Since the MARY thing has come up again. . . .
Most of a survey from
http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/maps.phpHow do you pronounce:
1.aunt
2.been
3.the first vowel in "Bowie knife"
4.caramel
5.the vowel in the second syllable of "cauliflower"
6.the last vowel in "centaur"
7.coupon
8.Craig (the name)
9.crayon
10.creek (a small body of running water)
11.the first vowel in "Florida"
12.flourish
13.the last vowel in "handkerchief"
14.lawyer
15.How do you pronounce Mary/merry/marry?
16.mayonnaise
17.the first vowel in "miracle"
18.mischievous vs. mischievious
19.the final vowel in "Monday," "Friday," etc.
20.the second vowel in "pajamas"
21.pecan
22.poem
23.really
24.realtor (a real estate agent)
25.roof, room, broom, root
26.route (as in, "the route from one place to another")
27.the first vowel in "syrup"
28.Do you pronounce "cot" and "caught" the same?
29.almond
30.the "s" in "anniversary"
31.asterisk
32.candidate
33.the "s" in "chromosome"
34.et cetera
35.the final consonant in "garage"
36.the "c" in "grocery"
37.huge, humor, humongous, human...
38.the "s" in "nursery"
39.the "s" in the last name of Elvis Presley
40.quarter
41.Do you use "spigot" or "spicket" to refer to a faucet or tap that
water comes out of?
42.strength
43.the final consonant in "Texas"
44.cream cheese
45.insurance
46.New Haven (the city in Connecticut where Yale University is located)
47.Thanksgiving
48.umbrella
49.I ____ her lifeless body from the pool
50.What word(s) do you use to address a group of two or more people?
51.Would you say "Are you coming with?" as a full sentence, to mean "Are
you coming with us?"
52.Would you say "where are you at?" to mean "where are you?"
53.Modals are words like "can," "could," "might," "ought to," and so on.
Can you use more than one modal at a time? (e.g., "I might could do
that" to mean "I might be able to do that"; or "I used to could do that"
to mean "I used to be able to do that")
54.He used to nap on the couch, but he sprawls out in that new lounge
chair anymore
55.I do exclusively figurative paintings anymore
56.Pantyhose are so expensive anymore that I just try to get a good
suntan and forget about it.
57.Forget the nice clothes anymore (referring to babies eating messily
after a certain age)
58.Which of these terms do you prefer for a sale of unwanted items on
your porch, in your yard, etc.?
59.What do you call the game wherein the participants see who can throw
a knife closest to the other person (or alternately, get a jackknife to
stick into the ground or a piece of wood)?
60.What do you call the area of grass between the sidewalk and the road?
61.What do you call the area of grass that occurs in the middle of some
streets?
62.What do you call the long narrow place in the middle of a divided
highway?
63.What do you call the drink made with milk and ice cream?
64.What do you call the long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce,
and so on?
65.What do you call the insect that flies around in the summer and has a
rear section that glows in the dark?
66.What do you call the miniature lobster that one finds in lakes and
streams for example (a crustacean of the family Astacidae)?
67.What do you call the kind of spider (or spider-like creature) that
has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
68.What nicknames do/did you use for your maternal grandmother?
69.What about your paternal grandmother (is there a distinction?)
70.What do/did you call your maternal grandfather?
71.paternal grandfather?
72.What do you call the big clumps of dust that gather under furniture
and in corners?
73.What is your *general* term for the rubber-soled shoes worn in gym
class, for athletic activities, etc.?
74.What do you call the little gray creature (that looks like an insect
but is actually a crustacean) that rolls up into a ball when you touch it?
75.What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries
at the supermarket?
76.What term do you use to refer to something that is across both
streets from you at an intersection (or diagonally across from you in
general)?
77.What do you call the activity of driving around in circles in a car?
78.What do you call paper that has already been used for something or is
otherwise imperfect?
79.What is your *general* term for a big road that you drive relatively
fast on?
80.What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
81.When you are cold, and little points of skin begin to come on your
arms and legs, you have-
82.What do you call the gooey or dry matter that collects in the corners
of your eyes, especially while you are sleeping?
83.What do you call an easy course?
84.What do you call a traffic situation in which several roads meet in a
circle and you have to get off at a certain point?
85.What is the thing that women use to tie their hair?
86.Do you use the word cruller?
87.Do you use the term "bear claw" for a kind of pastry?
88.What do you call someone who is the opposite of pigeon-toed (i.e.
when they walk their feet point outwards)?
89.Can you call coleslaw "slaw"?
90.What do you call the box you bury a dead person in?
91.Do you say "vinegar and oil" or "oil and vinegar" for the type of
salad dressing?
92.What do you call it when a driver changes over one or more lanes way
too quickly?
93.When you stand outside with a long line of people waiting to get in
somewhere, are you standing "in line" or "on line" (as in, "I stood ___
in the cold for two hours before they opened the doors")?
94.Do you say "frosting" or "icing" for the sweet spread one puts on a cake?
95.What is "the City"?
96.What is the distinction between dinner and supper?
100.Do you cut or mow the lawn or grass?
101.Do you pass in homework or hand in homework?
102.What do you call the insect that looks like a large thin spider and
skitters along the top of water?
103.What do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school?
104.What do you call a public railway system (normally underground)?
105.What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?
106.What do you call the act of covering a house or area in front of a
house with toilet paper?
107.What do you call a traffic jam caused by drivers slowing down to
look at an accident or other diversion on the side of the road?
108.What vowel do you use in bag?
109.What do you call the paper container in which you might bring home
items you bought at the store?
110.What do you call the night before Halloween?
111.What do you call the end of a loaf of bread?
112.How do you pronounce the word for the type of drug that acts as
central nervous system depressant and is used as a sedative or hypnotic?
(Please do not look up the word in a dictionary before answering this
question.)
113.amphitheater
114.citizen
115.What do you call a point that is purely academic, or that cannot be
settled and isn't worth discussing further?
116.How do you pronounce the -sp- sequence in "thespian" (the word
meaning "actor")?
117.What do you call the level of a building that is partly or entirely
underground?
118.What do you call a drive-through liquor store?
119.What do you call food that you buy at a restaurant but then eat at home?
120.What do you say when you want to lay claim to the front seat of a car?
121.What word do you use for gawking at someone in a lustful way?
122.Do you say "expecially", or "especially"?
