You think the fastest talkers in America live in New York? Guess again
There’s a stereotype about New Yorkers doing everything fast, especially talking. You can see it portrayed in films dating back to the 1930s, featuring stars like James Cagney spitting rapid-fire, rat-a-tat dialogue. Conversely, the pervasive image of Southern American speech is that of the loping drawl—essentially, a British accent, only slowed to a fraction of its original speed. A recent study of the speech patterns of Americans suggests the Southern stereotype isn’t so off the mark, while New York City talkers aren’t quite as speedy as they, or anyone else, imagines they are. Marchex, a mobile advertising analytics company, used “technology that automatically monitors speech, silence, ringtones and hold times” to determine the tortoises and the hares as far as speech goes, state by state. The fastest talkers, it turns out, live in Oregon. Second place goes to the denizens of Minnesota. In fact, you have to look down to third place before you come across a state that’s near New York City: Massachusetts. New York doesn’t actually appear on the list until the 38th slot. And the top five slowest talkers in the country? They live in Southern states, unsurprisingly. Mississippians topped the list for the slowest speech, compared to the rest of the country. Here’s how the rest of the list shook out:
Fastest talkers:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Slowest talkers: Mississippi Louisiana South Carolina Alabama North CarolinaA look at the speed of speech in all 50 states, from fastest to slowest:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Vermont Alaska South Dakota New Hampshire Nebraska Connecticut North Dakota Washington Wisconsin Rhode Island Idaho Florida Pennsylvania New Jersey West Virginia Maine Colorado California Missouri Montana Indiana Hawaii Virginia Nevada Arizona Utah Michigan Tennessee Maryland Oklahoma Wyoming Delaware New York Kentucky Illinois Ohio Arkansas Georgia Texas New Mexico North Carolina Alabama South Carolina Louisiana Mississippi Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.
There’s a stereotype about New Yorkers doing everything fast, especially talking. You can see it portrayed in films dating back to the 1930s, featuring stars like James Cagney spitting rapid-fire, rat-a-tat dialogue. Conversely, the pervasive image of Southern American speech is that of the loping drawl—essentially, a British accent, only slowed to a fraction of its original speed. A recent study of the speech patterns of Americans suggests the Southern stereotype isn’t so off the mark, while New York City talkers aren’t quite as speedy as they, or anyone else, imagines they are. Marchex, a mobile advertising analytics company, used “technology that automatically monitors speech, silence, ringtones and hold times” to determine the tortoises and the hares as far as speech goes, state by state. The fastest talkers, it turns out, live in Oregon. Second place goes to the denizens of Minnesota. In fact, you have to look down to third place before you come across a state that’s near New York City: Massachusetts. New York doesn’t actually appear on the list until the 38th slot. And the top five slowest talkers in the country? They live in Southern states, unsurprisingly. Mississippians topped the list for the slowest speech, compared to the rest of the country. Here’s how the rest of the list shook out:
Fastest talkers:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Slowest talkers: Mississippi Louisiana South Carolina Alabama North CarolinaA look at the speed of speech in all 50 states, from fastest to slowest:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Vermont Alaska South Dakota New Hampshire Nebraska Connecticut North Dakota Washington Wisconsin Rhode Island Idaho Florida Pennsylvania New Jersey West Virginia Maine Colorado California Missouri Montana Indiana Hawaii Virginia Nevada Arizona Utah Michigan Tennessee Maryland Oklahoma Wyoming Delaware New York Kentucky Illinois Ohio Arkansas Georgia Texas New Mexico North Carolina Alabama South Carolina Louisiana Mississippi Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.
There’s a stereotype about New Yorkers doing everything fast, especially talking. You can see it portrayed in films dating back to the 1930s, featuring stars like James Cagney spitting rapid-fire, rat-a-tat dialogue. Conversely, the pervasive image of Southern American speech is that of the loping drawl—essentially, a British accent, only slowed to a fraction of its original speed. A recent study of the speech patterns of Americans suggests the Southern stereotype isn’t so off the mark, while New York City talkers aren’t quite as speedy as they, or anyone else, imagines they are. Marchex, a mobile advertising analytics company, used “technology that automatically monitors speech, silence, ringtones and hold times” to determine the tortoises and the hares as far as speech goes, state by state. The fastest talkers, it turns out, live in Oregon. Second place goes to the denizens of Minnesota. In fact, you have to look down to third place before you come across a state that’s near New York City: Massachusetts. New York doesn’t actually appear on the list until the 38th slot. And the top five slowest talkers in the country? They live in Southern states, unsurprisingly. Mississippians topped the list for the slowest speech, compared to the rest of the country. Here’s how the rest of the list shook out:
Fastest talkers:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Slowest talkers: Mississippi Louisiana South Carolina Alabama North CarolinaA look at the speed of speech in all 50 states, from fastest to slowest:
Oregon Minnesota Massachusetts Kansas Iowa Vermont Alaska South Dakota New Hampshire Nebraska Connecticut North Dakota Washington Wisconsin Rhode Island Idaho Florida Pennsylvania New Jersey West Virginia Maine Colorado California Missouri Montana Indiana Hawaii Virginia Nevada Arizona Utah Michigan Tennessee Maryland Oklahoma Wyoming Delaware New York Kentucky Illinois Ohio Arkansas Georgia Texas New Mexico North Carolina Alabama South Carolina Louisiana Mississippi Kali Holloway is a senior writer and the associate editor of media and culture at AlterNet.
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