http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...000400040000k020l028020020l0000&_r=0

Wow! surprisingly accurate.

They only missed me by about 150-200 miles. Guess that's close for a Harvard guy.

Mine came up Oklahoma City, Little Rock and Lexington, Kentucky.

It had me down pat, pretty interesting as I have spent half of my life pretty far from home.

Nailed me. Grew up in ND and the ND was the brightest red.

Little Rock

Shreveport

San Antonio

never been to the first 2

Creepy accurate! Nailed my hometown.

The first two cities that showed up are less than a hundred miles from where I grew up ... which is almost between the two.

Spooky accurate.

Yeah .. pretty much "got" me. Couple things that didn't have "either" options and I say it two ways. Don't know how the other answer would have tipped the balance.

Y' know this thing is going to make me self-conscious now, right?

Tom

Same here, and what's even more surprising is that people where I grew up don't talk the same as when I lived there in my youth.

Paul

Very accurate.

Yep

It put me in Des Arc, Ar.

Miles Patton must have a "magnetic personality".

Damn. Apparently I have not left South Florida completely behind.

It nailed me. It listed Mobile, Montgomery and Columbus, GA. I live 35 miles south of Montgomery.

Small freshwater lobsters, yeah get the freak out of here with questions like that.

Also WTF is a "poor boy". I have NEVER seen that. It's called a Po-Boy.

It is pretty accurate however. It put me in both Baton Rouge, LA (my hometown) and Jackson, MS. I live equally between both now.

Birmingham, Jackson, Montgomery....got me pretty good.....

Mine came up Philadelphia, Baltimore and St. Louis. I grew up 50 miles from Philly and later lived 40 miles from Baltimore.

i'll be!!!! it put me rite smack in a hog pen!

It was pretty accurate for me.

I also hit the "show least similar" button and it came back Springfield, Worcester and Boston. I might need a translator to chat with Kamo Gari.

Spokane to Tacoma, and as far south east as Salt lake city.

Vancouver and Tacoma and I live right between the two geographically.

It also threw in Salt Lake City.

20 miles off. Pretty good.

Shreveport? Live there but guess I don't speak the language. Had me pegged for Jackson or Nawlens

Guess my north Louisiana accent through him off.

Well, I was redder than heck in Montana. So I guess that's about right.

Put me in tidewater Va area, I grew up in Hatteras so it's close.

Rockford

Des Moines

Toledo

I'm from NW PA...this stretches right down the I-80 and I-90...not too bad.

Very accurate, all three answers are within three hrs of where I grew up!!!!

Nailed me. Gave me Rockford, IL and I grew up 22mi west in Freeport.

They nailed my location, Chattanooga I am about 35 miles north of there.

Way off. Don't live nowhere close to Jackson Ms or Birmingham, Montgomery Ala.

Not EVEN close! Grand Rapids, Toledo, and Detroit. Three places that I have not been anywhere near.

Does this count as profiling?

Mine came up Salt Lake, Baton Rouge and Jackson.
I've never lived in either, have only been to one.

Closest place to me was Greensboro, NC about 125-150 miles too far East.

I guess that's pretty close for a Harvard Yankee Test.

That's funny, I got Pittsburgh (correct), Lexington KY and Tulsa, and I didn't even go for "yinz" on that question. They must speak quite properly in Lexington, though I'm pretty sure I've never been there.

Interesting: Rochester, New York; New York, New York; New Orleans, Louisiana. But, none of my heritage happens to originate from any of those regions of the United States and no one in my family tree has ever lived anywhere near those regions. So I guess it's "go figure".

I gave secondary responses to several questions as the nearest to what I use, so went back and took the test again. Giving initial secondary responses led to additional questions I didn't see on the first test. Some of the repeat questions had what would have been my first response had they been present.

Pfffft, not even close! Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane it says, but I was born and raised in Ontario! I was curious to see where it would place a Canuck.

took again and gave a little more thought to my answers



Lubbock

Amarillo

Fort Worth

all my family on my dad's side is from the pan handle specifically Lubbock and some from Amarillo.

