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A New Look At How We Talk

Joshua Katz
/
Department of Statistics, NC State University

How do you pronounce "crayon?"  When you were a kid, did you chase "lightning bugs" or "fireflies?"  If you stepped outside and someone said, 'The devil is beating his wife,' would you know what that meant?   WFAE's Mark Rumsey talks with an NC State student researcher whosecolor-coded "Dialect Maps" have become an Internet sensation.

See all the maps.

Mark Rumsey grew up in Kansas and got his first radio job at age 17 in the town of Abilene, where he announced easy-listening music played from vinyl record albums.