How do you recognise a Midland accent?

“The car needs washed” — “to be” is dropped. “Cot” and “caught” sound the same. “Pin” and “pen” stay distinct, unlike Texas and the South. Plural “you” is “you guys”, not “y’all”.

Which famous people have a Midland accent?

Paul Rudd is a speaker whose recorded speech anchors the Midland American English profile used by DialectGuessr.

How do I test whether I have a Midland accent?

DialectGuessr's free accent test asks 29 questions about the words you use and how you pronounce them, then scores your answers against the Midland American English profile and every other profile in the survey. It takes about two minutes and needs no account.

Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and the US Midland

The Midland accent

Midland American English is the variety people from Ohio, Indiana and Missouri often hear as having “no accent”. It has merged “cot” and “caught”, unlike the Inland North, and it has not raised “bag” towards “beg”. Its grammatical giveaway is “the car needs washed”, without “to be”.

Take the quiz and see how close your accent is →

How to recognise a Midland accent

“The car needs washed” — “to be” is dropped.
“Cot” and “caught” sound the same.
“Pin” and “pen” stay distinct, unlike Texas and the South.
Plural “you” is “you guys”, not “y’all”.

Also known as Midland accent, Ohio accent, Missouri accent, Midland American English. Spoken in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and the US Midland, United States.

The Midland pronunciation fingerprint

These are the answers the quiz expects from a Midland speaker on its 30 pronunciation questions. Where a feature varies within the region, more than one answer counts as a match.

“bath” takes the short vowel of “cat”
The Trap–Bath Split: Does “Bath” Rhyme With “Cat” or “Father”?
the R at the end of “car” is pronounced
Rhotic vs Non-Rhotic: Do You Pronounce the R in “Car”?
a quick D-like tap in “bottle”
Bottle, Bo'le or Boddle? The T in the Middle of a Word
“cot” and “caught” rhyme
The Cot–Caught Merger: Do “Cot” and “Caught” Sound the Same?
“Mary”, “marry” and “merry” all sound the same
Mary, Marry, Merry: One Sound, Two or Three?
“day” ends on a slight “ee” — day-ee
The Vowel in “Day”: Gliding or Steady?
“go” ends on a slight “oo” — go-oo
The Vowel in “Go”: Gliding or Steady?
“tune” sounds like “toon”, without a Y sound
Tune, Toon or Choon? The Y After a Consonant
no — they sound different
Do “Singer” and “Finger” Rhyme? The Velar Nasal Plus
one — “film”
“Film” or “Fillum”? The Helping Vowel in Highland and Irish English
no — they end in a vowel
The Bristol L: Why “Area” Can Sound Like “Areal”
a th sound
“Dat” for “That”: TH-Stopping in the Function Words
“ship” and “sheep” have different vowel sounds
Ship or Sheep? The Vowel That Divides Native and Learned English
“put” and “putt” have different vowels
The Foot–Strut Split: Do “Put” and “Putt” Rhyme?
“three” starts with a TH sound, with the tongue against the teeth
Three, Free or Tree? What Happens to Your TH
the H in “house” is pronounced
H-Dropping: Do You Say “House” or “'Ouse”?
“fur” and “fair” stay distinct
Fur and Fair: The Merger That Marks Liverpool
“beer” and “bear” stay distinct
Beer and Bear: The Merger That Marks New Zealand
“happy” ends on a long “-ee”
Happy: Does It End in “-ee” or “-ih”?
“wine” and “vine” start with different sounds
Wine or Vine? Where V and W Fall Together
“school” starts straight on the S
“Eschool” for “School”: The Vowel Some Accents Add
“bed” ends with D and “bet” ends with T
Bed or Bet? Final-Obstruent Devoicing
a smooth R, without tapping or rolling the tongue
Rolled, Uvular or Neither? How the R Is Made
“pin” and “pen” stay distinct
Pin or Pen? The Southern US Vowel Merger
the vowel in “ride” glides from one sound to another
Does “Ride” Stay on One Sound? Southern PRICE
“celery” and “salary” stay distinct
Celery or Salary? Melbourne's Quiet Giveaway

Everyday words in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and the US Midland

