Regional Terms

[SmurfBlueSnuggie]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/75727/

The second time I took this (I can't remember two of the cities I got the first time. Spokane and two in roughly the Bay Area) I got Spokane, Seattle, and Santa Rosa.

I was born in the Bay Area, where my mom grew up and my dad lived for several years. It makes sense that, although Santa Rosa is a bit further north than my family is, I would have linguistic tendencies from there. I grew up in Washington, but not near either Seattle or Spokane. I don't understand how I keep getting Spokane. It's on the east side of the state, which is quite different from the west, where I live. I'm also not sure how I don't get a city point in Utah. Granted, it is very dark red. But considering that I lived there for four years, my dad was raised there, I have visited every year since I was a baby, and I would think some of the common terms there would be shared more widely amongst Mormons, it surprises me.

Overall, I think the color coding makes a lot of sense, but the selection of specific cities doesn't. Using a multiple-choice test skews the answers a bit, and there are only so many words they tested.

[Whistler]

I think if the test is having a hard time pinpointing you, it asks you more or different questions (for example, my husband was asked what you call raining when the sun is shining, which in South Africa is a monkey's wedding, I think). But it only has so many locations and dialects for sure.

[NerdGirl]

I feel like this is the right place for me to say that in Saskatchewan, they call hoodies "bunny hugs," and that is not okay.

[Katya]

I feel like this is the right place for me to say that in Saskatchewan, they call hoodies "bunny hugs," and that is not okay.

Those darn Saskatchewanenianers!

[SmurfBlueSnuggie]

Bunny hugs. That's hysterical. I think I might start doing this just to confuse people.

[Dragon Lady]

I had an Australian roommate who called a sweater a jumper. I remember one day when she was frantically looking everywhere for her jumper and asking if we had seen it and we were all confused and saying that we'd never seen her wear a blue jumper and her being confused because she wore it *all the time!* She finally found it and that's when we discovered the different terminology.