[Oisín]

Originally Posted by analogika 

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

Exactly.
I can’t believe no one before you even noticed that one

[OreoCookie]

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.

In PA you call 'em usually sneakers regardless what they are for.
Unless you go to a real sports goods store (not Foot Locker) and ask for something specific, of course.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

In PA you call 'em usually sneakers regardless what they are for.
Unless you go to a real sports goods store (not Foot Locker) and ask for something specific, of course.

Yeah, ‘sneakers’ works, because sneakers (or trainers) is a generic term that covers all manner of different athletic shoes. Gym shoes are sneakers, but sneakers are not necessarily gym shoes.

The question was kind of akin to asking, “What do you call shoes with stiletto heels?”, and then giving the options as, “Stilettos; high heels; pumps”.

[OreoCookie]

Well, yes, I understood what you were trying to say, I just wanted to add that this was indeed a good example to gauge what part of the US you're from.

Even though sneakers is more generic, it is (in my experience) still used as long as it is clear what kind of sports shoes you are referring to. They don't even need to be sports shoes, but just `regular shoes that look like sports shoes' (e. g. Nikes and other pseudo-running shoes).

[ghporter]

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.

When I was a kid (in the Downriver area, by the way), Devil's Night was when people went through an awful lot of toilet paper and maybe (if they were really bad) eggs. You'd find cars wrapped on their LONG AXIS with toilet paper, people's houses wrapped (not just decorated) with TP, soap graffiti on any glass surface, etc. Not terribly destructive, but often very creative. It was a night of "devilishness" rather than "deviltry." Over time, and with urban blight in parts of Detroit that hadn't been fully rebuilt after the riots in 1968, vandalism went from "interesting and creative" to "very destructive." In the suburbs it can still be relatively benign, but in Detroit itself, it's just gotten out of hand.

My post was about my childhood, I guess. Isn't Halloween supposed to be fun? What's fun about burning stuff down?

[paul w]

They're wrong about hero sandwiches, saying Maine! Hero is also very much newyorkese.

[Jawbone54]

78% (Dixie). That is a pretty strong Southern score!

No surprises here.

[Paco500]

60% Dixie. I lived most of my life in DC, NY and Maine, but my parents were both southerners, so I suppose a lot of my language came from them.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

48% Yankee, which is unusual for a Canadian.

53% Dixie* here, which is even more unusual for a Canadian.

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.

Around here, they're all called running shoes by many people... which is the point of this questionnaire.


*

2. How do you pronounce caramel?
Two syllables ("car-ml")
Three syllables ("car-a-mel")
Either
Don't know

7. How do you address a group of people?
You all
Youse
You'uns, yins
Y'all

"Care-a-mel"
"You"

[Mastrap]

^ Youse is also common from Kitchener to Goderich to the west and up to Owen Sound to the north. We've got a house out there and 'how youse all doing?' is standard lingo.

[smacintush]

41% yankee. Which when you consider my life and where I grew up seems pretty appropriate.

[Jawbone54]

I can't believe I get picked on by my Californian friends for saying "y'all" when there are people out there who say "you'uns."

[analogue SPRINKLES]

Ok so if you are Southern the stereo type is you are a dumb, religious nut with a gun, sleep with your own cousin and have a stupid way of speaking english.

What is the stereotype for a Yank?

[osiris]

46% Yankee here, only because I've actually spent quality time with southerners.

[Jawbone54]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Ok so if you are Southern the stereo type is you are a dumb, religious nut with a gun, sleep with your own cousin and have a stupid way of speaking english.

What is the stereotype for a Yank?

Pretentious jerk who looks down on us because we like to go to church, shoot animals (and road signs), sleep with our cousins, and speak oddly.

Joking aside, I think that most Southerners just think of "Yankees" as being arrogant and unfriendly. That's pretty much all, I guess.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by analogue SPRINKLES 

Ok so if you are Southern the stereo type is you are a dumb, religious nut with a gun, sleep with your own cousin and have a stupid way of speaking english.

What is the stereotype for a Yank?

This took longer than I thought it would.

[@pplejaxkz]

Does it matter?

[Dakar the Fourth]

Originally Posted by @pplejaxkz 

Does it matter?

Yes. In order to cut down on the need to moderate the Lounge, it's being divided into the Yankee and Dixie Lounges.

[nonhuman]

I got 45% yankee. Not sure if that makes sense or not seeing as I was born and raised below the Mason-Dixon (South Jersey and San Francisco both being below the Mason-Dixon ).

[TheoCryst]

38% (Yankee). A definitive Yankee.

Makes sense, spent most of my life in New York and New Jersey. And I definitely didn't know that normal people weren't familiar with Mischief Night. I thought all my friends were just sheltered...

[glideslope]

71% Bronx. So, what ya gonna do about it?

[lavar78]

66% (Dixie). A definitive Southern score!

Yep, that makes sense.

[Oisín]

Around here, they're all called running shoes by many people... which is the point of this questionnaire.

He could have made a fourth option, either a, “No bias” or a, “None of the above—I call them what they are” option.

7. How do you address a group of people?
You all
Youse
You'uns, yins
Y'all

"You"

Ditto.

"Care-a-mel"

I think that’s what he meant by ‘car-a-mel’.

[tinkered]

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

I am not surprised as I am grew up in California, where most people in the state were not born or raised there. Still there is some regional vernacular, like "hella" instead of "hell" or "hells," as in the sentence "hella people showed up at the party last night."

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

I think that’s what he meant by ‘car-a-mel’.

Except that some people say "car-a-mel", while others say "care-a-mel". I've heard both, even in candy ads on TV.

\ˈkär-məl; ˈker-ə-məl, ˈka-rə-, -ˌmel\

Merriam-Webster Pronunciation

[Oisín]

Huh, how odd. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say is as ‘carr-a-mel’. Sounds utterly bizarre inside my head.

[scottiB]

52% Barely Dixie

For 39 of my 41 years I lived in the metro Detroit and Cleveland area, but my families were from southern Uh-hi-uh and West Virginia. The last two, I've lived in northwestern Maryland, barely south of the Mason-Dixon line.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Oisín 

Huh, how odd. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say is as ‘carr-a-mel’. Sounds utterly bizarre inside my head.

Yeah, but you lived in Denmark and China.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Yeah, but you lived in Denmark and China.

Good point.

(Oddly enough, considering how bizarre the car pronunciation sounds in my head in English, karamel in Danish is always pronounced with an ‘open’ a, kind of as in ‘car’.)

Also, just to tie two of the questions together, sort of: the Swedes call caramel kola. (Coca Cola is then referred to as the homonymic cola)

[Kerrigan]

I think homonymns are when gays change their names from Brian to Brien or David to Davyd. A similar form is the lesbonymic naming scheme, when Michelle becomes Mitchell.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan 

I think homonymns are when gays change their names from Brian to Brien or David to Davyd. A similar form is the lesbonymic naming scheme, when Michelle becomes Mitchell.

Well, Coke is pretty ghey …

[Kerrigan]

Are we talking Coke or coke? Because coke is sorta gay, but not really gay like poppers or meth.

[Oisín]

I was thinking of both of them, actually.

While coke is definitely gay, Coke is undoubtedly teh ghey.

[iranfromthezoo]

76% dixie.....

[DeathToWindows]

Snort.

I mock your quiz, but I answer because I grew up outside Boston (ergo, Yank), but currently live in Nashville TN.