Expected everyday vocabulary for a Midland speaker.
Question	Usual answer
What do you usually call a sweet carbonated drink?	Pop
What do you call shoes worn for sport or exercise?	Tennis shoes
What do you usually call the main evening meal?	Dinner
What do you call a small, round piece of bread for one person?	Roll
What do you call thin strips of potato served hot and fried?	Fries
What is your general word for small sugary treats?	Candy
What do you call the wheeled basket used in a supermarket?	Shopping cart
What do you call restaurant food collected to eat elsewhere?	Takeout
What do you call a public fixture you drink water from?	Water fountain
What do you call a small neighbourhood shop selling everyday items?	Convenience store
How do you usually address a group of people informally?	You guys
What do you call the household container for unwanted rubbish?	Trash can
What do you call the narrow passageway between or behind houses?	Alley / alleyway
What do you call the insulated box you carry cold drinks in?	Cooler
You are waiting your turn behind other people. What are you doing?	Waiting in line
“Man’s getting emotional.” Who is “man”?	It does not make sense to me
What do you call rubber sandals held on by a strap between the toes?	Flip-flops
What do you call the red-amber-green signal at a junction?	Stoplight
What do you call a circular junction you drive around?	Traffic circle
How do you say “the” in a phrase like “I’m going down the shop”?	A full “the”
“We’ll not be home while seven.” What does that sentence mean to you?	It does not make sense to me
“I’m after having my dinner.” What does that sentence mean to you?	It does not make sense to me
What do you call a shared minibus used as public transport?	I do not have a word for that
Does “she be working on Fridays” sound like a normal way to say she works Fridays regularly?	No — it does not sound like my English
Does “the car needs washed” sound normal — without “to be”?	Yes — “needs washed” is fine
What do you call a long sandwich in a split roll?	Sub / submarine
What do you call a multi-storey building for parking cars?	Parking garage
Can “da kine” stand in for a thing you have not named?	No — that is not a word I use

What 18 people from the Midland area told the survey

18 people who grew up in the Midland area have taken the DialectGuessr quiz. These are the answers where they differ most from everyone else who has taken it.

Answers from people who grew up in the Midland area, against everyone else in the survey.
Question	Their answer	Here vs elsewhere
What do you call shoes worn for sport or exercise?	Tennis shoes	72% vs 14% elsewhere · 13 of 18
Which is closest to how you naturally say “tune”?	“Toon” — without a Y sound	100% vs 45% elsewhere · 18 of 18
What do you call a small neighbourhood shop selling everyday items?	Convenience store	89% vs 36% elsewhere · 16 of 18
Does “the car needs washed” sound normal — without “to be”?	Yes — “needs washed” is fine	70% vs 18% elsewhere · 7 of 10
What do you call the household container for unwanted rubbish?	Trash can	83% vs 38% elsewhere · 15 of 18
What is your general word for small sugary treats?	Candy	89% vs 48% elsewhere · 16 of 18

From people who chose to take the quiz and pinned where they grew up, so a self-selected sample rather than a random one. The figures are recalculated daily as more people answer.

How Ohio answered the Harvard Dialect Survey

The Harvard Dialect Survey, collected by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder in 2002–2003, recorded how respondents in every US state answered the same questions. These are Ohio’s answers, most common first.

Ohio, Harvard Dialect Survey.
Question	Answers in Ohio
Soda, Pop or Coke? The Map of How America Orders a Fizzy Drink	pop 70% · soda 19% · coke 4%
Traffic Circle, Roundabout or Rotary?	traffic circle 40% · roundabout 18% · rotary 7%
Water Fountain, Drinking Fountain or Bubbler?	drinking fountain 53% · water fountain 44% · bubbler 0%
Lightning Bug or Firefly?	lightning bug 63% · firefly 4%
Crawfish, Crawdad or Crayfish?	crawfish 33% · crayfish 31% · crawdad 29%
Roly Poly or Potato Bug?	potato bug 26% · roly poly 23%
You Guys, Y'all or You All?	you guys 54% · you all 11% · y'all 7%
Kitty-Corner or Catty-Corner?	catty-corner 50% · kitty-corner 31%
Garage Sale or Yard Sale?	garage sale 59% · yard sale 34%
Tennis Shoes or Sneakers?	tennis shoes 61% · sneakers 19%
Trash Can or Garbage Can?	trash can 40% · garbage can 26%
Scratch Paper or Scrap Paper?	scrap paper 47% · scratch paper 20%
Frontage Road, Service Road or Access Road?	service road 31% · access road 26% · frontage road 14%
Does “Route” Rhyme With “Out” or “Hoot”?	rhymes with "out" 35% · rhymes with "hoot" 20%
Caramel: Two Syllables or Three?	with 2 syllables ("car-ml") 57% · with 3 syllables ("carra-mel") 20%
Mischievous or Mischievious?	mischievous (3 syllables) 41% · mischievious (4 syllables) 32%
Rubber Band, Hair Tie or Elastic?	rubber band 36% · hair tie 22% · (hair) elastic 7%

Data from the Harvard Dialect Survey (Bert Vaux and Scott Golder, 2002–2003), used under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 licence. A self-selected sample from two decades ago: how people spoke then, not a census.

Speakers with a Midland accent

Paul Rudd
Overland Park, Kansas, United States
A Midland American English reference profile; Rudd spent his teenage years in Overland Park.

Accent profiles are anchored to primary-source regional recordings from the International Dialects of English Archive, not to any individual performance.