Where is Oklahoma...................

[TAlan CB]

I thought about this thread when I took this quiz the other day. I would encourage everyone to take it; it's very entertaining. It was uncannily accurate for me. It plots the three cities whose native dialects most closely resemble your own. For me, it showed OKC, Tulsa, and Springfield, MO, which is interesting since I grew up in Wichita but have now lived in OKC (where my family is from and has mostly always lived) for nearly 30 years.

The quiz: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-quiz-map.html

Wow.
This quiz shows that I am most like Modesto, Reno, and Sacramento. These are all dust-bowl Okie cities. I was born in Sacramento - but that was because my dad (who was raised in Texas) was transferred by the Air Force. He was a Junior High teacher in Amarillo when the Cuban crises activated his reserve status and sent him to Florida (for invasion of Cuba). He stayed in and was stationed in Sacramento (I had actually been conceived in Amarillo). By the time I was 2 my mother took me to Tahlequah so she could finish her teaching degree. When I was 3 we were off to Florida, Spain, Washington State, upstate NY, Colorado, then 20 years in my parents home state of Oklahoma. Every summer (except when we were in Spain) I would come to Oklahoma for the break - eastern OK - to work on my grandpas farm. My father was born in southern Oklahoma, but moved to Texas when he was young. I guess in all that moving I picked up a lot of language idioms. Truth was, most of the questions seem to have several words I frequently use. Some I choose because they were nostalgic, others because I use them most often. There were a lot that I would use based on who I am talking to. I grew up calling them 'rollie pollies' but in horticulture I call them 'pill bugs'. Similarly, I grew up calling them crawdads, but often call them crawfish - or mud puppies. Lighting bugs and fireflies are the same depending on which word comes to me first. I wonder if I took the test again and used some of my other 'preferred choices' where it would place me?

[TAlan CB]

Wow.
This quiz shows that I am most like Modesto, Reno, and Sacramento. These are all dust-bowl Okie cities. I was born in Sacramento - but that was because my dad (who was raised in Texas) was transferred by the Air Force. He was a Junior High teacher in Amarillo when the Cuban crises activated his reserve status and sent him to Florida (for invasion of Cuba). He stayed in and was stationed in Sacramento (I had actually been conceived in Amarillo). By the time I was 2 my mother took me to Tahlequah so she could finish her teaching degree. When I was 3 we were off to Florida, Spain, Washington State, upstate NY, Colorado, then 20 years in my parents home state of Oklahoma. Every summer (except when we were in Spain) I would come to Oklahoma for the break - eastern OK - to work on my grandpas farm. My father was born in southern Oklahoma, but moved to Texas when he was young. I guess in all that moving I picked up a lot of language idioms. Truth was, most of the questions seem to have several words I frequently use. Some I choose because they were nostalgic, others because I use them most often. There were a lot that I would use based on who I am talking to. I grew up calling them 'rollie pollies' but in horticulture I call them 'pill bugs'. Similarly, I grew up calling them crawdads, but often call them crawfish - or mud puppies. Lighting bugs and fireflies are the same depending on which word comes to me first. I wonder if I took the test again and used some of my other 'preferred choices' where it would place me?

Interesting. In the second 'go-round' I chose the other term I would most often use. This applied to only about 1/3 of the questions, most stayed the same. This time it placed me in Salt Lake City, Lubbock, and Shreveport. This would be closer to what I feel.

[Urbanized]

What do you mean? I'm saying, the correctly guessed that I was born and raised in Alaska.

Oh, when I clicked on your link it showed three wildly disparate cities, none of which was in or even near Alaska. iPad glitch, maybe.

[Urbanized]

Thanks for posting that link Urbanized. How fun! I got OKC, Tulsa and Amarillo. I was born here and have lived here the majority of my life so I guess the quiz is pretty spot on.

You're welcome! You're right; it was fun and interesting.

[soonerguru]

Wow. Mine came in Oklahoma City first, Tulsa second, and Springfield third. Pretty much dead on and I was 100% honest in my responses!

[SOONER8693]

WOW for sure. Lived my first 12 yrs near Enid, the next 9 in Hutchinson, Ks, then the next 40 in Weatherford/Norman/OKC. My 3 cities came in as OKC, Wichita, Tulsa.

