How Americans feel about the states

[ElectionsGuy]

I'll do one with my opinion:

Weirdest Accent: Louisiana (not bad weird)
Best Food: Texas
Worst Food: West Virginia?
Favorite State: Texas/Oklahoma
Least Favorite: New York/California
Craziest: California
Hottest Residents: Colorado
Ugliest Residents: Georgia
Beautiful Scenery: Colorado
Worst Scenery: Wisconsin/Iowa
Drunkest: Definitely Wisconsin
Best Vacation Spot: Hawaii
Most Arrogant: California
Rudest: New York
Nicest: Oklahoma
Smartest: Utah
Dumbest: Mississippi
Best Sports Fans: Texas
Worst Sports Fans: New York
Kicked Out of America: California/New York
Overrated: California
Underrated: Oklahoma

Yes I will get some heat for this.

[Miles]

Weirdest Accent: MA
Best Food: LA
Worst Food: NM
Favorite State: LA
Least Favorite: AZ
Craziest: TX
Hottest Residents: CA
Ugliest Residents: ND
Beautiful Scenery: WV
Worst Scenery: NE
Drunkest: WI
Best Vacation Spot: FL
Most Arrogant: MA
Rudest: NY
Nicest: AL
Smartest: MA
Dumbest: SC
Best Sports Fans: LA
Worst Sports Fans: IL
Kicked Out of America: FL
Overrated: CA
Underrated: MS

[angus]

No real surprises on that graph.

I guess I'd also have said Massachusetts for the weirdest local accent, at least among all the states I've lived in.  

For best food I like spicy, and a preponderance of all-you-can-eat Indian buffets, so I'd go with Texas because there are so many bubbaburger joints with jalapeños and all sorts of sauces, and so many all-you-can-eat Indian buffets.  (To be fair, there are three all-you-can-eat Indian buffets withing five miles from my house and lots of spicy stuff on offer right here in Lancaster.)  

I've had some pretty bad food in Louisiana, in fact most of the food I've ordered in Louisiana has been bad, but that's probably owing to the fact that most of the food I've had in Louisiana has been fast food just off IH10 and IH20.  There certainly is a high density of extremely expensive, top-end restaurants and a number of cooking schools in a very small part of Louisiana, and when I've ventured deep into the swamps south of IH10 I've always enjoyed the gumbos and etoufee and oyster rice and shrimp dishes I've eaten, and I guess that this is the stereotype that gets propagated.  

Worst food for me is in the Four Corners region.  It's really hard to find good food there, even in grocery stores, where the shelves are largely empty except lots of loaves of stale white bread and lots of really brown bananas.  I'd probably go with NM here, neglecting all the wonderful Tex Mex places I've eaten at in Albuquerque.  

I guess my favorite and least favorite vary depending upon circumstances.  Right now they're both Pennsylvania.

Craziest is probably California, but that's not a bad thing.

Hottest is Iowa, of course.

Ugliest, per capita, is probably New Jersey.

Beautiful scenery for me is Hawaii, without a doubt, but bear in mind that I've only been to 44 of the states.  

Worst scenery I've seen is Kansas.

I'd go with Mississippi for the drunkest based on what I saw during the three years I lived there, but statistically I'd guess that it's probably New Mexico.  Certainly I'd expect it to be one of those two very impoverished states.

Best vacation:  Hard call.  I like Hawaii and Florida.

Arrogant:  tie between Texas and New York.

Rudest:  in terms of social norms, like respecting the concept of the queue at a bank, I've found Mississippi to be the rudest.  

Nicest:  California, among the states I've lived in.  Shallow people with the sort of superficial nicety that I prefer over the more intrusive Midwestern variety.

Smartest and Dumbest are tough, and depends upon definitions.  Wyoming has the highest percentage of its population graduating high school, and its very low density requires a certain self-sufficiency not found elsewhere.  New Jersey has the highest per-capita spending on public schools.  Illinois has the highest average SAT score.  None of those are particularly good measures.  I'd have to think deeply about this before answering.

Best sports fans are from Minnesota.  Worst are from Boston.  (I can see why New York would be picked as best and worst though.  I've been to Yankees homes games.  It's just that I've been to more Red Sox home games and Twins home games than Yankees.  I suspect most Americans haven't.)

kicked out:  none.  If we absolutely had to remove some I'd go with something bordering Canada and west of Minnesota.

