photo by Miikka Skaffari
Hey y’all! It’s time for something completely different! I found a little quiz to see how you pronounce certain words and to see if you have any regionally-specific vocabulary for certain items. I also did my own little voice recording so you can laugh at my accent:
Listen to me explain the challenge and answer the questions.
Words to pronounce:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
Questions to answer:
- What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
- What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
- What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
- What do you call gym shoes?
- What do you say to address a group of people?
- What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
- What do you call your grandparents?
- What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
- What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
- What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
It’s free over at vocaroo.com. All you need is a microphone. You can share your voice by pressing “Post on the internet” and copying the “vocaroo link.”
If you want to blog your version of the challenge, leave a comment with a link so I can listen! If you don’t have a blog, just record your voice and paste the link in the comments box.
48 Comments
Trackbacks
- I’m not dead! I don’t want to go on the cart!!! « The Secret Atheist
- Godless Girls Voice Challenge | The Agnostics Wife's Blog
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Derp!
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vlS1SW1hWOAM0sWb5
“Seattle” was probably your best answer. I chuckled in mirth!
Here you go. I am SUCH an aspie
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vSWVNUonbx7tMSA6W
You definitely win with “splitting image!” And I laughed at your answer to the spider question.
Hear my carefully scripted non-regional Canadian dialect! (contains profanity)
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vLSoaizvke7tVP2s0
So when are you gonna smack me? Huh? You’d best get on that. I’ll go grab the clicker.
Beer! Of course!
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vCZbisJPlaRg8tWRY
I am older than i sound….I think. >_<
Loved listening to you! Where are you from?
georgia. ^^
Not all that different from your accent c:
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vA6W2hDWHqEZE4ezG
btw, native Milwaukeeans refer to drinking fountains as “bubblers”
Thanks for sharing! You definitely sound like a Wisconsinite to me! I hear it in your vowels
I remember the first time I heard someone use “bubbler,” and it was hilarious to me. She also called ATMs “NYCE Machines” I think? Do you know about that?
I have yet to hear someone say “NYCE Machines”, hehe.
Some people say we have lazy vowels. I say we have awesome ones.
I don’t post often (ever?) on here, so hopefully I don’t ruin everything forever by doing this when I’m sleepy as hell/losing my voice… I’m not always this awkward. Either way. The challenge was too interesting to resist.
http://vocaroo.com/?media=v9dT5hH6FfSNPelIv
You have a lovely voice
I could’ve sworn you weren’t native to the States. Words like “caught,” “coupon,” and “theater” definitely don’t sound midwestern to me. Charming 
rambling ridiculous idiocy, brought to you by three in the morning:
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vr6Qd1CyyyxUT7r54
Haha, did you regret posting it at 3am? Your commentary made me smile.
Mad points for clarifying STNG’s “Data!”
I had to clarify! I can’t have people thinking I pronounce Data’s name wrong because I say “dah-ta” instead of “day-ta”. Data is my one true love, I do not ever want him to think I’m like Dr. Pulaski!
Okay, and I also have no regrets.
http://vocaroo.com/?media=v6eu4j83LlAAYJg27
Loved listening to that
Can you explain what’s different about Pittsburghese by chance? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it.
Have a UK accent
Sorry about the awful quality.
http://vocaroo.com/?media=v3kZ21dIQbFIn61pV
I pity all of you UKers who have never thrown toilet paper on a house! It’s a grand ol’ time.
I laughed out loud at “younger sibling!”
Here you go nother UK accent…
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vXuVlpXi43VWBgxHF
I really can’t get enough of you folks from over the ocean! Such fun to listen to. I have always wanted to change my vocab for some things. I particularly like “trainers” and “trolley,” but that just won’t fly out here.
Midwest gals rule!
http://vocaroo.com/?media=v3ls9O473bEO4ZuQs
It doesn’t sound to me like the UK has infected your accent yet! Are you trying to resist?
I’ve never heard “sody” before. Was that something other people around you called it?
Thanks for following my feed! I’m glad you came out of lurking mode to say hi.
