# The NYTimes 25-question American Language Guess-Where-You're-From map/algorithm **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 24, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104 "2013-12-24T21:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/61 "2013-12-25T04:54:09Z")
My cities weren’t that close, but my husband’s were amazing. He grew up in Sparta, TN, and it picked the three cities closest to it:Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/62 "2013-12-25T05:01:10Z")
I was astounded at how many of the answers made no sense to me at all. Some I recognized as regionalisms from elsewhere that I would never say, like “pop” for soda, but “what do you call it when it rains while the sun is out”? Uh… A rainbow opportunity? OK “sun shower” makes sense (though I may not have understood it out of context - sounds more like a burst of sunlight), but “the devil is beating his wife”?? When my kids read me that one (I took this quiz by proxy), I said “that must be some Southern expression I’m not familiar with - I always heard it as ‘The rooster’s in the corn ‘pone lookin’ for the gravy’”. Which to everyone else in the room sounded exactly as meaningful 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 25, 2013, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/63 "2013-12-25T05:09:28Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I was astounded at how many of the answers made no sense to me at all. Some I recognized as regionalisms from elsewhere that I would never say, like “pop” for soda, but “what do you call it when it rains while the sun is out”? Uh… A rainbow opportunity? OK “sun shower” makes sense (though I may not have understood it out of context - sounds more like a burst of sunlight), but “the devil is beating his wife”?? The devil beating his wife thing I first encountered as a Hungarian expression, but on these boards I remember learning it’s also used somewhere in the South. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/64 "2013-12-25T05:22:44Z")
One of the words that they said was the most distinctive for me was Brew-Thru for what to you call a drive through liquor store. They said that was a eastern North Carolina expression, which makes sense because we went camping there ever summer and it was the first place I ever saw those. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/65 "2013-12-25T05:36:18Z")
Pegged me as a Detroiter with one question, since we are the only area in the country that calls Halloween Eve Devil’s Night. Some I didn’t have an answer for. I call the area of grass between the sidewalk and the street the boulevard, but it wasn’t listed. The area of grass dividing a street had boulevard as an option, but I call it a median which wasn’t an option. Raining while the sun is out? Don’t have a name for it. Those little bugs that curl up we called water bugs. Not listed. We only have one drive through liquor store near me. We call it “the drive through party store”. They are not a thing in my part of town. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/66 "2013-12-25T05:39:42Z")
Dead on correct. Apparently, only people around LA call it a freeway ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/67 "2013-12-25T05:50:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There really are drive-thru liquor stores? Wouldn’t that encourage people to drink and drive? We have these in NE Ohio, yaknow. Just that we allow liquor sales in all sorts of establishments so ours aren’t just liquor, they’re full-blown convenience stores. There’s one near KSU (or there was) and I know one in Oakwood. One in Northfield (A Circle K gas station), etc etc. They got me right with Cleveland, but I say “tree lawn” and “pop” so that’s about all there is to it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/68 "2013-12-25T05:53:14Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > The underlying map actually looked like central Ohio (where I am) was the darkest red, but it gave me Des Moines, Omaha, and Lincoln. Same answers here, it basically gave me"Fuck If I know" It gave me a fairly consistently deep maroon semi circle that covered the midwest and mountain states, and light to dark blue for the coasts and south, then just picked the three cities closest to the center of the semi circle; Omaha, Des Moines, and Lincoln. I do take a bit of pride in that I am most unlike New York and Philly(and Yonkers which I don’t care about) apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/69 "2013-12-25T06:10:49Z")
Weird. I too am trim Southern Ontario, but the closest matches were western Colorado and southern Florida. Bwuh? Never been to either of them. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/70 "2013-12-25T06:14:33Z")
