” I pronounce the ‘L’ in _calm_, _balm_ (both of those with the CAUGHT vowel), and _almond_ (the COT vowel), though not in _salmon_, _yolk_ or _folk_. I use “whom” when appropriate. I say “y’all”. I’ve been reading Christie since I was nine, and Blyton and Ransom since I was thirteen; spent three years in Scotland; and married a woman who had spent seven years (high school and college) in Ireland. As a result, I’ve picked up several British English terms such as _pram_ and _boot_ (the luggage compartment of a car). I spent three years in Hawai`i, but I think I’ve purged all of that from my active vocabulary. 21.5 years in the Navy has also had a lasting effect on my vocabulary. And I’m sure there are other odditiesin the way I talk. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/87 "2026-03-27T22:45:16Z")
A few of my personal speech idiosyncrasies: - I pronounce “either” and “neither” as “EYE-thir” and “NYE-thir” (more typically a UK pronunciation), rather than “EE-thir”/“NEE-thir.” I think I started doing that in college, probably in an effort to sound educated. 😉 - Despite being essentially a lifelong Midwesterner, I sometimes say “y’all,” and even “all y’all.” I blame spending the last decade working with clients in Alabama for that one. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/88 "2026-03-27T23:37:23Z")
I started saying eye-thur & nye-thur because I liked the sound better. I don’t know what I said originally. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/89 "2026-03-27T23:44:17Z")
I started as a result of my three years of high-school German – _ei_ is pronounced 'eye" in German. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/90 "2026-03-28T13:41:17Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Is there method to your madness? I say “_root_ 66”, but “what _rowt_ should I take?” I habitually say /raʊt/, except when overcome by social pressure/shaming about saying it the wrong way. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/91 "2026-03-28T13:58:26Z")
I grew up in Florida, which has a unique divide: in the Northern part of the state you have a Southern accent, but the further south you go the more it becomes a traditional American neutral accent. I was born in Daytona, which is on the east coast slightly north of Orlando, but my formative years were spent in the suburbs of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. Most of my peers were upper middle class, and predominantly Jewish. So I have a typical American accent, whereas my cousins who stayed in Daytona have more of a southern twang in their speech. ETA: I just recalled something: my grandmother, who was born in Valdosta, Georgia, and raised my father around Cape Canaveral, Florida, used to pounce Italian as “eye-talian.” She was very Southern. ETA2: The quiz put my in Arlington or Irving Texas, but included my part of Florida within its map region. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/92 "2026-03-28T14:31:01Z")
I use multiple pronunciations and different words dependent on context, usually as a form of conscious code switching. This is particularly because I grew up in the US (although not New York where the quiz placed me) but live in London, so it depends on where I am and who I’m speaking to. Bit of a mess really. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/93 "2026-03-28T14:50:44Z")
This time the quiz put me strongly in the western great lakes region, with a minor in the southwest, neither of which I have lived in. Last quiz like this I took, it did place a minor western great lakes influence on me, so perhaps that dialect reached a bit into western ny. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/94 "2026-03-28T15:29:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Despite being essentially a lifelong Midwesterner, I sometimes say “y’all,” and even “all y’all.” I blame spending the last decade working with clients in Alabama for that one. I do as well, and I have no experience in/with the South. I think it’s one of those constructions that kind of have filtered into other American dialects. I usually default to “you guys”, but every once in awhile “y’all” comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/95 "2026-03-28T20:39:26Z")
This should be an unlocked version of the Times test: > **[How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk (Published 2024)](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html?unlocked_article_code=1.WlA.JqtN.-C_vSHHqIHFP&smid=url-share)** > > What does the way you speak say about where you’re from? Answer all the questions below to see your personal dialect map. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/96 "2026-03-28T21:49:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I do as well, and I have no experience in/with the South. I think it’s one of those constructions that kind of have filtered into other American dialects. And why shouldn’t it? English apparently has a need for specific second-person plural pronoun (which “you” no longer is), and “y’all” fills that empty niche well enough. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/97 "2026-03-28T22:14:47Z")
That worked, thanks. It put me in Oakland/ San Jose, which isn’t ridiculous, but I’m from San Diego. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/98 "2026-03-28T22:19:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > English apparently has a need for specific second-person plural pronoun (which “you” no longer is), and “y’all” fills that empty niche well enough. There is some debate among speakers of Southern U.S. English as to whether “y’all” is singular and/or plural – and one can find instances in which it used both ways. “All y’all” is definitely plural, and typically is used for “every one of you” or “all of you.” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/99 "2026-03-28T23:46:10Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > This should be an unlocked version of the Times test: That one was good. It picked Orlando and St Petersburg, Florida, which is pretty close to where I live. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/100 "2026-03-28T23:46:21Z")
I don’t know that there’s any debate among actual southerners. I’ve only heard it used by actors/voice actors trying to sound “southern”. I’ve never heard it used in real life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792.md?page=6)