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This little internet quiz was pretty fun. I work in a department of people from all over the U.S. and it was able to pinpoint regions that have really influenced our dialect. 

 

It pegged me in Akron, Toledo and Fort Wayne. Not bad for Cleveland-to-Chicago boy!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0

 

One last question: What do you call that little stretch of grass between the sidewalk and the street?

 

 

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This little internet quiz was pretty fun. I work in a department of people from all over the U.S. and it was able to pinpoint regions that have really influenced our dialect. 

 

It pegged me in Akron, Toledo and Fort Wayne. Not bad for Cleveland-to-Chicago boy!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0

 

One last question: What do you call that little stretch of grass between the sidewalk and the street?

 

 

Hmmm...in south Louisiana and south Mississippi it is known as the "sidewalk side", just a general catch all phrase for that area.  For parades you are either "sidewalk side" or "neutral ground side"!!!!  Yep, that's how we roll!

 

Oh yes, almost forgot....the little internet quiz pinpointed where I live!

Edited by dtel's wife
correction
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Hmmm...in south Louisiana and south Mississippi it is known as the "neutral ground".  For parades you are either "sidewalk side" or "neutral ground side"!!!!  Yep, that's how we roll!

 

In Cleveland, we always called it the "tree lawn."  

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Hmmm...in south Louisiana and south Mississippi it is known as the "neutral ground".  For parades you are either "sidewalk side" or "neutral ground side"!!!!  Yep, that's how we roll!

 

In Cleveland, we always called it the "tree lawn."  

 

 

 

I corrected this before your post to say we just refer to that area as the 'sidewalk side"...kind of a catch all for the sidewalk, grassy area!  

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Got me pretty close. I answered it mostly from the perspective of how I spoke during childhood. There are some things I pronounce differently now, and answered i kind. It still pegged my geographic area (where I grew up) accurately. Nice.

 

 

Shakey

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Humm, not so accurate.  I grew up right here in D/FW (the darker blue areas in north central-east Texas) and have lived here for well over 90% of my life, including my entire childhood.

 

There are a lot of people that I know that would be pegged that grew up around "these parts". :lol:

 

Chris

post-26262-0-14760000-1432750021_thumb.p

Edited by Chris A
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the boulevard

boulevard

[boo l-uh-vahrd, boo-luh-]

Synonyms

Examples

Word Origin

noun

1.

a broad avenue in a city, usually having areas at the sides or center for trees, grass, or flowers.

2.

Also called boulevard strip. Upper Midwest. a strip of lawn between a sidewalk and the curb.

Origin of boulevard

Middle French

Middle Dutch

1765-1775

1765-75; < French, Middle French (orig. Picard, Walloon): rampart, avenue built on the site of a razed rampart < Middle Dutch bol (le) werc; see bulwark

Synonyms

See street.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.

Cite This Source

Examples from the web for boulevard

But there is always a boulevard between getting everything you want and compromising your principles.

Why the GOP Doesn’t Love Chris Christie David Freedlander February 27, 2013

I walk a lot around the city, I go down to the beach, I like the boulevard.

Literary City: Etgar Keret’s Tel Aviv Henry Krempels September 5, 2013

The boulevard Carnot, the seedy, downtrodden street that leads out of town, proved the point on my last night there.

No Movie Stars, No Red Carpet, But Off-Season Cannes Is Still Magic Liza Foreman September 14, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for boulevard

boulevard

/ˈbuːlvɑː; -vɑːd/

noun

1.

a wide usually tree-lined road in a city, often used as a promenade

(capital as part of a street name): Sunset Boulevard

2.

(mainly Canadian)

a grass strip between the pavement and road

the strip of ground between the edge of a private property and the road

the centre strip of a road dividing traffic travelling in different directions

Word Origin

C18: from French, from Middle Dutch bolwercbulwark; so called because originally often built on the ruins of an old rampart

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition

© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins

Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cite This Source

Word Origin and History for boulevard

n.

1769, from French boulevard (15c.), originally "top surface of a military rampart," from a garbled attempt to adopt Middle Dutch bolwerc "wall of a fortification" (see bulwark) into French, which lacks a -w-. The notion is of a promenade laid out atop demolished city walls, a way which would be much wider than urban streets. Originally in English with conscious echoes of Paris; since 1929, in U.S., used of multi-lane limited-access urban highways. Early French attempts to digest the Dutch word also include boloart, boulever, boloirque, bollvercq.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

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Difficulty index for boulevard

Few English speakers likely know this word

Word Value for boulevard

0

19

Scrabble Words With Friends

Quotes with boulevard

Ev'ry street's a boulevard in old New York.

Bob Hilliard

Arrive in the afternoon, the late light slanting

In diluted gold bars across the boulevard brag

Of...

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(...) our blacked-out Paris with the gaunt arches of its Boulevard Exelmans and the ceaseless Alpine...

Vladimir Nabokov

More Quotes

Related Words

street

alameda

blvd

Champs Élysées

concourse

neutral ground

Nearby words for boulevard

boule

boule's

boules

boules'

bouleuterion

boulevard

boulevardier

bouleversement

boulework

boulework's

bouleworks

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Took it first time, completely wrong, East Coast, never lived there but spent summers there and spent a year getting a post-graduate degree. Took it again trying to use words we used as kids, a lot closer, central valley of California.

The best quiz I have ever taken on the internet.

Travis

Edited by dwilawyer
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What do you call that little stretch of grass between the sidewalk and the street?

 

Thats the Citys. I aint mowing it!

 

I didnt take the test but personally, I am so glad we all talk differently. Imagine how boring it would be if we all spoke the same. My 2 favorite accents are the "New York" accent and the English accents. I guess I am so used to the Southern accent that I really dont think about it much, until I hear my voice on a recording. Yikes!

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Missed me by a thousand miles or more but I'm not surprised. It placed me in the mid-west between Denver CO and Wichita KS.

 

Truth is I'm in Florida but spent the first 15 years of my life (where I learned to talk) in Ohio. I suspect I have an unusual "dialect" being a melding of northern and southern. There are some things that I pronounce distinctly southern and some things that I pronounce distinctly northern.

 

Fun little test though. 

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