Of the three cities, one was my hometown!

Got me, one of my three was Detroit, and I grew up 5miles from there.

Pretty close about 150 miles off.

Lincoln, Omaha, Des Moines


I live and grew up in Denver, but born in Des Moines family is from that area

Damned accurate...I live in SWOK, family from the KCMO area, shows OKC, Tulsa, and Springfield, MO.

My wife's family is from Western OK and the Texas Panhandle, and my daughter shows to have traits from OKC, Springfield, MO, and Amarillo, TX...Interesting.

Gave me Reno, Boise and Salt Lake City.
What was interesting to me is that my darkest areas were over the Sierras, the Rubies and the Rockies.
Mountain folk all talk the same?

Des Moines

Omaha

Stockton Calif.

I grew up 50 miles SW of Des Moines. (Winterset) 125 east of Omaha. I have never been to Stockton Calif. and have only been through the airport in Los Angeles 2 times. I guess a lot of Iowegians have moved to Stockton. kwg

I lived 50 miles or so from one city for three years and I have lived for 42 of my years on the very light red fringe of where they think I'm from. Whats funny to me as I think of the questions is that many of the pronunciations would vary with my perception of the people I am talking to and the environment I'm in at the time.

Took it again, some of the questions changed. This time I ended up as an Okie.

Language is interesting, but the dialects and local usage are being diluted both by mobile people and TV.

Weird. Unbelievably accurate.

It came up Madison & Milwaukee which is 40 - 100 miles from where I was born and lived for the first 35 years of my life.

WOW! Talk about nailing it!

Result showed a Google Earth picture of my boyhood home!

Stockton, Modesto and Salt Lake City!

Not that accurate, but I can think of why those were picked.

Sycamore

Very true, and by education level.

Sycamore

Came up Jackson MS, Columbus GA, and Wichita KS.

Born in NJ and raised in GA just north at Atlanta.

It put me right between Ft. Worth & Lubbock. Which is about exactly where I'm at.
Pretty amazing Quiz results.

Spooky!

Must be my cookies!

Mine came up as Cincinnati, Akron, and Dayton.

I'm from Cincy. However, Mom was born in Akron and Dayton is one of the spots she lived as she was growing up.

I'd say it was pretty spot-on. Gym shoes gave it away. Only someone from River City calls sneakers "Gym Shoes."

"Tree Lawn" came from Akron. "Lightning Bug" came from Dayton.

I tried to answer as honestly as possible and it dang near nailed my current location. Which is far from where I grew up. It's also weird because many people question where I'm from and say I don't use words common to where I live. Mostly, I think, because my parents never lost their dialects and accents.

So I took it again and tried to deceive it. And it put me in the same location.

I'm not sure what to think about this. I'd call BS on the test and say it's using the location of the nearest internet server, but some of you seem to indicate otherwise.

Weird.

I dunno.
It nailed me Ok with Springfield ,Ma., But Stockton and Buffalo?

Shreveport
Baton Rouge
New Orleans

Y'all and poboy got me.

Baton Rouge Y'all
New Orleans Neutral Ground
Jackson, MS 18-wheeler

Always wondered why people here in Montana could guess that I was from down south.

Tim

Me too

Nailed my Azz!

My family moved from where I grew over 40 years ago but it still nailed me. I live over 1000 miles from there now.

It kind of ticks me off how they put y'all at the bottom of the list. It was even under "other". It is evidently an important factor in the test. I took the test several times, changing various answers except the "y'all", and it always landed me in the South. The test hasn't put me close to my house yet though. They are still a couple of hundred miles off.

The three cities that it pulled up were Stockton, Santa Rosa, and Salt Lake city. If you draw a line between Stockton and Santa Rosa smack dab in the middle is Concord, Ca. I grew up in Oakland which is only about 20 miles away.

