Sunday, September 13, 2009

Yankee or Dixie?

So are you a Yank or does Dixie blood run through your veins?
Perhaps you are an expatriate from the U.S. and you're like me... been away so long these lines are not so clear.

Maybe the American readers would take 3 minutes and visit the Yankee/Rebel site for a short quiz.
Answer from your gut, the first relation you have.

As a person who is living outside of my native tongue I am frequently assaulted with the incredible differences we have in language usage. This little test just highlighted that I am a product of a great mixture of such "slang".

Personally I am 38% Dixie. I may have been raised by a Missouri Irish woman, but I guess that didn't sink in. You should see my answers though... ALL over the place.

Please if ya'all take the time to do the test, I would love to read a bit the results in the comments. (note that I threw in the ONE word which got me some points for being from the south).

16 comments:

cliff1976 said...

I got:

40% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

and can live with that. But I was really surprised to see how many expressions were flagged as Great Lakes or Michigan-specific.

G in Berlin said...

46% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

That's just crazy talk, I must say.
Not that I would have any problem with being Southern, but all our American life has been spent in New York. That's Mid-Atlantic, of course, but not exactly Dixie. A bad test, I think.

Anonymous said...

58% Dixie. Barely in Dixie

Although I was torn on a few of them - my speech is super polluted. I've picked up some weird habits, though. There were a couple of things I say that were tagged as exclusive to New England.

tqe / Adam said...

Oh dear, I'm

41% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom.

I know I picked up the word "y'all" while living in Wyoming--I tried to fight it, but I lost; but the rest?! Maybe I learned more while in Indiana that I suspected.

The Honourable Husband said...

6% Dixie. Need help digging out of the snow?

Perhaps I'm a special case.

Treff said...

24% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

Only the guy that lived in Australia for 1/2 his life beat me! :)

@Cliff- I too was surprised at the amount of Great Lakes specific language. I didn't know we were so special!

Unknown said...

Yehaw y'all.

I'm a Yankee :)

35% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

I kind of thought so but then why do I like the South so much?

BBQ, pie, BBQ....

Emily said...

Well, I'm not American, but had to try it anyway. The result of a mixed-up British/Swede who lived most of her life in the Netherlands and France?

26% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

That's a lot more Dixie than I thought I'd get! :)

Maria said...

I was 76% Dixie. Being from the prairie, this sort of surprised me. But, my partner was born and raised in New Orleans, so maybe she is rubbing off on me.

C N Heidelberg said...

29% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

My answers varied between "most of US" and "western Great Lakes/midwest".

Jan said...

I don't even have to take this test - I'm so Southern it's not even funny.

However, I'll go see what it says, just for shits and giggles.

Jan said...

Yup, this was my result:

"100% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?!"

May I just say that most of my responses were Texas-biased, if they could be. We're a whole 'nother coutnry; just ask our tourism board.

CrackerLilo said...

"71% Dixie. Your neck must be a just little rosy!"

Like I needed a quiz to tell me that! Took it anyway, though.

A couple of my responses biased towards the Great Lakes, but my mom and her people are from Michigan. At least I don't drink "pop"! Also, apparently "sneakers" is a Northeastern thing, but I have lived in NYC for five years. Weird how that works!

Goofball said...

25% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle.

christina said...

Well, as a Canadian from the West Coast I'm happy to report my score as: 24% Dixie. You are a dandy Yankee Doodle. Anything else would have just been weird. :-)

The bug thing got me - we call them wood bugs!

J said...

33% Dixie. You are definitely a Yankee.

The bug one got me too, as did the crawfish one. The latter is probably because I don't eat seafood and learned that word on a visit to New Orleans.

Quite interesting. I'm from the west, but my parents are from the east so I had quite a few eastern answers.

I laughed at the frosting/icing thing. My mom says one and my dad the other.