Fun dialect quiz

[Mom22ns]

I got St. Louis, MO and that is where I grew up. 

[Tree Frog]

I got the exact same 3 cities which makes sense since I grew up north of that area.  However, I have no idea what runners are, I didn't pick that for any of the answers and since I had an answer in my head before I read the choices I didn't read through all the choices.  So I'm curious as to what you are referring to as "runners" that makes you think it was distinct to the area.

 

Edit: went back and read the rest of the responses and see you took it again with different questions  That makes so much more sense.  I couldn't figure out which of the questions I had would possibly be called runners.

 

Runners are a type of athletic shoe, like tennis shoes or walking shoes. Growing up, I would have called them "tennies."

[Kareni]

I took the quiz and ended up with three answers ~ New York, Baltimore, and Jackson.  These are three places in which I've never lived, though I have lived in Guam, Florida, Texas, New England, and a couple of western states.

 

Admittedly, I was not born in the US, so clearly I'm not the target audience for the quiz. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[HS Mom in NC]

I can imagine in regions like PHX area it's very difficult to define (or whichever verb applies) a dialect because most adults (Gen X, Baby Boomers and WWII Generations) who live here aren't from here.  I'm 43 and people are very surprised to hear I was born and raised here because most people my age and older moved here as adults or older children.  My family members, as an example, are typical:

 

Maternal Grandmother-born and raised in KY, arrived as a young adult

Maternal Grandfather-born in OK, raised in OK until 12, raised to adulthood in KY, arrived as a young adult

Mother-born in MS, arrived as an infant (unusual)

Father-born in MA, raised in ME, arrived as a young adult

Step-father-born and raised in VA, arrived as a young adult.

Step-mother #1-don't know

Step-mother #2-born and raised in ME, arrived as a young adult
me-born and raised here

bio brother-born and raised here
Step-brothers-born in FL, arrived as young children, raised here

 

Other regions that have a large influx of people from all over the country over a long period of time probably have difficult to define dialects too. I assume that will affect the accuracy of these kinds of quizzes.  Moving in childhood and young adulthood probably does too.

 

[Lady Florida.]

Those are often tricky for me. I never know if I should answer based on what words/accents I grew up using or how I speak now. I came to Florida at 13. so it's not as though I didn't have a fully developed dialect when we moved here. I lost my NJ accent long ago but I have a few words that still come out now and then. Also, there's one particular term that seems to place me in a specific location in NJ. 

 

Spending the rest of my years in Florida, starting as a teen, I've been around people from all over the country and we have a mix of words different people brought here that "took".

 

Edited April 25, 2016 by Lady Florida.