"The devil is beating his wife": Dialect maps document U.S.'s many linguistic divides

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Ya'll, you all, or you guys? Dialect maps showcase America's many linguistic divides . (Daily Mail)
Do you call a long sandwich of cold cuts a sub, a hoagie, or a hero? A slew of new maps prove how you answer this, and a load of other questions, can betray where in America you come from.

The regional differences in America are apparent to anyone who has traveled even a state or two from their home, but some differences in dialect aren’t as obvious—or as well known—as others.

But North Carolina State University doctoral student in statistics took the data compiled from 120-question survey by Cambridge professor Dr. Bert Vaux that asked American’s questions like how they pronounce ‘lawyer’ or ‘crayon’ or what exactly they call that cold cut sandwich and turned it all into fascinating maps that show just how dialectically divided the country really is.
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Click to expand...
Good stuff; the article and ten of the maps* at link above

* including:

.....what is "the City"?
.....what do you call it when the rain falls but the sun is shining?
.....what is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?
.....what word(s) do you use to address a group of two or more people?
.....what is your term for shoes worn in gym class, athletic endeavors, etc.?
 
Such generalizations! If you guys want to go to the City and have a sub and glass of pop, I'll grab my tennis shoes and meet you there. :seeya:

Pretty accurate.
 
This is a fun read. Now I will go nuts trying to remember what I used to call the shoes we wore in gym and with our jeans or shorts when not in school. I don't remember that anyone wore .. well, sneakers .. in school. Just for PE. Girls, that is. No, I think maybe the boys did wear them in school.

Heck. That was so long ago, now I feel bad that I can't remember. :(

I'm talking the 50's. Aargh! Early 50's.
 
People in my area are lazy I think lol. It says we say tennis shoes but I think we actually just say tenna shoes. And we don't say pick-kahn, we say pih-kahn. My mother calls a mirror a mirrow. My cousins from Dallas all say they warsh their heads. And we say yunta, as in yunta go get something to eat?
 
I don't live in Ky but have been told I have a little bit of a Ky accent. Now I see why. I matched Ky more than I did my state on most things.


Hmmm my Mother was from Ky. That may be the reason why.
 
Every soda pop around here is called a coke, or at least used to be. They were only wrong on a few or what I always heard , but in looking they reflected other states where my family originated from years before.
 
Love these. A couple they missed: in Boston and the immediate surrounding towns, soda is called a "tonic", at least by older folks.

Bubbler is definitely what I and everyone I know in Mass have always called a drinking fountain.

And I've never, despite what the map shows, in New England, heard a rotary called a traffic circle. It's always a rotary.

One more - what do you call the wheeled thingy you put groceries in at the store? To me it's a carriage, sometimes a wagon. My DH, from the Midwest, calls it a cart.
 
I've never heard of bubblers, lol. We, or at least my family, seem to say "basket" for shopping carts here.
 
Wow. DM added more maps.

35 yrs in SE KS + 14 in NE OK +7 in south central TX + 2 yrs in NE KS + 1 in NW AR =

It's pop!
Coleslaw is coleslaw.
Tennis shoes, of course.
1. "You guys." 1a. "Ya'll."
"The City" is Oklahoma City.
No term for the rain/sun thing.
My cray-awn is in the may-uh-naze.
I'd like a carra-mel. With a pick-AWN.
A shopping cart is a cart. Throw some subs in there.
Lawyer. Highway. Been and sit. Mary-merry-marry? no diff.
"Let's drive around that roundabout in Olmos Park really fast, crawdad."
I'm stirring my sir-rup with my Bo-ee knife at the drive-thru liquor store.
 
I live in VA and my parents are from NC. I don't say "y'all", I say "you guys". I noticed I didn't fit in many of the generalizations. Maybe it's because I grew up and live in a part of VA that has many military people. I do say "pee-can" and get irritated when people say "Pee-Kahn". LOL

It IS an interesting article but I guess there are exceptions to everything.

ETA
My mom has a lot of expressions and things like if it's raining and the sun is shining that means the devil is beating his wife. We used to laugh about them when were kids.
 
Map is spot on for me. Very interesting article wfgodot.

