[C.A.T.S. CEO]

The Yankee or Dixie Quiz

43% Yank here.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO 

Are you a Yank or a Southerner?

No.

[KeriVit]

Originally Posted by C.A.T.S. CEO 

The Yankee or Dixie Quiz

43% Yank here.

So wouldn't that make you a southerner?

[Oisín]

Being a Scando, I’d have to say neither. I guess the test page is clever enough to know that, ’cause it stubbornly refused to work.


Also:

11. What do you call gym shoes?
– Sneakers
– Tennis shoes
– Gymshoes
– Runnning shoes

What the hell kind of question is that? I call gym shoes gym shoes, of course. I don’t call them tennis shoes or running shoes because tennis shoes and running shoes are different shoes altogether.

[Zeeb]

I have no idea, the page refused to work for me either. . .

[dav]

53% dixie

[Luca Rescigno]

The test didn't work for me. I read the introduction at the top and it said that it'll get messed up if you change your answers, even before hitting compute. So you have to clear the entire page if you make any changes.

Not worth the time. Also, a lot of the options are dumb. The bug that rolls up into a ball? I don't know what that is, obviously I don't have a name for it.

[Zeeb]

All right, it worked this time! I'm 53% Dixie even though I grew up in Michigan. I thought the night before Halloween was Devil's Night everywhere. . .

[Oisín]

The night before Halloween is Réir Shamhna to me. I didn’t know there was anything special about it in the States, I thought only the old Irish celebrated it.

And I don’t know any bugs that roll into balls when you touch them, either. Nor do I have the faintest idea what that road along the interstate is called, or have any preference for what to call throwing toilet paper over a house (papering, toilet papering, and TP’ing all sound equally logical to me, but it’s not an activity I engage in frequently).


At least the site worked for me now, too, though. Apparently I’m “56% (Dixie). Barely into the Dixie category.”

[davidg14]

Compute my score doesn't work!

[Randman]

I was born and raised in New Mexico and got a score of 70% Southerner. Hmmm. This after living in 7 different states in every part of the US as well as 8 years in Asia.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by davidg14 

Compute my score doesn't work!

Try opening the site anew. It seems pretty buggy.

[ghporter]

62% Dixie according to the survey. But "where you're from" isn't always the controlling factor in "how you talk now." For example, my word for "the bug that rolls up into a ball" when I was a kid was "pillbug," but my East-Texas bred wife called 'em "rolly pollys" to our son, and I sort of picked it up. From the offered list, I say "y'all" instead of "you uns" or "youse", but I usually say "you folks". Of course I've worked on my enunciation and pronunciation over time so my current accent is no longer anything like my original accent (and it isn't a Texas accent, either).

And why ever ISN'T the night before Halloween called Devil's Night everywhere?

[KeriVit]

Well, 64% Dixie anyway.

[davidg14]

I tried again.
53% Yank here.

[MacosNerd]

Neither, I'm an American

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

What the hell kind of question is that? I call gym shoes gym shoes, of course. I don’t call them tennis shoes or running shoes because tennis shoes and running shoes are different shoes altogether.

Yes but the heavy marketing of the distinction between different types of shoes like that is relatively recent, maybe a few decades, I'm not sure. But lots of people - at least lots of Americans - wear tennis or running shoes even if they don't play tennis or run. They just wear them around for casual shoes, and have gotten into the habit of calling them by the specific name (even if it doesn't strictly apply).

If that makes your head explode, try figuring out why some people call all soft drinks "coke."

[Shaddim]

62% (Dixie).

[villalobos]

Originally Posted by MacosNerd 

Neither, I'm an American

Then you are a yankee.

[Zeeb]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

And why ever ISN'T the night before Halloween called Devil's Night everywhere?

It's a weird Detroit thing. It began years ago with kids doing petty vandalism for kicks. As Detroit slowly fell into ruin and people moved away--the kids started burning empty houses down on that night every year. However, the owners of those abandoned homes would burn them down themselves and blame it on Devil's Night arsonists. It wasn't all bad, empty houses tend to turn into crack houses. . .though the arsonists weren't the most responsible of course and many occupied homes burned too.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

And I don’t know any bugs that roll into balls when you touch them, either.

We have pillbugs all over Germany; I'd be very surprised if you didn't get them in Denmark.
We call them "Kellerasseln".

[sek929]

47% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

[Oisín]

^^ That looks vaguely familiar. We probably do have them, I just don’t know them, or at least I don’t know their names. But I generally suck at names from the flora, so don’t take that to mean too much.

According to Wikipedia, though, those things are technically called armadillidiidae, which I thought was just a bit too precious not to post here.

If that makes your head explode, try figuring out why some people call all soft drinks "coke."

Yeah, that one made me pause and raise my eyebrow a bit, too. I thought it was perhaps some kind of subtle joke, that the guy who did the test loves Coke so much that he refused to acknowledge the existence of any other soft drink. I just said ‘soda’ for that one, though I’d use ‘soft drink’ too—just not in the same way. On a menu, I’d expect to see ‘Soft Drinks’; but I wouldn’t ask a guest, “Do you want a soft drink out of the fridge?”.

[SpaceMonkey]

"39% (Yankee). A definitive Yankee."

You see that? I am definitive!

(Originally from upstate NY)

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by Zeeb 

It's a weird Detroit thing. It began years ago with kids doing petty vandalism for kicks. As Detroit slowly fell into ruin and people moved away--the kids started burning empty houses down on that night every year. However, the owners of those abandoned homes would burn them down themselves and blame it on Devil's Night arsonists. It wasn't all bad, empty houses tend to turn into crack houses. . .though the arsonists weren't the most responsible of course and many occupied homes burned too.