If that isn't weird enough I now live in Colorado and Salt Lake City is just about halfway between Fort Collins and Oakland.

It's an NSA website.

I was raised in northwestern rural ohio but I have lived my adult life in the deep south and south florida. Im told I speak a curious blend of the two dialects and phrases. I guess im a real mutt. Funny this test put me dead center between where I have lived north and south in Lexington Kentucky.

Interesting. Perhaps dialect is one if the most accurate profiling tools!?

I'm 1700 miles away from where I grew up and have been for over 15 years, but the quiz gave me Madison, WI; Grand Rapids, MI; and....Milwaukee, WI.

I was born in Milwaukee and grew up north of Green Bay.

Martinez, Port Chicago, Clyde.
Oakland? Was rough in the day.

It said I was in Richmond.

I'm near Ft. Lee.

Rough? Just a little.

One of my fondest memories of living in Oakland was riding in the car with my mom past the Alameda County Courthouse and seeing a Black Panther standing on the steps holding a shotgun.

----------------

It wasn't all bad. Less than a 1/2 mile away from the courthouse was the inlet to Lake Merrit where we caught stripers on an incoming tide.

But ... I did have a bunch of black kids strong arm rob my Rapalas one day.

got me down as SEattle Tacoma which is close to Victoria B.C.



there has also been a study done off hair samples to locate where you have been living in the last few years , I believe it's based on chemicals and vitimins

norm

Wow, it was so far off on me it, wasn't even close.
For most of the test, it showed I was not even from this country. It finally settled in Alabama and South Carolina, two places I have never even been close to.
No wonder people think I talk funny.

Very Accurate!

norm;
Merry Christmas to you and yours sir!

I took the test twice and one time got Spokane, someplace in Nebraska and another city in the mid west and then the second time landed squarely in the mid west.

As I was born and raised in the "mid west" of Saskatchewan, perhaps that follows?

I do know from our travels in the US I can get by speaking Texan, am fluent in Arizonan and almost need an interpreter to speak Bostonian.

Merry Christmas again to you all Norm.

Dwayne

can't be I am in north Alberta and it put me in Seattle key word was kitty corner

norm

You reckon...It seems to think I reside in Los Angeles, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, New York.

And I know I don't sound like a Yank.

and to you as well Dwayne and the family. we are hanging around o right now hows your weather?

norm

Norm;
Thanks for the reply.

It's -6� and calm, but we had a foggy day yesterday that turned into hoarfrost so the roads are a bit slick in spots.

Are you keeping warm up there?

Dwayne

My 12 year old just took the test and it was very accurate.
Funny thing was, several of the questions were different than the ones it ask me ten minuets ago.

Kitty-Corner and Pop.

Spokane, Wichita, and Des Moines.

Live most of my life here in Western Oregon, but a few years south of Wichita (Ponca City) in my late elementary and early teens.

Never been to Iowa.

It may have Gene, but I wasn't home. Had me further south. Shreveport, La-Jackson, Ms- and Birmingham, Al. miles

My wife often says "kitty corner" to describe the location of something, and I ask her "What the heck is that"?

If it means diagonally across from, why not just say so?

Paul

Way off for me, of course I've lived everywhere.

Properly it is catty corner. Shorter to say. Pop is the proper word, too. I will have to take it again and see where I come up this time. 18 wheelers are trucks, semi's, tractor trailers. I never liked youse, sounds ignorant to me. You all, or y'all is right when there is more than one person.

Picked my wife perfectly.

It had me as Salt Lake City, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

When they bought out all of Port Chicago, we were gonna move to Concord.
Then my dad decided CA. sucked and wanted to move back to Idaho.
Nice.......

OK, the wife took it and came out as Aurora/Denver, Wichita. Nailed it as we live in Aurora, and she is born and raised here, I was just raised. We are both from good old Missouri, Iowa stock, like a lot here.

Off topic but here's another tale from the hood ...

