# Take the online accent quiz **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344 "2012-02-29T14:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/21 "2012-02-29T16:14:09Z")
I just tried it out of curiosity, despite not being in America at all. It pegs me as “the northeast”. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/22 "2012-02-29T16:15:07Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > Apparently, I’m from the Northeast, which is actually correct. > > North East _England_, that is. What a coincidence! Guess what we call the Northeast United States! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/23 "2012-02-29T16:25:36Z")
It decided I was from Philadelphia. The closest I’ve ever been to Philly was when I drove through Baltimore (without stopping) on a business trip once. I grew up in a rural Louisiana town, went to college in south Louisiana, and have lived in Texas ever since. In fairness, my accent has always been very different from most of the people around me; people in my old hometown thought I talked funny when I was a child. Whatever my accent actually is, it apparently confused the hell out of the quiz. The bar graph shows near-identical scores for Philadelphia, Midland, Inland North, South, and Northeast. Philly edged the others out by a point or so, so it picked that. (My scores for Boston, West, and North Central were negligible–all three put together add up to less than any one of the other list.) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/24 "2012-02-29T16:33:37Z")
Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! As well it should be. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/25 "2012-02-29T16:38:07Z")
Inland North, which is right on the money - I **am** from Wisconsin. Ma-wakee, aina? Where the broories are. But it is soda, not pop, you drink water from a bubbler, and that’s a rubber band holding those papers together. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/26 "2012-02-29T16:39:45Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > What a coincidence! Guess what we call the Northeast United States! 😛 Sort of my point, yes. The quiz is obviously designed solely for American accents, so I wasn’t expecting any sort of meaningful result. The coincidence just tickled me, that’s all. (It’s “pop” here, too :)) ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/27 "2012-02-29T16:43:23Z")
Midland. I lived in Ohio for a while as a kid, but I’m in California now, where people have given me shit for pronouncing ‘wash’ as ‘worsh’. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/28 "2012-02-29T16:49:57Z")
Inland North. Too bad I was born and raised and still live on Lawn Guyland. And I never even called my father ‘pop’! Silly quiz. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/29 "2012-02-29T16:50:49Z")
Another Dutch here. Your Result: The Midland “You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” Dopers, Can I ask something? Do I have an accent in writing? Can you tell by my word usage I am from the Netherlands? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/30 "2012-02-29T16:54:32Z")
It says I’m from the west. #2 is Midlands, and #3 is Boston. Born in Iowa, grew up in Raaaachester, spent 60% of my life in Boston. And it’s not soda, it’s not pop, and it’s not coke. It’s tawnic. ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/31 "2012-02-29T16:58:44Z")
> [@ugly ripe tomato](#): > > Apparently I have a Boston accent (although I may be from New Hampshire or Maine.) > > I’ve lived in PA my whole life 😕 > > Now if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go pawk the caw. I got Boston (I’m from New England) and I wanted to help you with your pronunciation, you fake Bostonian, you! It’s “pahk the kah.” Note that both ‘pahk’ and ‘kah’ are 2 syllables each. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/32 "2012-02-29T17:05:14Z")
Midland, which is accurate. I’ve artificially adopted the Mary-marry-merry distinction and a couple of other things, but I don’t know whether I say them reliably, so I just went with how I think I usually speak. And that makes me curious to know how the results might change if it weren’t a self-assessment. Often, the way people _think_ they pronounce things is a bit different from how they actually do. For instance, until I got to college, I didn’t notice that I said the names “Aaron” and “Erin” the same way: “Air-in”. If you’d have asked me if they rhymed, I might have said yes, or I might have just considered the way they’re spelled, and said “no”. And “Don” vs. “Dawn”? I _think_ I say them differently, but they are pretty close, and I’d be curious to know whether anyone could tell the difference if I said them at conversational speed. It would be interesting to have people record themselves saying these words in normal conversation and then edit out the context, and see what others hear. And **Maastricht** , I do notice you making some odd word choices occasionally, but usually, I don’t think it would be enough to identify you as foreign, and certainly nothing that I could pin down as “Oh, she’s clearly from the Netherlands.” Except maybe your username. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/33 "2012-02-29T17:06:00Z")
I came out as “Philadelphia as a cheesesteak,” which is pretty good for as short a quiz as it is. I’m actually from Trenton, NJ, and I think the mix of Philly and New York accents in the area engaged in a little destructive interference in me; I’ve got about as generic a mid-Atlantic accent as you can get (I suppose it leans a little Philly, but not much). ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/34 "2012-02-29T17:09:46Z")
What region is Michigan supposed to be in? Because whatever it is, it’s not what I got, which was Midland, where I lived for 6 years as a kid. Nobody here has ever pointed me out for talking funny though. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/35 "2012-02-29T17:12:01Z")
It _is_ a silly quiz. It pegged me with a midwest accent, which is funny cuz I have a strong texas drawl, thankyouverymuch. Wierd And I don’t know what ya’ll are drinking but I’ll have some coke thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/36 "2012-02-29T17:19:45Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > English, quiz pegged me as NE American > [@WotNot](#): > > Apparently, I’m from the Northeast, which is actually correct. > > North East _England_, that is. > > But still… heh. Another Englander who is pegged as being from the Northeast. Damn, I was hoping for Texas or something. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/37 "2012-02-29T17:22:01Z")
Apparently Boston. Wicked awesome. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/38 "2012-02-29T17:22:33Z")
> [@Mr.Kobayashi](#): > > Another Englander who is pegged as being from the Northeast. Damn, I was hoping for Texas or something. There’s a reason it’s called New _England_. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/39 "2012-02-29T17:31:18Z")
I got Midlands. I’m from the West, third generation Oregonian. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344/40 "2012-02-29T17:41:20Z")
It successfully identified me as a Bostonian, which is pretty funny given that other Bostonians regularly ask me where I’m from, and people in other parts of the country generally assume I’m from “somewhere in the northeast, you talk fast”. I do, of course, have a Boston accent, it’s just not a “Hahvahd yahd” or “how do ya like DEM apples?!?!” kind of Boston accent. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-the-online-accent-quiz/614344.md?page=3)