Overrated:  California

Underrated:  California

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Weirdest Accent: Mississippi
Best Food: [Texas (Pretty much the whole South, actually, although there's great food in every state.)
Worst Food: Louisiana (I'm not a big fan of shellfish or spicy food--at least New England doesn't have the spicy)
Favorite State: Michigan (I'm from here; where else?)
Least Favorite: Alabama (Though Texas isn't far behind)
Craziest: Texas (In both good and bad ways)
Hottest Residents: California
Ugliest Residents: West Virginia (Although there are plenty of beautiful women from every state.)
Beautiful Scenery: Colorado
Worst Scenery: Nebraska (Although there's good scenery in every state.  My mom once drove through there on the way to Denver, and she said it was very boring and just went on and on; plus, it took forever to get through)
Drunkest: Wisconsin
Best Vacation Spot: Florida
Most Arrogant: Massachusetts (Those ivory tower elites at "Ha-vud")
Rudest: New York ("Excuse me, what is 'excuse me'?"  A stereotype, of course.)
Nicest: Minnesota (Though Wisconsin and a number of Southern states would be in the running, too.)
Smartest: Massachusetts (See Most Arrogant)
Dumbest: Mississippi (A stereotype, much like Rudest)
Best Sports Fans: Texas
Worst Sports Fans: Massachusetts (The Patriots are overrated, and their hatred of the Yankees despite being Yankees themselves; they're obviously still sore losers of him leaving the Red Sox.)
Kicked Out of America: Texas (Hey, why not, some of them even want it, and they've done it to us before, not to mention Mexico.)
Overrated: Texas (Again)
Underrated: Vermont (Maybe Illinois as runner-up)

[TDAS04]

Weirdest Accent: Louisiana
Best Food: Oregon
Worst Food: Mississippi
Favorite State: Maine
Least Favorite: Mississippi
Craziest: Texas
Hottest Residents: California
Ugliest Residents: West Virginia
Beautiful Scenery: Washington
Worst Scenery: Nevada
Drunkest: Nevada
Best Vacation Spot: Washington
Most Arrogant: Texas
Rudest: West Virginia
Nicest: Iowa
Smartest: Vermont
Dumbest: Mississippi
Best Sports Fans: Colorado
Worst Sports Fans: Florida
Kicked Out of America: Arizona
Overrated: Florida
Underrated: Iowa

[tallguy23]

Weirdest Accent: North Dakota
Best Food: California/Texas
Worst Food: Mississippi
Favorite State: California (I'm biased)
Least Favorite: Arizona
Craziest: Arizona
Hottest Residents: California
Ugliest Residents: West Virginia
Beautiful Scenery: California (the diversity is spectacular)
Worst Scenery: Nevada
Drunkest: Wisconsin
Best Vacation Spot: Hawaii
Most Arrogant: New York
Rudest: New Jersey
Nicest: North Carolina
Smartest: Massachusetts
Dumbest: Mississippi
Kicked Out of America: Arizona
Overrated: Florida
Underrated: Oregon

[MasterJedi]

There really isn't a "Wisconsin" accent. The people who live up north let the accent from Minnesota get into their speech but there is also the Milwaukee/South Milwaukee accent as well. It's M'waukee, bayg, drayg, rayg, flayg and combining words/sentences in general. Also no one from outside Wisconsin can pronounce the state correctly. It's not Wesconsin or WisCAHNsin.

[ilikeverin]

There really isn't a "Wisconsin" accent. The people who live up north let the accent from Minnesota get into their speech but there is also the Milwaukee/South Milwaukee accent as well. It's M'waukee, bayg, drayg, rayg, flayg and combining words/sentences in general. Also no one from outside Wisconsin can pronounce the state correctly. It's not Wesconsin or WisCAHNsin.

False.  1) Everyone has an accent.  2) Northern Cities Vowel Shift is definitely a thing.

[MasterJedi]

There really isn't a "Wisconsin" accent. The people who live up north let the accent from Minnesota get into their speech but there is also the Milwaukee/South Milwaukee accent as well. It's M'waukee, bayg, drayg, rayg, flayg and combining words/sentences in general. Also no one from outside Wisconsin can pronounce the state correctly. It's not Wesconsin or WisCAHNsin.

False.  1) Everyone has an accent.  2) Northern Cities Vowel Shift is definitely a thing.

I said there was no such thing as a "wisconsin" accent, not that there are not accents. Northern Wisconsin is closer to Minnesota and there is a distinct South Milwaukee/Milwaukee accent which is in ways different from the surrounding areas. That's all I was saying. Except that people outside of Wisconsin usually can't pronounce it correctly.

