Joshua Katz, a Ph.D. student in statistics at North Carolina State University, has published a group of maps illustrating a linguistic survey of how Americans in different regions pronounce words (and, sometimes, differences in the actual words we use).
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There’s the expected “pop”-versus-“soda” divide and big regional variations in words like “caramel,” “been” and “pajamas.” Oh, and there are no fewer than five pronunciations of “pecan” and a few options for a certain type of sandwich (“hoagie,” “sub” or “hero”).
Check out all 22 maps, and see how what you might think are your personal choices about language actually have everything to do with where you’re from. We tried it out, and it’s pretty accurate.
One last fun fact: Some people call water fountains (aka “drinking fountains”) “bubblers.” Weird. Unless you’re from Wisconsin or Rhode Island.
Read more at the Business Insider.
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