Texas definition of "yankee" (Plano, Webster: deal, phone, Scottish)

[Two4damoney]

Originally Posted by BstYet2Be

Hmmm.... on the Advanced one... 36%???

Which is defined as a YANKEE What's up with that?

76% on the first one & 36% on this one....

Yeah I scored 36% Dixie on the advanced one but 86% Dixie on the first one. lol

[TVC15]

Anyone who does not have southern draw

Just playing

[Cathy4017]

45% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

Now that's just weird, but I think I've seen this a number of times before, LOL!!

[TXsurburbanmom]

I think of Yankees as not state proud but different in manners, dialect and traditions. Example, I'm having a playdate Friday. My TX and southern friends all ask what they can bring (including one from Peru but hey that's WAY south right) but my friend from Mass never thinks to ask. She's nice it just never occurs to her. I noticed they weren't as friendly and talkative in NC (the Yankees not natives) and they were not as polite about waiting in line, opening doors, saying thank you...more abrupt then southern manners. I can't say they are louder then me because I can really get going while telling my life story to the stranger in line behind me--pretty much a southern thang too Oddly I also noticed the NJ ladies at the Lifetime were very unshy about wandering around naked in the locker room

[Sandstorm214]

I was born in TX and have lived in TX and NM almost my entire life, but I got the following scores on the basic and advanced tests:

41% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

26% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

That fits with about how southern I consider myself--not very.

[Curmudgeon]

Most people left Southern Missouri out of the southern states although it was almost pure Confederate and established a Confederate capitol. We now live in the SW MO Ozarks nine miles from the AR border but don't come from here. I've lived in AL, twice in NC, twice in VA, and in GA and KY as well as twice in TX. My scores perhaps reflect that.

First one: 55% Dixie. Barely in Dixie.

Adv. One: 28% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

My problem is probably that my parents were from New York and taught me how to speak.

[TexasHorseLady]

There's a difference between Texan and Southern. Maybe that's why so many Texans are coming up with low scores on "Dixie".

[TexasReb]

A poster wrote: "There's a difference between Texan and Southern. Maybe that's why so many Texans are coming up with low scores on "Dixie"."

A certain poster keeps saying this (see bolded). But never bothers (or can't) to explain it, nor provided historical/cultural evidence for it. I would guess -- as I am apparently on her "ignore" list (as if I care a lick in the least! LOL ) -- but others will. Fact is, the generally regarded "Southern accent" is declining all across the South...not just Texas. Especially among younger people what with all the exposure - as just one influence -- of the mass media today. Plus, many try and conciously lose their accents, for markeable job reason...

On a related tangent, I have heard from many friends/distant kin in Mississippi and Alabama (argruably the "most Southern" states of all) who have scored less than 50% on the "Dixie" scale...and they can't believe it either! LOL But seriously, one of the flaws in questionaires like this is that people often answer they way they hear themselves...not the way others hear them. I stand by my assertion -- and seen it many times -- that if a native Texan goes out of the Southern United States and opens their mouth without saying where they are from? Then chances are 9 times out of ten, they will be pegged as being from "the South."

On on another related tangent, do most native Texans who have lived most of their lives in the state, really -- think they sound more "yankee" or "northern" or "western" to outsiders...than "southern" C'mon...

Which only makes sense, linguistically speaking. The accent (accents, actually, as there are more than one) commonly spoken among Texas natives is just a variety of what is broadly known as Southern American English (SAE). It (they) vary from what is the classic stereotypical "Gone With the Wind" variety, of course. But then again, so does that type spoken in east Tennessee or south Louisiana. Which differers quite a bit Tidewater Virginia or lowland South Carolina. The point is,there are many different facets of SAE...but the common-denominator is that they all contain features of accent and idiom that easily distinguish it from that spoken in the Northeast, Midwest or Mountain West.

This is not just my opinion...it is verified by just about every modern study done, including the most recent focussed on Texas alone. And here are a few links and excerpts from the same:

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Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Texan | PBS

As the settlement history suggests, TXE is a form of Southern American English and thus includes many of the lexical, grammatical, and phonological features of Southern American English

Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Texan . Drawl | PBS

“The most basic explanation of aTexas accent is that it’s a Southern accent with a twist,” said Professor Bailey, who has determined that the twang is not only spreading but also changing. “It’s the twist that we’re interested in.” The preeminent scholar on Texas pronunciation, Bailey hails from southern Alabama; he has a soft lilting drawl that, for the sake of economy, will not be phonetically reproduced here but is substantially more genteel and less nasal than Bob Hinkle’s twang. The broadly defined “Texas accent” began to form, Bailey explained, when two populations merged here in the mid-nineteenth century. Settlers who migrated from Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi brought with them what would later become the Lower South Dialect (its drawl left an imprint on East Texas), while settlers from Tennessee and Kentucky brought with them the South Midland Dialect (its twang had a greater influence in West Texas). Added to the mix of Anglo settlers from the Deep South and Appalachia who began talking to each other was an established Spanish-speaking population and an influx of Mexican, German, and Czech immigrants. “What distinguishes a Texas accent the most is the confluence of its influences,” said Bailey

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To wind it up, it can be legitimately/reasonably argued (and often is and has been) whether or not Texas is a "true" (whatever one means by that) "Southern state" (just as is the case with certain other states the Old Confederacy), but the language and speech patterns are clearly Southern in origin and nature...

[goodtymes70]

Derek Jeter would be what most Texans define as Yankee.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by Two4damoney

Yeah I scored 36% Dixie on the advanced one but 86% Dixie on the first one. lol

I didn't even notice the option for the "Advanced" test until you mentioned it.

I got 34% (and I answered as honestly as I could, too)!