Sunday, May 1, 2011

Because, apparently, you really can't take the New York out of the girl.

 Or, I still have my accent.


What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net
New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less.
Take this quiz now - it's easy!
We're going to start with "cot" and "caught." When you say those words do they sound the same or different?



7 comments:

  1. It says 'American accent', so I went in thinking I had an ace up my sleeve, and then it went and pegged me as Canadian anyway. Shenanigans. (It also allowed for the possibility that I was from Minnesota or I was thinking too hard about the questions. The latter is certainly true.)

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  2. I got the same results as Sarah. But they're wrong: it was at least 20 minutes into New York, or even more depending on mode of transportation!

    I grew up in one of those New Jersey post-war subdivisions, where everybody's parents had moved in at the same time from cities like Newark and Elizabeth, which are indeed right next to New York: I guess they brought the accent with them.

    Verification word: nounids - I swear!
    Clearly, a system of identifying people's origins based on their pronunciation of common nouns.

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  3. I actually grew up in Long Island--Nassau County, which is not what people usually think of when they think of LI. So technically, I'm not from the city, but the accents are close enough.

    I had such a thick accent when we moved to Massachusetts. It's lessened over time, but you can definitely hear the difference when I say "don" and "dawn" or "cot" and "caught."

    My name gets pronounced differently by New Yorkers. I say Sarah with an a like "cat" or "back." Outside of NY, people say it with an a like "Yale" or "cash."

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  4. And now I'm trying to figure out how to make 'Yale' and 'cash' rhyme. This is a recurring theme...

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  5. It's the "a" sound, mostly. Like...pale (or pail) or craft or scam as opposed to snack or flat.

    Or perhaps with your accent, it's completely different and my point's moot? I've no idea.

    The Philly/Central-ish NJ accent is really interesting as well.

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  6. Continuing different accents. I've got one sort of A shared among craft/scam/snack/flat and a different A in pale/pail.

    Clearly the only possible solution is for us to all start speaking International Phonetic English.

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  7. Hmm. So I guess my examples don't work that well.

    I should make a recording of myself saying those words or something, just so you all can actually hear it.

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