The only reason why I could answer "Devil's Night" is because of watching the movie "The Crow."

[iM@k]

I prefer the term "French-Candian English Irish American"

Although according to the quiz, I'm 50% Yankee which I guess is fair since My fathers side of the family are "rednecks" which has the heart of it's culture in the south.

[Mastrap]

48% Yankee, which is unusual for a Canadian.

[jonn804]

83% Southern

[Buckaroo]

49% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

My father was from the North, and my mother was from the South. They settle in the North.

[DKeithA]

70% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

[quesera]

60% Southerner or Dixie or whatever it definitively said

[Buckaroo]

Originally Posted by analogika 

We have pillbugs all over Germany; I'd be very surprised if you didn't get them in Denmark.
We call them "Kellerasseln".

Rolly Poly

[KeriVit]

They're fun to play with and roll around.

[Buckaroo]

Yeah, I remember them when I was young. They were strange. They would roll up in a ball.

[Buckaroo]

I never looked that close up to one, and they always seemed to be all rolled up so fast I don't remember them looking like the one above.

[Lateralus]

Only 49% yankee...

[JohnM15141]

Apparantly I'm a southerner by dialect but a yankee by conviction!

Go Bluecoats! Kick them rebels arse!

[NZFL]

If the Civil War had not happened, or the outcome different. Do you think they would have abolished Slavery and or created a totally independent South? And if the South had won, what would America be like today? Same? or different.
I am neither Yank or Southerner, but do sympathize with the south as they have the Dukes of Hazzard and Daisy Duke.

[64stang06]

50% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

[iM@k]

Originally Posted by NZFL 

If the Civil War had not happened, or the outcome different. Do you think they would have abolished Slavery and or created a totally independent South? And if the South had won, what would America be like today? Same? or different.
I am neither Yank or Southerner, but do sympathize with the south as they have the Dukes of Hazzard and Daisy Duke.

Check out C.S.A. The Movie Website Available on iTunes. It's an interesting perspective answer the question.

[NZFL]

Originally Posted by iM@k 

Check out C.S.A. The Movie Website Available on iTunes. It's an interesting perspective answer the question.

Spike Lee is a genius.
Very funny and yes, totally answered my question. LOL

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by iM@k 

Check out C.S.A. The Movie Website Available on iTunes. It's an interesting perspective answer the question.

Harry Turtledove's "Timeline-191" series is also interesting:
Harry Turtledove - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It assumes that both the USA and the CSA would have existed through WWII.

[Railroader]

44% (Yankee). Barely into the Yankee category.

Surprising since I spent the last 36 of 37 years in mid-Michigan.

Originally Posted by Oisín

Yeah, that one made me pause and raise my eyebrow a bit, too. I thought it was perhaps some kind of subtle joke, that the guy who did the test loves Coke so much that he refused to acknowledge the existence of any other soft drink. I just said ‘soda’ for that one, though I’d use ‘soft drink’ too—just not in the same way. On a menu, I’d expect to see ‘Soft Drinks’; but I wouldn’t ask a guest, “Do you want a soft drink out of the fridge?”.

Coke-a-Cola's headquarters is in/near Atlanta, Georgia and effects the economy down there so much that people call all soft drinks/pop/sodas "Coke".

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

Originally Posted by KeriVit 

So wouldn't that make you a southerner?

I think the other 67% is terms that are used nationwide, not in the south.

[Don Pickett]

70% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

Makes sense when you consider where I'm from.

[Uriel]

43% Yankee despite growing up in the heart of Arkansas.

As far as the term "coke" goes, yes most people in the south refer to all soft-drinks as "coke". Such as "Would you like a coke?"..."Yes? Ok well what kind of coke? We have coke, diet coke, dr. pepper, etc." Honestly it drives me crazy and I normally refer to them as soda/soft drinks.

[Atomic Rooster]

Yankees are from New England and New York. It means you are a cheapskate and garbage-picker. It's a derogatory name so I would not admit to being a Yankee if I were anyone.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster 

Yankees are from New England and New York. It means you are a cheapskate and garbage-picker. It's a derogatory name so I would not admit to being a Yankee if I were anyone.

No, it means I'm a doodle-dandy.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster 

It means you are a cheapskate and garbage-picker. It's a derogatory name so I would not admit to being a Yankee if I were anyone.

In the 1800s maybe. It's not that big a deal now. Unless you're a Red Sox fan.

Yankee: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

WORD HISTORY The origin of Yankee has been the subject of much debate, but the most likely source is the Dutch name Janke, meaning “little Jan” or “little John,” a nickname that dates back to the 1680s. Perhaps because it was used as the name of pirates, the name Yankee came to be used as a term of contempt. It was used this way in the 1750s by General James Wolfe, the British general who secured British domination of North America by defeating the French at Quebec. The name may have been applied to New Englanders as an extension of an original use referring to Dutch settlers living along the Hudson River. Whatever the reason, Yankee is first recorded in 1765 as a name for an inhabitant of New England. The first recorded use of the term by the British to refer to Americans in general appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Lord Horatio Nelson, no less. Around the same time it began to be abbreviated to Yank. During the American Revolution, American soldiers adopted this term of derision as a term of national pride. The derisive use nonetheless remained alive and even intensified in the South during the Civil War, when it referred not to all Americans but to those loyal to the Union. Now the term carries less emotion—except of course for baseball fans.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

^^ That looks vaguely familiar. We probably do have them, I just don’t know them, or at least I don’t know their names. But I generally suck at names from the flora, so don’t take that to mean too much.

But you blow at names from the fauna, so that makes up for it.