Are there any specific things that let you instantly recognise someone is from your state?

25 comments

1. Nope. Accent can put you in the region. Not the state. Even then there will be exceptions of the rule due to transplants and stuff.

2. Ask them to pronounce “Louisville.”

3. Accent and if they are wearing blaze orange Grundens bibs.

4. I definitely couldn’t pick somebody out of a crowd unless they were wearing a Michigan piece of clothing.

5. You’d have to talk to them, and somehow manage to work “geoduck”, “sequim” or “puyallup” into the conversation and see if they pronounce it right.

   Or the alternate way to do it would be to strike up a conversation, form a friendship over a number of years, and repeatedly say “we should get together” and never do it. I’d say by the 5th or 6th iteration of that, you’d have drawn a pretty clear bead

6. No, there are a wide range of accents and lifestyles in Florida.

7. There’s a question that people from the city where I was born tend to ask one another when they meet someone else from the same city.

   Once I was living overseas, and someone asked me that question. I knew instantly they were from my city without them having to say. It was so weird. It turns out we even knew a lot of the same people.

   You can also instantly tell which people are from Southern California and they’ve been transplanted outside California, because they never stop about how great In-N-Out is. (A fast food burger place.)

   Accents can also be a dead giveaway.

8. No – I am from Massachusetts. I’d say people here are pretty unique and independent and don’t really have any uniform dress or personality.

   I can’t think of any clothes or actions or mannerism. Wealthy seem to dress more casually ? I think that’s the only thing.

9. Wearing IU or Purdue gear.

10. You can spot someone from Western Washington State by our absolute refusal to use an umbrella, ever. Long ago, we decided rain didn’t exist, so we don’t have to deal with it eight months a year.

11. I don’t know how easily we could identify someone from a specific state on sight, but we might be able to if we heard and/or interacted with that person. There was a thread here a while back of people listing how to tell if someone is from their state if a bunch of people were in a room. Some of this might be applicable in the wider world as well.

    [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/ql4qa1/how_would_you_pick_out_someone_from_your/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/ql4qa1/how_would_you_pick_out_someone_from_your/)

12. They will probably be wearing the flag.

13. Their accent. Floridians have a sort of janky, subtle accent. Kind of a southern accent, but with the “southern accent dial” turned down to the lowest setting.

    The only big indicator for me is how they pronounce “orange” when they’re talking about the color, versus how they pronounce “orange” when they’re talking about the fruit.

    If they pronounce them differently, in a specific way? Yeah, probably from Florida.

14. If winter activities come up in conversation and the word snowmachine is used instead of snowmobile.

    Some speech and pronunciation-based things as well. Denali will have an æ sound instead of an ‘ah’ wound, same with a town called Valdez (Val-Deez). Phrases like ‘lower 48’ and ‘breakup’.

    Otherwise, pretty tough. Occasionally a Salty Dog sweatshirt or Xtra Tuffs can tip you off.

15. Not my state, but people from Texas and California will definitely let you know that’s where they’re from within the first 5 minutes of a conversation.

    It doesn’t even need to be a conversation for texans. Sometimes they’ll just blurt it out in a crowd that they are from Texas.

16. Not my state necessarily but I can sometimes spot NYCers in other locations based on their jaywalking behavior.

17. California… usually through their diction, style and lack of obvious regional accents (southern, eastern), but most importantly their food preferences: sushi, ramen or burritos (and not just any burrito but California/Jalisco style burritos). Conversation around cost of living is also frequent.

18. How they pronounce Schuylkill, Lancaster, water, or Versailles.

19. Yeah, they’ll tell you.

20. Ask them to pronounce “Miami”

21. Accent.

22. These probably only work within the US; but Delawareans will always ask you where you went to High School and complain about paying your sales tax.

23. dunno about state, but if someone brazenly walks against the light inbetween cars in the street, they’re likely a fellow new york city resident

    also if they have any preternatural hatred for the red sox

24. CTR ring and magic underwear, or asking for fry sauce at a fast food joint. If you see those things, chances are high that person is from Utah.

25. Word choice is an easy way to tell. If they ask you “Where’s the bubbler?” then you know they’re probably from Wisconsin. We also usually say “soda” while many other midwestern states say “pop”.

    When I lived in another midwestern state for a couple years, I was told the way I say “bag” and “bagel” is weird.