America: It's a big place, with a lot of regional differences. We're here to talk about two of those differences: personality and accent. 

Those two things are closely connected. The way that speech patterns develop has a lot to do with the character of a region, and therefore the character of the people who live there. Don't believe us? Consider New England. Its residents tend to talk about as slowly as raw maple syrup runs from its trees, and this has a lot to do with the New England way of life: slow, deliberate and dispassionate. 

Of course, the northeastern states don't have a lock on a slow, easy pace of life -- note the honeyed drawl of the Deep South. However, that accent comes with a bit of a cheerful twang, compared to the more staid speech of New England. You just can't help, when you listen to a Southerner talk, but expect a little bit of humor to bubble to the surface, no matter what the subject of the conversation. Then there's a different kind of drawl, that of coastal California's surfer culture. Or the sharp, assertive bray of New Yorkers' speech, which is like the Downeast accent of Maine on uppers. What kind of American accent best fits your personality? Identify it now with our quiz!