New England in deep red, closer to the coast of Maine, yet the closest city matches were Springfield Nannychusets, Newark/Patterson nanny jersey, and Arlington Virginia? Not even bloody close on the cities, boston or Portland Maine would be closer matches
Seacoastal Maine (York County) is my actual location
Overall by the map, reasonably accurate, city specific, a pathetic failure
It predicted I was from Milwaukee, Madison, or Rockford IL. Spot on. I live near Milwaukee now and grew up in Southern WI
Of course, it helps that “bubbler” is apparently only used in Wisconsin and Massachusetts
I took it several times in a row, and the one constant was always Fort Worth. Since I grew up in Dallas but also lived in Fort Worth, I consider that a pretty spectacular match.
Way off. It gave me Lincoln, Omaha, and Des Moines. I have lived in the same house between Akron and Cleveland since the day I was born, and I have never been west of the Mississippi for more than a week.
We must have had the same answers.
The first time I took the quiz the results weren’t too accurate. I was born and raised in Kansas, about 40 miles north of Kansas City. During my childhood and teen years I lived in a small city, a farm, and a small town, all within 15 miles of each other. Once I was old enough to get the hell out of there, I lived in both Kansas City, Missouri and for a short time, Kansas City, Kansas. Once I was lucky enough to get the hell out of there, I lived in Chicago for 23 years.
The first time I was pegged for either Louisville (because of “yard sale”) or Lexington (no word for drive-through liquor store), Kentucky or Washington, DC (that pesky yard sale again).
The second time I took it I changed three answers slightly. I got rid of that damned yard sale and chose garage sale since I use them both, and chose “semi truck” instead of “semi” although since I used to drive one I call it any number of things) and got a few new questions.
The second time it gave me Aurora or Rockford, Illinois (closer), and Rochester, NY. All three were because of the pronunciation of cot and caught (they are pronounced differently, right? I guess not)
The third time I changed semi truck to 18-wheeler and got one new question (“kitty-corner”) and it thinks I’m from Rockford again though this time the distinctive answer was kitty-corner. I’ve always said kitty corner, though I’ve used catty-corner when I was being silly. Based on where I’m from, everyone else says catty-corner all the time, in all seriousness! My dad was born and raised in north-central Iowa, which is a kitty-corner state. Since I got my excellent sense of direction from him, I guess I got that from him too. I actually like catty-corner better. I’ll start saying that now.
The third time through it also thought I might be from Baton Rouge (because of 18-wheeler) or Detroit (pop).
It’s funny, I’ve always said pop, still do. My husband was born and raised in KCMO, 40 miles south of where I was born, and he’s always said soda, still does.
When I drove, I used both interchangeably, but brights probably a bit more when referring to the jerkwad coming toward me (“TURN YOUR BRIGHTS OFF, ASSHOLE!” was a little more forceful, even though I knew they couldn’t hear me).
Wow, thank you for that! It’s fun reading all the questions that I didn’t get, and boy, there are a LOT more questions. I just noticed that if you click on the Complete Results tab it gives you the various answers.
Funny though, they forgot the Semi/Tractor-trailer/18-Wheeler question. At least, I looked 4 times and didn’t see it. Weird because I got it all three times I took the quiz.
People really pronounce Mary, merry and marry differently? How are they different?
And “Cauliflower”?? Apparently I pronounce it unlike anyone else, except the other 5% who pronounce it like I do (caw-luh-flower).
It’s a good thing I didn’t get the “centaur” question. It would have thought I was from New England.
I totally screwed up on the large, wild cat. I said Other both times because I was thinking of a Bobcat.
Not a hint of yellow for “you all”? Just some light blue/white for southern Indiana and northern Kentucky, which is probably why I was pegged for that area, though there is a bit of light blue in the central to north Missouri area, which is close. I would love to use “y’all” or “yins/yinz” though. They sound cool. It’s a bit cringy that most of the country says “you guys” according to the quiz. I mean, really? Do you do this at work?
I’m surprised they don’t have Both as an option for Trash can and Garbage can. I use both words interchangeably.
Apparently weirdos in upper-east Wisconsin and upper-west Michigan call doing donuts with your car “Whipping Shitties”! Who knew! Except for the weirdos up there. They need stuff to keep them entertained, including language.
I should take the test again and change a few answers. I answered mostly by selecting the words that I use now, which aren’t all the same as the words I started out using, despite the fact that I’ve lived in the same state my whole life. I grew up saying “pop”, but several years ago I consciously switched to saying “soda” because I now live in a city with a large Hispanic population. Similarly, I switched from saying “excuse me” to “pardon me”, for the same reason I switched from “pop” to “soda” (but that wasn’t asked on the quiz).
Yes, really. Yes, I do it at work. I’m curious about what you find so objectionable about it?
I got Springfield, MA and Irvine, CA with a high probability that I am from either New England or Southern California. I grew up about 120 miles north of Springfield, I now live about 30 miles south of it.
I’ve heard (and used) this term in southern Minnesota as well.
I pronounce them the same, but if you look, you can see where the differences might be between at least two of the pronunciations. “Marry” is pronounced with a short /ae/ sound while “merry” is pronounces with an /e/ sound in dialects that make that distinction. In other words, “marry” has the “a” as in “bat”, and “merry” has the “e” as in “bet.” “Mary” has the “a” as in “air” or “bear.” This one is a little harder to explain the difference. In IPA, the sound is represented as /ɛə/, so it’s a diphthong that begins with a “short e” sounds and glides into a schwa.
It had me in Louisiana but I’ve lived all my life in Central Texas. My dad was from deep east Texas. Maybe that’s where I got it from.
It didn’t count Canada, but placed me in upstate New York, which is as close as you can get to me.
The neat thing is Ontarians sound nothing like upstate New Yorkers, but it picked off two words; “pop” for carbonated beverages, and “potato bug” for the common woodlouse. That was enough to know where I was from.
For me it said Jersey City, Newark, or Rochester.
I have never lived in any of those cities. I know I have a mixed-up way of talking, though, since I grew up in Michigan, lived in TN for a short while, and then spent plenty of time in NY…but nowhere near Rochester.
Absolutely nailed SE Michigan. Pop and Devil’s night were probably all it needed.
I got Chicago, Rockford (IL), and Aurora (IL).
Pretty good since I grew up pretty much in the middle of that triangle.
It sure nailed me!! The map showing the most similar areas has my birthplace at the upper edge and my current residence at the lower edge. The area where I lived for 11 years in between is within the orangey area of similarity.
Going in a straight line from Providence, Yonkers and Newark, that make a bee line to Stamford, Ct. I took the test 3 times and it put me in New England all 3 times. I blame it on living only 35 miles from New York and spending a lot of time up Boston way as a kid. Who knew?
It picked Yonkers, New York City, and Baton Rouge for me. Baton Rouge is close, in that I’m from Louisiana and lived in BR for a few years. A second run got me Newark, NYC, and Yonkers, though it still has Louisiana mapped mostly in red.
I’ve never even visited New York.
I am also a “sneakers” person, but I live hundreds of miles away from prime “sneaker” territory, which I had no idea was concentrated in the Northeast.