[ilikeverin]

There really isn't a "Wisconsin" accent. The people who live up north let the accent from Minnesota get into their speech but there is also the Milwaukee/South Milwaukee accent as well. It's M'waukee, bayg, drayg, rayg, flayg and combining words/sentences in general. Also no one from outside Wisconsin can pronounce the state correctly. It's not Wesconsin or WisCAHNsin.

False.  1) Everyone has an accent.  2) Northern Cities Vowel Shift is definitely a thing.

I said there was no such thing as a "wisconsin" accent, not that there are not accents. Northern Wisconsin is closer to Minnesota and there is a distinct South Milwaukee/Milwaukee accent which is in ways different from the surrounding areas. That's all I was saying. Except that people outside of Wisconsin usually can't pronounce it correctly.

Oh, sorry!  I completely misread your initial post.  I'm so used to have to drill into everyone's skull that everyone has an accent.  Yes, you're totally correct.  Although I would disagree that Milwaukee's accent is "completely dissimilar from the surrounding area"... it shares a lot in common with Chicago, besides the usual suspects ("bubbler" and "soda").

[MasterJedi]

There really isn't a "Wisconsin" accent. The people who live up north let the accent from Minnesota get into their speech but there is also the Milwaukee/South Milwaukee accent as well. It's M'waukee, bayg, drayg, rayg, flayg and combining words/sentences in general. Also no one from outside Wisconsin can pronounce the state correctly. It's not Wesconsin or WisCAHNsin.

False.  1) Everyone has an accent.  2) Northern Cities Vowel Shift is definitely a thing.

I said there was no such thing as a "wisconsin" accent, not that there are not accents. Northern Wisconsin is closer to Minnesota and there is a distinct South Milwaukee/Milwaukee accent which is in ways different from the surrounding areas. That's all I was saying. Except that people outside of Wisconsin usually can't pronounce it correctly.

Oh, sorry!  I completely misread your initial post.  I'm so used to have to drill into everyone's skull that everyone has an accent.  Yes, you're totally correct.  Although I would disagree that Milwaukee's accent is "completely dissimilar from the surrounding area"... it shares a lot in common with Chicago, besides the usual suspects ("bubbler" and "soda").

It's more of a dialect I guess, a lot more in South Milwaukee area that's been slowly decreasing over time. Such words as bag, rag, lag,drag, tag, flag, magazine, agriculture are pronounced more like "baig" or "bayg" if you will or like vague with the long A. Milwaukee is pronounced usually without the I so as M'waukee. Using ain'a or words like "accrost" or adding "er no" such as Do you want to go accrost the street er no? There's also for to fur, using by instead of to such as "we're going by Jim" instead of "we're going to Jim's house". Personally my favorite that I heard once was "do ya want me ta tayg yer bayg, er no?"

Obviously there is a lot in common with the surrounding area but the farther you get out of South Milwaukee/Milwaukee the more a lot of what I mentioned fades. But it is a bubbler and soda, pop is a sound!

[Franknburger]

It's more of a dialect I guess, a lot more in South Milwaukee area that's been slowly decreasing over time. Such words as bag, rag, lag,drag, tag, flag, magazine, agriculture are pronounced more like "baig" or "bayg" if you will or like vague with the long A. Milwaukee is pronounced usually without the I so as M'waukee. Using ain'a or words like "accrost" or adding "er no" such as Do you want to go accrost the street er no? There's also for to fur, using by instead of to such as "we're going by Jim" instead of "we're going to Jim's house". Personally my favorite that I heard once was "do ya want me ta tayg yer bayg, er no?"

Sounds a bit Low Saxon (Plattdütsch):

for -> för (fur)
drag -> trekken
pay a visit (look in at) -> inkieken bie
to -> to (with a dark ´o` as in roll)

You don't also happen to draw the "a" sound as in "part" into a dark "o", as in draw, er no?
Sound examples

[Ban my account ffs!]

trekken>drekken>dreggen>draggen>dragging>drag

Jugend>Ju'end>Ju'eth>Youth

Bube>bu'eh>boy

Knecht/knight, Vater/father, Mutter/mother, Bruder/brother, Schwester/sister, Onkel/Uncle

Gross/great, verboten/forbidden

Kessel/Kettle, besser/better, messer/meter (as in to mete something), glock/clock, platt/flat/plate, kopf/cup, tasse/dose, leib/loaf, brot/bread, brust/breast, scheissen/sh**t, schiessen/shoot, heiss/hot, kalt/cold

rennen/run, halten/halt, fliessen/flow, essen/eat, sturm/storm, wetter/weather, hund/hound, strasse/street, kleben/cleave, sonne/sun, mond/moon, forst/forest, stecken/to stick, apfel/apple

English is a GERMANIC language.  The French were the overlords so naughty words tend to be words the farmers used to refer to things.. like sh**t... instead of the acceptable manure.

