It started as a graduate project. Then it broke the internet. Back in late 2013, a visual interactive titled "How Y’all, You-Guys, and You-Lot Talk" appeared on The New York Times website, and suddenly, everyone in America was obsessed with whether they called a sweetened carbonated beverage "soda," "pop," or "coke."
Most people just call it the New York Times dialect quiz.
It wasn’t just a flash in the pan. Years later, it remains one of the most-viewed pieces of content in the history of the Gray Lady. Why? Because language is identity. When a heat map tells you that your specific way of saying "crayfish" (or is it crawdad?) places you squarely in a three-county radius in Louisiana, it feels like magic. It’s a digital palm reading, but backed by rigorous linguistic science.
The Man Behind the Maps
Josh Katz didn't set out to create a viral sensation that would haunt family Thanksgiving arguments for a decade. At the time, he was a graphics editor at the Times, but the data he used came from a much older source. He tapped into the Harvard Dialect Survey, a massive piece of research conducted by linguist Bert Vaux and Scott Golder back in 2002.
Vaux’s original work was academic. It was thorough. It was also, frankly, a bit dry for the average person scrolling on a phone. Katz took those 122 questions and boiled them down into an interactive algorithm. He used "kriging," a statistical method often used in geology to interpolate data, to create those smooth, glowing heat maps.
Basically, he turned phonetics into a GPS for your soul.
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Honestly, the brilliance of the New York Times dialect project is that it acknowledges the "mushiness" of American English. We aren't just divided by state lines. Dialects are porous. You might live in Chicago but use a "Philadelphia-ism" because your mom grew up in Jersey. The quiz accounts for that overlap. It doesn't just give you a city; it gives you a probability.
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The quiz asks about things like "the miniature lobster found in freshwater streams." If you say "crayfish," you’re a bit of a linguistic nomad—it’s common everywhere. But if you say "crawdad," the map starts lighting up in the South and the West.
Then there’s the "Pill Bug" vs. "Roly Poly" debate.
Or the "Water Fountain" vs. "Bubbler" divide. If you use the word "bubbler," you are either from Wisconsin or Rhode Island. There is almost no in-between. These "shibboleths"—words that act as a password for a specific group—are what make the New York Times dialect interactive so addictive. It’s not just about being right; it’s about being from somewhere.
The Myth of the "Standard American" Accent
For a long time, there was this idea that television and movies were killing regional dialects. People thought we were all moving toward a "General American" accent—that flat, newscaster voice from the Midwest.
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The data says otherwise.
Linguists like William Labov have noted that while some local quirks are fading, others are actually intensifying. This is called "divergence." The Northern Cities Vowel Shift, for example, has been changing the way people in cities like Detroit and Buffalo pronounce "block" (sounding more like "black") for decades.
The New York Times dialect maps captured this beautifully. It showed that despite the internet, despite Netflix, and despite the fact that we all shop at the same Targets, we still speak like our neighbors.
The Controversy of the "Mary-Merry-Marry" Merger
One of the most famous questions involves the words "Mary," "merry," and "marry."
- Do they sound the same to you?
- Are all three different?
- Are two the same and one different?
In the Northeast, particularly in the New York City metro area and Philadelphia, these words are often distinct. A "merry" Christmas is not the same as a woman named "Mary" getting "married." But for a huge chunk of the rest of the country, they are identical.
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When people take the quiz and realize they have a "merger" that others don't, it’s an existential shock. You've spent your whole life thinking everyone hears the same thing. You're wrong. Your ears have been trained by your geography since you were in the crib.
Beyond the Viral Hit: Dialect in 2026
Where does the New York Times dialect study go from here? In the years since the original quiz, linguists have started looking more closely at how African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Hispanic English influences are reshaping regional maps.
The original Harvard data was somewhat limited in its demographic reach. Modern iterations of dialect mapping are trying to be more inclusive of how code-switching and urban identity play into the way we talk. It’s no longer just about rural vs. urban or North vs. South. It’s about the layers of identity we carry.
Social media has also created "internet dialects." Phrases like "it's giving" or "main character energy" cross geographic boundaries instantly. However, for the foundational phonology—the way you say "pajamas" (does it rhyme with "jam" or "father"?)—the old regional boundaries are surprisingly stubborn.
Actionable Insights for Language Lovers
If you're fascinated by the New York Times dialect work and want to dig deeper into how your own speech defines you, there are a few things you can do right now.
- Take the quiz again, but with a parent. If you grew up in a different place than your parents, compare your maps. It’s a fascinating way to see "dialect leveling" in real-time.
- Listen for the "Caught-Cot" merger. Next time you're on a Zoom call with someone from a different state, ask them to say "caught" and "cot." If they sound exactly the same, they likely have the merger, which is dominant in the West and parts of the Northeast.
- Explore the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). This is the gold standard for dialect research. It’s a multi-volume beast that tracks thousands of words that never make it into a standard Merriam-Webster dictionary.
- Watch your own "creaky voice" or "uptalk." Dialect isn't just about words; it's about cadence. Do you end your sentences like a question? That's uptalk, and its geographic origin (often cited as California or Australia) is still a point of heavy debate among sociolinguists.
The reality is that how we talk is the most intimate data we produce. Every time you open your mouth, you're giving away your history. You're telling people where your grandmother lived, where you went to third grade, and what kind of TV you watched. The New York Times dialect quiz didn't create these patterns; it just gave us a mirror to see them for the first time.
Check your local "Terms of Endearment." Do you say "hon," "duck," "love," or "y'all"? Each one is a pinpoint on a map that only you can draw. Keep talking. It's the only way the map stays alive.