Nope, not infected by the UK, but I’ve only been here 2 months. LOL
I’m not sure where “sody” came from. My sister said it and people in our hometown. Perhaps it’s just a hometown thing.
From small town Ontario, Canada: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vjxAZTR93BXynEwuF
(If you’d have “either,” “neither,” “rather,” and “envelope,” you’d have heard from grandfather’s British influence. Alas, they did not appear.)
*my, not *from. Geez.
Oh, I wish you could have said those extra words out loud anyway!
I like when people have vocabulary aberrations. Thanks for sharing!
Here you go: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vGt2MZEV2x7j0A78X
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vhjbBKnzbSqWhOQTT
I’m in my late forties, and I’ve been learning English since I was 9. I’ve spent a year in Florida, a couple of months in California and another couple of months in British Columbia. Other than that, my visits abroad have been short. Occasionally I’ve been mistaken for a native speaker of English, but never for a local, as far as I know, no matter where I’ve been.
I think your dialect, inflection, and accent are fascinating. Thanks so much for contributing!
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vBw9spJTZ7LbTYXtc
I left Texas after graduating from high school when I joined the Army. I tried desperately to conceal my drawl (or as some call it, twang) but some people have been able to place me back to Texas when they first meet me. Dang!
Of course sometimes I have fun with it and just go off in Texan (although I must admit my southern vocabulary is severely lacking). Without using words like ain’t and ya’ll, or phrases like “I’m fixin’ to record my voice for the whole, wide Internet”, you lose some of the effect.
Anyhow, this seemed like a fun thing to try. I have always been fascinated with regional dialects and accents and often poll my co-workers to hear the differences. Thanks Godless Girl!!
Thanks for sharing! I can definitely hear the southern in your “ire” sounds like “fire.”
I’ve also never heard “wrapping a house” before.
The links aren’t working for me right now and I’m not in a place where I can record my own, but I really want to!
I desperately wish I had a New Orleans accent, but I don’t! Though Mathias/tangentbot does make fun of the way I pronounce the word “room”. ^_^
I haven’t done it just yet, but at your mean insistence on twitter last night (https://twitter.com/#!/godlessgirl/status/64854152647409664), I’ll record one tonight. (I fell asleep while playing Portal 2, so that’s why I didn’t do it last night)
Alas, I don’t have a microphone. I have a fairly neutral Ohioan/Standard American accent, though, nothing special. You should have asked “What do you call that strip of grass between the sidewalk and the road?” Akron area, it’s called the “Devil Strip” Most of NE Ohio calls it the “Tree Lawn” and most others I’ve spoken to have no idea
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vhJoYKrGtozgQJFyZ
I added either, either, envelope, our, and rather.
Here is my link: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vYy3ZC8gLXs4Y1oLE
I may have to do this in a bit when I’m where my working mic is. Interestingly, I pronounce “caramel” two different ways. When I worked at a coffeeshop any of our drinks with the word in the name I would pronounce CAR-mel but when describing the ingredients I would say that they had CARE-a-mel in them. I’m weird, I know.
Alright, here you go: http://vocaroo.com/?media=vSeN1h7ct6lsxLyQY
I tend to ramble…
Ah, the southern explanation for sun showers is the DEVIL is beating his wife. All my life I have wondered why God would beat his wife if he was such a good guy. I mean, I now see that it would likely be the kind of thing he WOULD do, but back then I was confused about it.
Ah, I re-listened to Godlessgirl’s recording and understand the gymn shoes question a little better. I think that tennis shoes are different than gym shoes, since they are for tennis. I think, are there any differences in like, basketball shoes and tennis shoes? I know there can be differences in running shoes and walking shoes and tennis shoes… I guess I tend to try to be specific rather than general in most things.
Like I said… I ramble.
Another English one coming up
http://vocaroo.com/?media=vG8HcFGoIozTRn8RX
You have The Secret Atheist to thank for sending me this way.
I’ve lived all over the UK http://vocaroo.com/i/s04YsyHqKked