Tuesday, December 05, 2006

While we're on the topic...

How Southern Are You?

This "test" doesn't score based on pronunciation so much as vocabulary. It's interesting anyway. I'm "97% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?!"

How 'bout y'all?

13 Comments:

Blogger Robert said...

I scored 31% dixie.You are definitely a Yankee.I would be a real northerner being from British Columbia,Canada.Have you heard of a book called Grits-Girls raised In The South? A person from a Walton's forum I use posted some quotes from it.

12/06/2006 7:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, whaddyaknow? I'm not as southern as my own sister!
My score said: '88% Dixie. Do you still use Confederate money?' I left a few answers blank, so that might be part of it. If some of my extended family took it, they'd probably be 100%!

12/06/2006 8:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm fifty-eight percent. You have ot expect that---I say "hoagie." Hannah knows that:)I pretty much figured I wouldn't get more than a 3o%. I'm more Confederate than I thought. ;) And my mom is always saying that "what comes out of your mouth comes from your heart." Yikes.

12/06/2006 8:37 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

How did that happen??? *sob*

50% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

12/06/2006 4:46 PM  
Blogger une_fille_d'Ève said...

I'm 53% Dixie - barely in Dixie.
I think that test is biased toward Dixie!! It seemed like a lot of my answer came up as "northwest" or thereabouts but then my score was Dixie. *confused*
Ah well, it was still very, very fun!

12/06/2006 9:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm 83% Dixie. They forgot one huge question that my New England husband and I always argue about: in a store, do you push a buggy or a carriage??

12/07/2006 10:04 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

Neither. It's a cart, Dear.

12/07/2006 12:58 PM  
Blogger Jessie said...

Hey Ashley,
Thanks for your comment. But according to my dictionary (Jessie's Consise Dictionary of Southern American Speech)
Buggy: the thing you push around in the grocery store to carry your food in.
Carriage: what Cinderella rides around in.
Cart: it goes behind the horse, not in front of it.

12/07/2006 1:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aaargh! I couldn't even answer the first question: How do you pronounce Aunt? Well, not like any of the words listed.

Same with questions 4, 7 and 19.

12/07/2006 7:50 PM  
Blogger Lydia H. said...

Yep, I'm with Susan. It's a cart, as in shopping cart. A carriage is drawn by horses and a buggy is either what you take your baby for a stroll in or what the astronauts rode around in on the moon. :)

I will have to take this test. I have a feeling I will come out strongly as a Yankee. Kansas was part of the Union after all. ;)

12/07/2006 8:09 PM  
Blogger Lydia H. said...

Just as I suspected...

38% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

What can I say but, "Yankee Doodle!"
Some of the questions I thought were quite funny. The one about the creature living at the bottom of the creek really stumped me because I don't generally talk about those creatures. I finally settled on, "crawfish" which was considered a Southern bias and greatly surprised me. Maybe I selected this because it is most often what I hear others in my area call it. Here are a couple entertaining pronouncations of how my grandmother from Oklahoms says some words:

Pillow- "PILL-a"

Fried Chicken- "CHSEEK-en"
This isn't quite how it sounds but it is as close as I could describe it. :)

Potatoes- "po-TAE-tuhs"

Maybe those are strictly of the Oklahoma dialect. :)

I love the variations within the English language and even within American English. :) It is fascinating to me.

I thought of one more thing to know if you are a "dixie." You refer to everyone, whether a stranger or known person, as either "ma'am or sir." I rarely hear this is our region. I thought it was weird when my cousins were made to refer to everyone as either "ma'am or sir" by my aunt. Now I think it is a good practice to cultivate for etiquette. :)

So, who here consistenly and regularly uses ma'am and sir in their conversations? That should really tell the story...

12/09/2006 12:07 AM  
Blogger Robert said...

Lydia, after reading your post I was watching the movie "The Reivers" and in it the young boy greets a woman by bowing and saying "How do you do ma'am" and greets a man by putting out his hand and saying "How are you sir".It is good manners.

12/09/2006 8:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I meant to say Amy and not "Anonymous" in my comment.

12/12/2006 4:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home