Popularity of Rebel-Yankee Test Soars

Company announces that more than 1 million people have taken its 'Rebel-Yankee' test to see if they have a northern or southern accent.

Lewisburg, PA (PRWEB) February 10, 2006 -- More than a million people have now taken the highly popular Rebel-Yankee accent test at the alphaDictionary website (http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html). The test tells you how much of a southern or northern accent you have.

The test is made up of questions about the accent spoken by the test-taker. The questions include, "How do you pronounce 'route'" and "What is spread on the tops of cakes?" If you pronounce 'route' like 'root', you are probably a northerner. If you pronounce it like 'rout', you are probably from the South. If you spread frosting on your cakes, you are probably from the North; if you cover it with icing, you are probably from the South.

What is spread on the tops of cakes?

Another question is, What's that long sandwich with lots of cold cuts and toppings? If you call it a 'po boy', you are from the Deep South. If you call it an 'Italian', you probably live in Maine. If you call it a 'grinder', you are probably from Connecticut or Vermont.

The test assigns weights to each answer and figures a percentage rank on a North-South scale for each person taking it. The higher the score, the deeper you come from the South; the lower, the more likely you are a Yankee. Most visitors who take the test are surprised at its accuracy.

The questions in the test are based on research by the Harvard Computer Society and the research of Dr. Robert Beard, owner of the alphaDictionary website. "We are surprised at how popular this feature of our website has become," Dr. Beard said. "It is clear that people are very interested in how they speak and how much their speech reflects the region where they live.

alphaDictionary.com is a free educational website with many other features for those interested in language. Miss Spelling's Spelling Center explains all the problems of the English spelling system and offers tools for fixing them. The alphaDictionary Slang Dictionary includes the time when the slang word entered the language. You can search for all the slang words that have arisen over the years with the same meaning.

But the Rebel-Yankee test remains its most popular feature.

alphaDictionary.com is owned by The Lexiteria, a word product and services company located in Lewisburg Pennsylvania (www.lexiteria.com). For more about Dr. Beard, search Robert E. Beard in Wikipedia or google 'Robert Beard language.' Contact him for interviews: 570-522-0122 or 570-524-9240 after 5:30 p.m.

# # #

Post Comment:
Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/UGlnZy1GYWx1LVByb2YtUGlnZy1IYWxmLVplcm8=

accents southern accent northern accent words speech english language yankee dixie

Bookmark -  Del.icio.us | Digg | Furl It | Spurl | RawSugar | Simpy | Shadows | Blink It | My Web