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Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

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Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#81

Post by [deleted] »

vwinsyee wrote: post #77
TillE wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I genuinely had no idea about that one. I know "trainers" is the British thing, but I thought everyone in the US called them sneakers. That's the term used by zappos.com and rockport.com, for example. "Tennis shoes" is not a category. I'm also slightly terrified that the vast majority of the country cannot distinguish Mary/merry/marry.

I'm having a hard time trying to pronounce one or more of Mary/merry/marry in any different way... how would one do that?

[deleted]

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#83

Post by mtdewcmu »

dripton wrote: post #15

They left the Pittsburgh "yinz" off question #7.

I was kind of surprised that they left out yinz. I was going to mention it, but I figured someone else already did. There was a show on regional accents on PBS and they compared western PA to the Galapagos Islands of regional accents. I mean get aht!

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#84

Post by duck »

learc83 wrote: post #78
mindcrime wrote: post #19

The one about "What word(s) do you use to refer to a group of two or more people" is missing an option or two. I often use "you lot" or "you kids". To be fair, the latter is more of a joking thing, like parting from a group and saying "you kids be good" or whatever. The "you lot" bit is, I'm pretty sure, something I picked up from watching British television. Most people in my neck of the woods say "you all" or "y'al…

I use y'all, but my favorite is "you'ins". (said by a guy from West Virginia)

Which made me think of this from My Cousin Vinny: "It is possible that the two yutes..."

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#85

Post by k8si »

A lot of these stimuli would have been better if they'd used pictures instead of "How do you say [misleading/too specific definition of term that requires some thought to arrive at a word for].

For example: present a picture of someone holding a paper grocery bag with an arrow pointing at it, then ask "What's the word for this item?"

Doesn't work for all of them (e.g. you can't draw a picture of a moot point?) but I'm just sayin'.

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#86

Post by tzs »

russelluresti wrote: post #26

I am firmly on the side of "y'all".

I have used y'all for as long as I can remember (although not exclusively...it is mixed in with "you guys", "you people", and others according to whichever sounds best in that particular sentence), even though the farthest I was ever away from the West Coast for my first 47 years was just outside Yosemite in California, and I knew nobody who was from the South or spoke with any obvious Southern influence.

I think I must have heard it on TV and picked it up.

Anyone else here use it despite no Southern connection among friends or family?

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#87

Post by digisth »

vwinsyee wrote: post #77
TillE wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I genuinely had no idea about that one. I know "trainers" is the British thing, but I thought everyone in the US called them sneakers. That's the term used by zappos.com and rockport.com, for example. "Tennis shoes" is not a category. I'm also slightly terrified that the vast majority of the country cannot distinguish Mary/merry/marry.

I'm having a hard time trying to pronounce one or more of Mary/merry/marry in any different way... how would one do that?

NYC native here.

Mary - mare-ree

Merry - meh-ree

Marry - mah-ree

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#88

Post by [deleted] »

tzs wrote: post #86
russelluresti wrote: post #26

I am firmly on the side of "y'all".

I have used y'all for as long as I can remember (although not exclusively...it is mixed in with "you guys", "you people", and others according to whichever sounds best in that particular sentence), even though the farthest I was ever away from the West Coast for my first 47 years was just outside Yosemite in California, and I knew nobody who was from the South or spoke with any obvious Southern influence. I think I m…

[deleted]

Re: Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Differently From Each Other

#89

Post by rayiner »

mhartl wrote: post #66
rayiner wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't a game of "which of these does not belong."

My point was that everyone around San Francisco calls it "the City" (even those in more populous San José), so they would have done well to add it to their set. In contrast, people around, say, Los Angeles don't typically call it "the City", so leaving out LA is not a relevant omission.

People around Sioux Falls, SD call it "the city" doesn't mean it should be added to the chart.
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