Just a few hundred yards away from the courthouse was the Masonic Lodge my dad attended. One evening three yutes decided to jump one of the members and steal his wallet but they picked the wrong man. He was one of my dad's buddies, a Korean war combat veteran, and he was highly skilled in Karate.

IIRC, one of 'em had a knife. He beat the schit out of all three of 'em and held them there until the cops arrived.

Strange:

It indicated is was from Stockton, California. Been through there but never lived there. Was born in Riverside and lived my early years in the Long Beach/Los Angeles area. Went to grade school with folks across the U.S.. Lots from Oklahoma and Texas. My Mother was born in Colorado my Father in Utah. My fraternal Grandfather was born in Minnesota, my Grandmother in Utah. My maternal Grandfather was born in Kansas and Grandmother was born in Kentucky. The area we moved to in Oregon when I was 12 years old had a large Norwegian
population. I guess I had my language influenced by a lot of different folks/cultures.

Not even close. Born and bred Texican. Makes me wonder how much taxpayer money they wasted on this "highly significant" study. And why. Sheeesh.

Jim

That makes sense, career military, (coastal)you moved all around, lived in FL with a lot of people from everywhere, so you got some western, some midwestern, and some southern influences.

Sycamore

that hoarfrost can be beautiful in the right place , staying fairly warm but coolder than normal and that -30 plus windchill gets to me big time

norm

Missed my birthplace and early years by 250 miles BUT, nailed exactly the place (Jersey City, NJ) where my parents were from. We all get language skills and verbiage from our parents, so ... this quiz was amazingly accurate.

If you take it more than once, the questions change.

The first time, it have me Denver. (I live in Colorado Springs.)

The second time it gave me Salt Lake City. (I grew up near Ogden.)

Probably none; most likely the research was done as a doctoral thesis. The story says "Most of the questions used in this quiz are based on those in the Harvard Dialect Survey, a linguistics project begun in 2002 by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder. The original questions and results for that survey can be found on Dr. Vaux's current website."

It pinned me down within fifty miles of where I live in Alabama, named closest city Birmingham AL.

Satan has been know to grant powers to his loyal followers...

wife just did it 3000 miles out Rockford Ill .

she grew up and born on Vancouver Island.

guess their not 100% accurate !!!!

norm

One more tale ...

My dad and I visited the man that schooled the yutes and he spoke of one cold winter night in Korea. He was sleeping in fox hole and another man slipped in, sat next to him, and fell asleep. When he woke up he realized the man sleeping next to him was a North Korean soldier. KA-BAR.

No BS. True story.

Laffin'.

I took it.
Seems to me like with a few clues on vernacular, they can then present a 1000 mile line of three for you to be close to and be close the majority of the time. Or not.

Holy smokes.
Whoever woke up first at daylight wins.
KA-BAR.

I wonder if it works better if you answer with your 'original' dialect.there were several questions where the answers were different if I plugged in what I say now vs. how I pronounced things growing up.

I answered the questions the way I was raised and it was spot on. No doubt would've changed a bit if I plugged in my 'changes'. Still pretty interesting.

The quiz picked two places in which I've never lived, but they were the two significant cities nearest my parents' hometowns.

I got Cincy, Long Beach, and Fresno. One out of three?

They left out "warsh". Grandma and Mom both said it that way, my wife does too at times. My 7th grade GF said hydrant for a water faucet, and don't forget "pokes".

A long time ago there was a PBS series: "The Story of English" with Bill Moyers. Facinating to hear the dialects from such places as Okrakoke Island, and the Gullah. How the states got their shapes covered some of the same.

When I started school the teacher had a heck of a time trying to teach me to say chimney instead of chimbley, like my Grandma. miles

Ha! Missed my hometown by 7,000 miles....

Seems to think I belong in Stockton, CA. Not.

That's a 'chiminey'.

"Warsh" drives me nuts. Yep, were driving to warshington next week.

Drinking fountain or bubbler?