A group text between my husband, Derek, our friend Ben, and me has been ongoing for more than a decade now. Ben, a born-and-raised hotdisher, is one of the most Minot people I know—and I mean that in the best way possible.

In our group chat, we typically coordinate weekly Sunday dinner plans. Sprinkled among recipe discussions are tidbits about various church committees, jokes about living in the upper Midwest, and lighthearted news (typically centered around life in Hotdish Land.)

Last week, a smile spread across my face when I opened the latest text in our thread to find a link to a New York Times dialect quiz.

As a writer and lover of words, regional language differences have always fascinated me. It’s to be expected that English speakers in different countries would use different terms for the same items. For instance, the “elevator” in America is a “lift” in England. The device we call a “weed whacker” in the states is known as a “whipper snipper” in Australia. Even more interesting than these standard differences between nationalities are the differences in verbiage, dialect, and understanding within our own country.

From region to region, our terms for simple daily items can vary drastically, and we can become very defensive over our word choices.

I first remember being enamored with regional dialect as a brand-new military spouse at age 22, living in Florida after spending my whole life in northern Indiana. At Target, my friend said, “Let’s grab a buggy.” I imagined an Amish horse and buggy—the only buggy I’d ever known. She meant a “shopping cart.” Another day, a coworker asked if I had a “pin.” I rummaged through my purse and produced a safety pin. She laughed and said, “A pin…like for writing.” Back in my purse, I grabbed a “pen.”

Comments about “speaking hotdish” are common around my house. From debates over what separates a casserole from a hotdish to the pronunciation of the word “sauna,” we love to ponder the finer points of NoDak life. Thus, with eagerness, I opened the dialect quiz.

Results from are given to respondents in the form of a heat map, indicating where your dialect is most compatible. The quiz, originally created by Josh Katz, who has since written a book entitled “Speaking American,” explores our differing dialects from coast to coast. Questions are based on those from a Harvard Dialect Survey. Responses from more than 350,000 respondents were taken into account to create the resulting maps.

All of that to say, it’s fun—but also scientific.

Derek, Ben, and I all took the quiz and shared our maps. Ben’s results revealed his dialect is most compatible with North Dakota, with South Dakota and Minnesota trailing close behind. (He then noted that NoDakers have no words for many of the items mentioned in the quiz.) Derek’s map showed his most compatible regions were in Northern Indiana and Illinois. My map, however, was a bit of a shock, showing strong similarity to states ranging from Ohio to California.

Maybe the “She’s not from around here” lifestyle has muddled me. Perhaps I subconsciously hang on to a piece of everywhere I’ve lived and visited through language.

But what about you?

Do you eat casseroles or hotdishes? Do you drink soda or pop? How do you pronounce the word “sauna”?

Is it kitty corner, catty corner, or diagonal? Do you eat dinner or supper? How many syllables are in the word “crayon”? What about “caramel”? How do you address a group of people? Do you have a word for when the sun shines while it’s raining? Do you have a term for the day before Halloween? What do you call athletic shoes?

You can find the quiz by Googling “NYT Dialect Quiz” to discover your own map. In the meantime, ask someone about some of these words. It just might open up a great conversation.

For more stories from Hotdish Land, and daily encouragement join me online at amyallender.com, Instagram (@amy_allender or @HeyMinot), or Facebook (@amyallenderblog).