Regional Differences in American English

When I was checking Pinterest photos, I came across an interesting one.

“What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage?”

“The midwest(blue) calls it “pop,”  the Northeast and West Coast(red) call it “soda,” while the South(green) is really into brand loyalty.”

There is another map which is more interesting to me.

“What is your “general” term for the rubber-soled shoes worn in gym class, for athletic activities, etc?”

“The Northeast and south Florida(blue) puts on sneakers, everyone else finds a pair of tennis shoes.”

Is it true?   In Japan, people call them sneakers.   I wear tennis shoes only for playing tennis.   Please click to see more results.   22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From Each  Other

I had many comments on Lang-8.  Those are very interesting too.   Comments on Lang-8

The Dialects Are Interesting

Although I had thought the Canadian dialect is only “eh” at the end of the sentence,  one of my blog readers told me about the Newfoundland English.

The red part is “Newfoundland and Labrador”, the easternmost province of Canada.  It reminds me of the breed of dogs with the same name.  Yes, they are from this province.   It seems that their accent is very similar to the people of the west of England and the southeast of Ireland, because Newfoundlanders originally came from those areas.   Some examples are “a vine summer” for a fine summer, “tree of dem” for three of them, “helbow” for elbow, “eel” for heel  from Newfoundland English.

Even in Japan, there are many dialects despite it being a small country.   English has a larger variety of accents worldwide.   I feel that dialects are very interesting, but can be difficult to understand.   This is a funny video.  The comedian, Mark Critch, is lovely.