(no subject)

If you're really interested in regional variances in speech--rather than in staggeringly brilliant piss-takes on same--here's a link sent to me a while back by my friend Sharon (or, as I tend to think of her, Sharon-whom-I-owe-a-letter). Presented here are the results of a 30,000-person survey on regional variations in American English usage.

I think my favorite is "The City". Though answer "d" on "sweetened carbonated beverage" is really striking; my father, who is an amateur linguist, says that you can draw down-to-the-block of the Greater Boston area that are as complex as fractals around that question.