What American accent do you have?

[kelly]

Northern.

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=ta...mp;quiz_id=9827

[jcarter]

Fun site!  Thanks for posting it.  There is a local doctor in our hospital who has a hobby of telling where inside USA you come from. He can go way back to when you were young!  And he guessed within 20 miles of the town in Maine where my husband was born and brought up!
He had trouble with me, as I was born in Boston, but moved to Florida for most of our winters, and back home here for summers.  But he sure came close.
He is amazing.  Just listens to you talk for a while, then bingo, he is right most of the time.

And today I was on the phone with a Canadian company ordering a hat for my husband and the clerk thought I was from Bermuda.  And I used to live there!  I couldnt believe she was so good at this too.  
And there are some guys where my husband retired from who can tell exactly what country you were born in.
It got to be a fun topic at work, as soon as we were made aware of this, we try to 'locate' other people when we talk to them, it gets addictive, and fun. There are many people who are world-wide who work there, students from all corners of the earth.
Ive never seen this discussed before.  Leave it to TS to bring up a fun topic such as this.
Jane

[jwboyd]

Midlands (which is probably accurate), though I was born and raised in Texas.

Sometimes I have heard, "You don't talk like a Texan." That may be because both my mother and father were midwesterners.

My son-in-law's mother and father, both of whom have lived in Kansas all their lives, flew to Australia a few years ago. One of the male flight attendants made it a point to have frequent conversations with the father, who was pleased with the attention he was getting and asked the reason for it. The flight attendant replied, "I just love to hear you Texans talk!"

Edit to add: About forty years ago I remember reading about some linguists who compiled a "linguistic atlas" that was remarkably accurate. But in that same article they told about someone whom they pegged as being from Boston, when actually the person was born and raised in South America. It seems that a grandmother, a "Proper Bostonian" had come to live in the home about the time the child was born.

[kimmer]

Northern.

[dolphin]

Midland!  Born and raised in West Virginia...but after I joined the Air Force and spent a year in Massachusetts; people back home told me I wasn't from there. Go figure!!!

[Shades of Gray]

Midland - which matches with where I have lived the last 15 years. But give me ten minutes in northern Minnesota and I can reflect my native accent very quickly.

[gunug]

I'm "Midland" as well; not surprising since that's where I'm from and live (four years spent in Maryland being told I talk funny didn't change that).  It's interesting that I've met 3 people now that spoke just like my step-father who grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and when I"ve told them that they've all been from that area (within 50 miles).  Jean Shepherd, the great old radio guy who also wrote and narrated the movie "A Christmas Story" kind of talked like my step-dad although he was born on the southside of Chicago and grew up in Hammond, Indiana!  

jwboyd - Don't feel bad, Kansas just rubs on easier than it rubs off; and who wants to talk like a Texan anyway!  

Shades of Gray - I know what you mean about Minnesota.  I have a favorite aunt (one of a set of twins) who married a Norwegian and lives in the LaCross, Wisconsin area and I love that accent.  I also worked for a company called AmeriData for a few years and the people I dealt with all the time were in Minneapolis/St. Paul and I always found myself talking that way a little after long conversations on the phone!

[jcarter]

My favourite accent is the people from the Caribbean, any of the islands which were British.

[RobW]

Humm, Mid-Atlantic "also known as the Philadelphia accent"--clearly this site is bogus.

-Rob (born and raised in Philadelphia--and have lived here my entire life. ))

[Gregg]

Midland. (I say them all correctly)

Born and raised in Illinois - five years in Colorado, the rest in SE Wisconsin.

[Paddy]

I guess we Torontonians sound most like Midlanders...which isn't surprising, considering that it's the most "neutral" American accent. At least that's where I was pegged - and that's after spending the last 16 years in Oregon and MA. At least I didn't end up sounding like I was from South Boston! We'll need KPS to confirm the Toronto results on this.  

Wonder where someone from Newfoundland would end up??? Now there's an accent you can cut with a knife!

[bil207]

Northeastern here.

Must have picked up on my Lon-Guyland accent.  

[Audone]

Canadian
 
People from outside North America probably think you're from the States, but over here we wouldn't make such a mistake.

They sure cover themselves by just saying Canadian.  

[sandbox]

QUOTE

At least I didn't end up sounding like I was from South Boston!

A southy accent is distinct, I'm always asked about mine. Though it's closer to a New Hampshire accent with Wicket overtones.  

[Highmac]

When I make the attempt.... a very bad one. It would make you cringe as we did at Dick Van Dyke's 'Cockney' in Mary Poppins, or Mel Gibson's Scots in Braveheart!
Never seen that film because the clip I saw - and heard - put me right off!

I can usually spot a Canadian accent when it turns up in a TV programme. Hard to explain in writing, but often the vowels seem to be shorter - eg, 'house' is halfway to being the Scots 'hoose'.