Ooh, just one more.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

25% Dixie

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

These things are addictive.
I found this one pretty interesting. I was born in Kansas, spent childhood years in Texas and Louisiana, and moved to Texas as soon as I was old enough to get away from Louisiana. One thing I learned after moving to Texas that time was to smooth out the cajunisms I'd picked up in Louisiana.

Don't get me wrong - it's a wonderful place to grow up, because you're surrounded by a rich, cultural tapestry and diversity that is rare to find in many places - and you can play outside all year long. But, there are drawbacks, too. Socio-economic issues aside, one issue for me was language. I have no problem with native Louisianians expressing themselves linguistically, as you do when you inherit the culture. But I was an outsider, whose language obtained a cajun-infused linguistic sheen over time, like mildew on a fallen log. This resulted in, after moving only two hours away, being asked what country I was from - more than once. And, personally, it's hard to take someone seriously when they're speaking in a syrupy southern drawl. It doesn't matter if that person is a Nobel prize-winning physicist, explaining a new technological breakthrough, weyen thay start tawlkin’ liyuk theeyus, I simply tune out.

So I focused on having more of a CNN tone – location of upbringing undetectable. And it worked. In fact, it may have worked too well. It prevented me from speaking appropriate cowboy-ese. Although after listening to “Dub-yah”, maybe that’s not such a bad thing, after all. Keep ‘em guessin’.

At any rate, what I found most interesting is that while, for the most part, my word choices are general Americanese, I have what looks like a contradictory mix of some Yankee, and some Dixie. How I managed to avoid the Midwest phrasings, I don’t know…because, after all, I was born in the Midwest, and recently moved to the Midwest for work. As for the Yankee bit, I’ve only lived in that region a few months – not nearly long enough to pick up the lingo, and make it stick.