# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/141 "2026-04-01T18:21:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Wow. Those were … really off for me. > > The first one said California. > The second said South Carolina. The Babbel one gave me California, too. It seemed to be mostly about pronunciations, and less about word choice for things, which might be why. The Buzzfeed one correctly gave me Wisconsin, but I chose “bubbler” in that one. 😉 ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/142 "2026-04-01T18:21:55Z")
Yeah, I saw the “bubbler” one and I was like, well, that’s gonna nail a very specific subset of people taking the test. 🙂 ETA: The New York Times quiz got me a lot closer, with Madison, Milwaukee, and Rockford. It should have included a question about the word “jagoff” and it would have fixed me more towards Chicago (or Pittsburgh, though my other answers would clearly move it away from that.) And add a question about the main room where people gather in a house. (A “front room” or “frunchroom” for us Chicagoans.) ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/143 "2026-04-01T21:52:21Z")
Babbel placed me in: the Midwest, “a pretty big swath of the United States.” I’m unimpressed. Buzzfeed failed to give me any answer; it cut off before it was completed. Notice the vast majority of visitors rated it “Fail.” ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/144 "2026-04-01T21:57:02Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > question about wheelbarrows It brought back a long-forgotten memory from early childhood: I remember somebody local pronouncing it “wheelbarrel,” and I wondered why, since it wasn’t written that way. It’s probably quite old. I haven’t heard it since the 1960s. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/145 "2026-04-01T23:15:46Z")
Yes. I can remember my grandmother saying “warsh” (central Ohio), but my dad (now in his 80s) never did. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/146 "2026-04-01T23:28:18Z")
In East Tennessee it was “worsh”. I never picked it up, and don’t remember hearing it until I started school. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/147 "2026-04-01T23:42:05Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > It brought back a long-forgotten memory from early childhood: I remember somebody local pronouncing it “wheelbarrel,” and I wondered why, since it wasn’t written that way. It’s probably quite old. I haven’t heard it since the 1960s. “Wheel barrel” is still a common pronunciation of _wheelbarrow_ in SE Louisiana. It’s part of my own idiolect for sure. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/148 "2026-04-01T23:51:53Z")
I do remember saying that as a kid in Chicago, but I suspect it was my own eggcorn and not local dialect. ---
**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:** [April 2, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/149 "2026-04-02T00:52:51Z")
Come to think of it, it might have been just me. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792/150 "2026-04-03T22:18:11Z")
One of those quizzes asked me what I called a sub. When I answered hoagie, that narrows it down to Philadelphia or surroundings. I still recall that once we drove to Atlantic City and my father warned me that they called hoagies subs there. I was probably 8, [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-your-idiolect/1028792.md?page=7)