Lookee there
Your Linguistic Profile: |
60% General American English |
10% Dixie |
10% Midwestern |
10% Upper Midwestern |
10% Yankee |
Of course, some of us can change our dialects at will; or almost -- I suppose a native speaker of one of the regional dialects would catch me out. Still and all, I tell people that I grew up in a household where Standard American English was spoken, and that when I use regionalisms, I am being "folksy" by choice. Those who have struggled and struggled with Standard grammar and pronunciation think I am putting on airs. But then, they never met my mother and father: they had their quirks, but that's the way they actually spoke in day-to-day discourse. (I didn't actually learn the rules of grammar and punctuation until I was working in the ISU Writing Center as a grad student -- I just spoke that way, wrote that way, and guessed right on tests by assuming that Mother was always right. I was "culturally advantaged," as they say.)