[RadicalModerate]

So, I just re-took the quiz and changed maybe four or five answers to my second most often used term for things (e.g. crawdad for crayfish, traffic circle for roundabout, 18-wheeler for semi, y'all for you all and garage sale for yard sale). Suddenly, I'm from Jacksonville, (MS), Shreveport (LA) and Brownsville (TX) instead of from three Southern California towns.

[kevinpate]

Maybe, in the future, it might be wise to not refer to anything involving "southeastern OK" as "lesser extent"?
(or not)

Now RM, I was referring to the comparative color shading on the chart, not the folk or the land.

[PennyQuilts]

Fun - thanks. I got Lubbock (never been there), Amarillo and Little Rock (have only driven through those towns - not stopped). I expected more SE Texas and Alabama because I lived there as a child. Moved to Oklahoma when I was 11, Interesting that I got two west Texas towns since I have no family or close friends from there. I got two cities a stone throw from each other (in Massachusetts) as the least similar.

[Mel]

I grew up a Navy brat, my three cities are Jackson, MS. and Birmingham and Montgomery AL. Never lived in any of those cities but the region yes. I guess Norfolk and San Diego didn't effect my speech.

[Studying Okie]

I hope I'm not too late to the conversation, but growing up in OKC I had long thought of Oklahoma as part of the South. It does seem like Oklahoma is becoming less and less Southern, though. I think the effort in making OKC, and Oklahoma in general, seem less "backward" is partly responsible.

For example, OKC used to have a school named for Jefferson Davis that closed in 1987. Pictures here: Jefferson Davis School | Abandoned Oklahoma

Today OKC has 3 schools named for Confederate Officers:
Stand Watie Elementary School - About Us

Lee Elementary School - About Us

Jackson Middle School (named for Gen. Stonewall Jackson, who also has an Oklahoma county named for him) - Home

I don't have any references but I'm fairly certain we also do fly the Confederate flag at the Capitol (definitely used to) and there are places around the state where "Dixie" was sung before football games and similar stuff.

That's not to say that these things make Oklahoma as Southern as the Deep South, but they do reflect the fact that Oklahoma was settled by Southerners more than any other demographic.

[Dennis Heaton]

If y'alls current address is south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the mighty Mississippi River...ya might be a Southerner. :-)

[Jersey Boss]

IIRC the bars and stars has not flown over the Capitol since the late 80's

[Snowman]

IIRC the bars and stars has not flown over the Capitol since the late 80's

Why was it flying at all? Was it for special occasions or most of the year?

[Jersey Boss]

It was designated with a group of flags, I think 14 or 15 in all, that have flown over land that is present day Oklahoma or part of present day Oklahoma. It flew during the year and not just special occasions. When the plaza underwent renovations the flag was not put back and that is why there is a flag pole there with nothing flying. It caused quite a row when the governor refused to put it back up.

[okcpulse]

I thought about this thread when I took this quiz the other day. I would encourage everyone to take it; it's very entertaining. It was uncannily accurate for me. It plots the three cities whose native dialects most closely resemble your own. For me, it showed OKC, Tulsa, and Springfield, MO, which is interesting since I grew up in Wichita but have now lived in OKC (where my family is from and has mostly always lived) for nearly 30 years.

The quiz: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-quiz-map.html

I got Santa Clara, CA; San Jose, CA and Tucson, AZ. Even though I have never been any further west than New Mexico, spent the first 27 years of my like in Oklahoma and 7 years in Texas, I can say my accent materialized from my extended family who spent much of their childhood on the West coast sans a few years in Germany. The rest I picked up during high school in Edmond, where it seems my social circle was made up of California expats whose parents transferred to OKC back in the 1990s.

[Dennis Heaton]

I thought about this thread when I took this quiz the other day. I would encourage everyone to take it; it's very entertaining. It was uncannily accurate for me. It plots the three cities whose native dialects most closely resemble your own.

The quiz: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-quiz-map.html

That was pert cool! I (born and raised in California) got Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Lubbock. I've been to San Antonio, once (1973), San Marcos, once (1980), and Wichita Falls, twice (1999). Go figure.