Daughter's friend is from North Carolina. She learned quickly you don't say 'Coke' when you want a Pepsi. We don't have 'totes' at the store you get a sack or a bag or a 'paper or plastic question?'. And a Peecan to us is something you might take on a road trip where you have no gas station for 100 miles, not something you eat. And I didn't know the Devil was married.
 
Show Me said:
Another interesting common word is 'for'. Or do you pronounce it 'fer' or 'fur'?
Click to expand...
I pronounce it the same way I pronounce "four."

Another good one is the definite article "the" - thee or thuh?
 
.....what is "the City"? Only one city for me, the Big M (Memfus, thankyathankyaverymuch)
.....what do you call it when the rain falls but the sun is shining? The devil's beatin' his wife, of course!
.....what is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? Coke, as in, "And what will you have to drink?" "Coke." "What kind?" "Pepsi."
.....what word(s) do you use to address a group of two or more people? Y'all know it's y'all.
.....what is your term for shoes worn in gym class, athletic endeavors, etc.? Tennies.

I know people who "wrench" their hair and "warsh" their clothes (with "warshing powders," not "detergent.")

And don't get me started on the various pronunciations of the word, "bayou."
 
thuh

its soda or sodie in my kneck of the woods.

may uh naise

Peecon pie

for is just plain for

ya'll or you'uns is you good folk

kids are kids or younguns

Lets have a big ole honkin sub and a soda and have a good ole time.

ps, it is tennis shoes or tennies
 
teedie2 said:
This is a fun read. Now I will go nuts trying to remember what I used to call the shoes we wore in gym and with our jeans or shorts when not in school. I don't remember that anyone wore .. well, sneakers .. in school. Just for PE. Girls, that is. No, I think maybe the boys did wear them in school.

Heck. That was so long ago, now I feel bad that I can't remember. :(

I'm talking the 50's. Aargh! Early 50's.
Click to expand...

We called them gym shoes.
 
wfgodot said:
Wow. DM added more maps.

35 yrs in SE KS + 14 in NE OK +7 in south central TX + 2 yrs in NE KS + 1 in NW AR =

It's pop!
Coleslaw is coleslaw.
Tennis shoes, of course.
1. "You guys." 1a. "Ya'll."
"The City" is Oklahoma City.
No term for the rain/sun thing.
My cray-awn is in the may-uh-naze.
I'd like a carra-mel. With a pick-AWN.
A shopping cart is a cart. Throw some subs in there.
Lawyer. Highway. Been and sit. Mary-merry-marry? no diff.
"Let's drive around that roundabout in Olmos Park really fast, crawdad."
I'm stirring my sir-rup with my Bo-ee knife at the drive-thru liquor store.
Click to expand...

BBM: Well that explains it then! I recently went through the KFC drive-thru and asked for a side order of slaw. The girl said, "Slaw?!" I said, "Yes, slaw." She said, "Slaw?!" I said, "Yes, slaw." She said, "Coleslaw?!" I said, "Sighhhhhh. Yes, 'coleslaw.'" What the heck other kind of "slaw" do they sell?
 
tlcya said:
thuh

its soda or sodie in my kneck of the woods.

may uh naise

Peecon pie

for is just plain for

ya'll or you'uns is you good folk

kids are kids or younguns

Lets have a big ole honkin sub and a soda and have a good ole time.

ps, it is tennis shoes or tennies
Click to expand...

Back home a "sodie" is a beer...ur excuse me...a "be-uh" or a "beerah." And yes, kids are younguns or youngins'. And oh yeah, the store "Dollar General" is "Dollah Gen'l."
 
coleslaw
highway
David Bow-ee
care mel or care uh mel are interchangeable for me
the is no "the city" it is one of two - Chicago or St. Louis
it is PJs not pajamas
Loy-yers is lawyers
mary merry marry are all exactly the same
crayuns is crayons
I have no word for a roundabout thingy, we don't have those
water fountain
Love me some crawdads
sirrup is great for pancakes
drive up liquor stores are common here. Those are called drive thrus just like their fast food counterparts
sunshowers
 
Ya'll, you all, or you guys? Dialect maps showcase America's many linguistic divides .
Click to expand...

I've lived in the state of IN neigh on 13 years now, and still get a kick out of hearing the locals say "All y'all youins"
 
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