What American accent do you have? | Comments

Mine came out as inland north--a few hundred miles off in latitude, since I was born and grew up in Oklahoma. I had trouble with the merry, marry, mary question, since marry and mary sound alike and merry different to me. No answer allowed that choice. I have to admit that my fellow rural Okies used to accuse me of sounding like a New Yorker, although I had never heard one to compare with at the time. (This was before we got our first TV, so I didn't hear much in the way of samples of other region's speech.)

Still, the quiz was fun.

I have a western accent

Does upstate New York Count as Inland North?

This quiz is utter BS. I was born in Los Angeles, and raised in the San Fernando Valley - near thirty years of my life. I am now in MI (have been for a couple years now), and people here tell me *ALL* the time that I have an "accent" that sounds vaguely "surfer". This quiz just said I have a Midland accent. That's utter BS. 1 star out of 10. :o(

"If you're from anywhere in the USA you have an accent (which may or may not be the accent of the place you're from)."

So those other 6 and a half billion or so people...they don't count.

Just thought this sentence could use some rewording :P

So NewYorkJulie and Speaks - are you saying that the quiz accurately rates you according to your perceived voice or speaking voice? I was ranked as Inland North (Chicago/Great Lakes), but I am from the DEEP South; the furthest South you can go in the US without entering Mexico. In addition, I have never lived in any state other than Texas.

inland north, wisconsin.....wait im from california!??!?

I wholeheartedly agree with Speaks, the SLPA. If the questions were answered correctly, the test is very accurate. It's difficult for the average person to perceive their own subtle vowel distortions, but we Speech & Language people have been transcribing the sounds for years. My test results said Inland-North and had me pegged on the Great Lakes. Right on! When we tell people in other parts of the country that we are from NY, they can't believe it. Most think the NYC city twang of "Noo Yawkahs" is typical for all of us, but it's those regionalisms again! And yes, we do drink "pop."

I must say, I've never even been to America, so i was interested to see what it would say. I got New York/Jersey and i guess they would have the most normal sounding accents, so yeh. unlike all those other weird american freaks lol, no offense.

incorrect, i definatly have a northeast accent and was considered as an inland north

Way off, says I've got a Jersey or New York accent. I'm from the Oregon coast. Lived here all my life to, lol. Though I visited the East for 8 days last summer...

i got exactly where i live, great lakes area

i'm always asked if i'm from chicago, which i am.

My results were really interesting to me. I was pegged as being from Philadelphia or nearby southern environs -South Jersey, Baltimore, Wilmington. Technically, it's incorrect. However, the interesting thing is that I was born and raised in a town 95 miles northwest of Philly. My hometown closely identified with the Philly area and we only ever received the 3 network TV stations from Philadelphia. I learned and talked the way I heard people on TV - from Philadelphia.

I have lived in SoCal all my life and it says I sounds like I'm out of Fargo...or Minnesota. =/ Maybe North Central and California regionalisms sounds similar?

Aww...I am a SoCal surfer...lol

i'm from california where we don't prononce our consinents at the end of words and i know i do that but this quiz said i was from the mideastern US

Hi Danny et al,

Yes, the Brits do have an accent, as do we from their perspective, but when you're comparing regions of the USA, they are called regionalisms. "Accents" usually identify Italians, French, Germans, Brits, etc. I don't know why this hasn't become more popular knowledge, but it hasn't. By the same token, just FYI, most newscasters speak in "Standard American English" which makes it almost impossible to tell from which area of the country they have been raised.

Speaks, i dont think i completey agree with you. english is native to britain and we still say that so and so has brit accent. in the same way we have american accent. ask any brit if he agrees with ya.

I hate to correct ALL of you guys, but we don't have "accents," we have "regionalisms." Foreign people have accents. Now, for those of you who don't think that you "sound" like the quiz says you do, you are probably not quite able to answer these questions with real accuracy because you think that you pronounce words in a different manner.For example, don't we all HATE how we sound on a taped message of ourselves????? We NEVER sound like that..... Our perceptions of ourselves can sometimes be quite different. Sorry to bore you, but I have a Master's Degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology. SUNY Albany, '76. Yup--upstate New York--and the quiz nailed it.

It hit it right on the spot! S-Cali...love ya!

Got the area right - Minnesota. But we do NOT sound like the actors in FARGO or Canada for that matter eh, I don't know anyone here in Northern MN that talks like the Movie Fargo, and I am pretty far north. Maybe you are thinking of North Dakota as Fargo is not in Minnesota.

Did this quiz because I was home sick and bored. I had same result as English-bloke on here. Said I must be North East of States and am actually in England (North-West to be precise). North West English accents are VERY different from those who live in the North East lol. Even some English people have trouble telling what Geordies (NE people) are saying!

Interesting quiz. A good start but not quit there. I'm about as far north in Minnesota as you can get and the quiz put me in SoCal, Florida or Texas in a big city. I'm a country boy although I did spend twenty years in Minneapolis.

I was in Wyoming and folks there pegged me as a Canadian so I do have an accent even though the quiz says I probably don't.

North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.

Hahah. I am Canadian. X]

Got it right, certainly. I am a Boston gal ;)