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I think anyone from the Midwest will get between the 40% to 60% range, so idk if thats a really good indicator of being Southern unless you get 90% + but interesting none the less
I agree. I am originally from northern Ohio and have lived in southeastern Michigan for over 20 years. Somehow I still scored a 45% on that test!
Not sure it is an accurate test but it was fun to take.
My family has been in the mountains of eastern Tenn. and western NC for more than 200 years. If you actually listen closely, you can hear remnants of Chaucer in their dialect. Especially with verbs ending in "ing". We regularly say "a-walking" or "a-running". The word "it" is spoken as "hit". We say "hoped" instead of "helped", as in "He really hoped me out a-fixin' my car". We also change vowels and insert "r's" into words such as "wash". It becomes "worsh". As in "I just worshed my clothes". "Any" and "a" became "airy". Airish means cool. "Might" means "a little". "Worshed off" means to wash a little, not a full bath or shower. "A-fixin" can mean to prepare or to repair something.
"My son just got done worshing off and then he was a-fixin to go out without airy coat on. I told him, "No. Hits a might airish for that.""
Both of my parents were from eastern Kentucky. My dad had a very pleasant drawl. My mother had a weird accent actually. Sounded like a mix of Kentucky/Chicago.
I'm 65% Dixie even though some of my pronunciations seem to be Northeastern...
That's a standard test given by linguists.
I got a 30% and the computer called me a Yankee which, as a native So Californian, I take great exception to.
Dialects result from a HUGE combination of factors including where you were raised and how long you lived in a particular location. Age, race, gender, education, all play their parts.
The discussion is a good one but there is no "right" answer. (Though the cab driver has a very good ear.)
My mother had a weird accent actually. Sounded like a mix of Kentucky/Chicago.
That's very common. Especially among people born during or after the Depression when families were moving back and forth between Kentucky and Chicago. (The Everly Brothers may be the most famous example of this.)
Southern accents have also changed and evolved. A few generations ago, southerners (white and black) often pronounced the long sustained "RR" sound almost like Brooklyners. For example: boid, woid, choich, foist, thoid, hoid, moider, etc.
You can hear this accent in old Blues recordings, old Amos and Andy comedies, etc. A few southerners (white and black) still talk like that today, but it's getting rare.
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(Though the cab driver has a very good ear.)