It pinned none of the places I’ve been, although the generalized red spots did cover where I grew up (Phoenix), where my mother grew up (St Louis) and where my father grew up (Cape Cod). I’d bet money that part of what scrambled things is that I have a lot of _British_ vocabulary, mainly either RP or from the London area. I picked it up, as many geeks did, from watching a lot of BBC television, and reading a lot of British authors. Other bits of my vocabulary are kind of a crapshoot. I got the question about what you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining, and my answer is technically none of the above: I call it ‘kitsune no yomeiri’, because it was a thing I had no word for until I heard that one from my Japanese instructor in college. (It means ‘fox spirit’s wedding’, more or less, so I picked the translation.) I live now where the local word for a small store that sells cigarettes/newspapers/junk food/sundries is ‘spa’, but a spa means ‘a swank resort place that does facials and massages and mud baths’ to me, so I understand it when I hear it, but never use it. I’m likely to call it a ‘konbini’ or a ‘dep’ when I’m around other people who speak Japanese or Canadian French, but otherwise I compromise and call it a ‘bodega’. FWIW, I live in the Greater Boston Area now, and most people take my accent to be Southern. I don’t bother to correct them, mainly because it means I’m allowed to call people ‘honey’ when I forget their names, which is often, because I’m terrible at that. I have a good enough ear for accents that I can usually pick out people who are from Boston/Cambridge/Somerville, even when they don’t sound like the Magliozzis. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/71 "2013-12-25T06:25:29Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There really are drive-thru liquor stores? Wouldn’t that encourage people to drink and drive? I don’t think it would be any worse than a parking lot. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/72 "2013-12-25T08:15:46Z")
Bubbler? How about “water cooler”? Isn’t there someplace that calls it that? Like, every place? Also, I refer to a drive-through liquor store as a drive-through liquor store. After all that I didn’t even get my three cities. Who knows, it could have been spot on, but no, I only get the very bottom of the map–the bottom of Florida and Texas–and a note that a long-running script was hanging my computer. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/73 "2013-12-25T08:18:30Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I was astounded at how many of the answers made no sense to me at all. Some I recognized as regionalisms from elsewhere that I would never say, like “pop” for soda, but “what do you call it when it rains while the sun is out”? Uh… A rainbow opportunity? OK “sun shower” makes sense (though I may not have understood it out of context - sounds more like a burst of sunlight), but “the devil is beating his wife”?? I saw that and realize that “sun shower” was the only term I’ve heard of, but I’ve never put any thought into exactly what a sun shower is. > [@MissSwitac](#): > > Those little bugs that curl up we called water bugs. Not listed. “My” waterbugs are also frightening. The ones with the praying mantis arms, and sometimes dozens of eggs clinging to them. ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/74 "2013-12-25T08:28:02Z")
Apparently I’m from Florida. I actually live in Melbourne Australia, have previously lived in NZ, the UK, Germany, Connecticut and the Philippines - which combined says I most likely live in Miami or Fort Lauderdale (neither of which I’ve been to). Perhaps it’s my spiritual home?! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/75 "2013-12-25T08:43:04Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Bubbler? How about “water cooler”? Isn’t there someplace that calls it that? Like, every place?.. To me, a water cooler has a large water bottle mounted on top that is changed out when it is empty and a water fountain is what you would see in most school hallways, it gets its water piped in. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/76 "2013-12-25T09:42:38Z")
Very accurate for me–pegged me in Fort Worth. I’ve lived in and around Fort Worth for most of the last 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/77 "2013-12-25T11:22:39Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Hah…I’m an Aussie, and the three cities cited were Yonkers, New York and Ft Lauderdale. > > 😛 Yeah I’m an Aussie and I got Boston, New York City and Yonkers. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/78 "2013-12-25T11:45:05Z")
It sure nailed me. Verge, hoagie, and sneakers pretty much nailed me. My wife’s was a bit more diffuse, but she partly grew up in Brooklyn and then the SW corner of NJ, both of which were on her map. A different dialect quiz I took claimed, “You’re as Philadelphia as cheese steak.” Right on. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/79 "2013-12-25T12:09:07Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > Pegged me as a Detroiter with one question, since we are the only area in the country that calls Halloween Eve Devil’s Night. I call it that, probably because I picked up the term from one of the Crow movies. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104/80 "2013-12-25T12:23:42Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > … > ETA: Brits and other Anglos could have a spin also. Hell, all 'ferners. See what turns up. Your wish is my command… I am apparently from Yonkers, Providence or Jersey City. I am really from London, England. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-nytimes-25-question-american-language-guess-where-youre-from-map-algorithm/677104.md?page=5)