Wednesday, November 08, 2006

I've Been Everywhere, Man

A tip of the Toque to Maximum Leader at Naked Villainy, who turned me on to this quiz:

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

The West
Boston
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The South
The Inland North
What American accent do you have?


The results aren't surprising, considering how much I've moved in my life -- Born in Oregon, I moved to California at 4 -- Southern first, then Northern. We moved to Idaho when I was in the 4th grade, and back to Oregon for my high school years. I went to bible college in Indiana, then moved to San Diego, then back to Oregon. Along the way I developed best friendships with Michiganders and Texans and married a Minnesotan. So like my ethnic background, I'm a dialectic mutt.

So what's the Oregon accent? It varies from region, but for the most part it's typically western -- slower, and a bit lazy in our pronunciation.