“You say tomato, I say tomahto.”
Regional accents and dialects run deep throughout America, and the ways people speak English are as varied as their politics.
Ask for a Coke in the South for instance, and someone will ask you what kind.
Ask for a “hogie” anywhere but Philly and no one’s going to have a clue what you’re talking about.
Joshua Katz, a Ph. D student at North Carolina State University, produced maps showing the different terms that people use for the same thing based on a linguistics survey.
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PECAN
The pronunciation of pecan varies greatly, but no matter how you say it, pecan pie is still the greatest dessert.
CARAMEL
Americans in the West are throwing out the second ‘a’ in caramel.
CRAYON
No one can figure out how to say the long-loved art supplies, Crayons.
SNEAKERS, GYM SHOES OR TENNIS SHOES?
Sneakers only exist in New England and south Florida.
Y’ALL
Kentucky apparently decided to try to sound sophisticated in this survey.
FIREFLY OR LIGHTNING BUG?
The West Coast loves its fireflies and is not flexible in their terminology.
SUB OR HOAGIE
Everyone in America calls it a sub, except Philly.
COKE, POP, SODA, OR SOFT DRINK?
No one says soft drink, anywhere.
SUNSHOWER
What kind of people live in Alabama and Mississippi?
MILKSHAKE
The one thing that we can all agree on, however, is our love for milkshakes.