If you’ve ever left your home state, you may find that people just don’t speak the same way as you. Sure they speak English, but who in their right mind would call a water fountain a “bubbler”? As it turns out, this is a fairly popular term in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. This information comes via data collected by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder of Harvard University.
Using this data and the free tool available at http://www.visualizefree.com, InetSoft has created an interesting visualization that details key differences in regional dialects that you can access by clicking the image below:
First, choose a word and the pronunciation list will auto-populate any responses given during the survey. Click a response to see who said what, where.
Use this map to see how your home state stacks up against the rest of the USA, or maybe just see if you’re the odd-man-out in your own territory. Have some fun with it and share it with your friends! You may find that you have an accent and you didn’t even know it!