The peasants worked with cows (kuehe) and swine (schweine).. but could not afford to eat the beef or pork therefrom, like the frenchy nobility.

[politicallefty]

I said there was no such thing as a "wisconsin" accent, not that there are not accents. Northern Wisconsin is closer to Minnesota and there is a distinct South Milwaukee/Milwaukee accent which is in ways different from the surrounding areas. That's all I was saying. Except that people outside of Wisconsin usually can't pronounce it correctly.

To me, I see Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to all be quite similar. Minnesota has many aspects similar to Canada, primarily Canadian raising. Michigan, despite it's proximity to Canada, doesn't seem to share any similarities. Wisconsin is pretty much the amalgamation of those accents, which may be why it's so noticeable to my ears. It seems like the NCVS with some Canadian influence.

On the plus side, at least a large majority of Wisconsinites know that soda is the proper word for said beverage, unlike all of its neighbours.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Weirdest Accent: Minnesota
Best Food: New York
Worst Food:
Favorite State: New York
Least Favorite: Florida
Craziest: Florida
Hottest Residents: California
Ugliest Residents: Oklahoma
Beautiful Scenery: Alaska
Worst Scenery: Oklahoma
Drunkest: Wisconsin
Best Vacation Spot: New York
Most Arrogant: Texas
Rudest: New Jersey (you get used to it)
Nicest: Minnesota (albeit in a passive-aggressive way)
Smartest: Massachusetts (when sober)
Dumbest: Oklahoma (one big reason)
Best Sports Fans: Pennsylvania (western half)
Worst Sports Fans: Texas
Kicked Out of America: Florida
Overrated: Texas
Underrated: Pennsylvania

[Flake]

Weirdest Accent: Wisconsin
Best Food: North Carolina
Worst Food: Pennyslvania
Favorite State: Minnesota/North Carolina
Least Favorite: Utah
Craziest: Florida
Hottest Residents: Georgia
Ugliest Residents: Alabama
Beautiful Scenery: Colorado
Worst Scenery: New Jersey
Drunkest: Ohio
Best Vacation Spot: Hawaii
Most Arrogant: Massachusetts
Rudest: New York
Nicest: North Carolina
Smartest: Massachusetts
Dumbest: Alabama
Best Sports Fans: Texas
Worst Sports Fans: New York
Kicked Out of America: Utah/Alabama
Overrated: California
Underrated: Vermont

[Flake]

Weirdest Accent: Wisconsin
Best Food: North Carolina
Worst Food: Pennyslvania
Favorite State: Minnesota/North Carolina
Least Favorite: Utah
Craziest: Florida
Hottest Residents: Georgia
Ugliest Residents: Alabama
Beautiful Scenery: Colorado
Worst Scenery: New Jersey
Drunkest: Ohio
Best Vacation Spot: Hawaii
Most Arrogant: Massachusetts
Rudest: New York
Nicest: North Carolina
Smartest: Massachusetts
Dumbest: Alabama
Best Sports Fans: Texas
Worst Sports Fans: New York
Kicked Out of America: Utah/Alabama
Overrated: California
Underrated: Vermont

[Miles]

Best Food: North Carolina

Explain. Not to bash NC, but I've lived in both NC and LA; LA is much better.

[Person Man]

Weirdest Accent: Minnesota
Best Food: North Carolina
Worst Food: Indiana
Favorite State: Vermont
Least Favorite: Idaho
Craziest: Florida
Hottest Residents: California
Ugliest Residents: Kentucky
Beautiful Scenery: Colorado
Worst Scenery: South Dakota
Drunkest: Wyoming
Best Vacation Spot: New Mexico
Most Arrogant: Texas
Rudest: Texas
Nicest: Minnesota
Smartest: Massachusetts
Dumbest: Mississippi
Best Sports Fans: New York
Worst Sports Fans: Utah
Kicked Out of America: Texas
Overrated: Texas
Underrated: New Jersey

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Best Food: North Carolina

Explain. Not to bash NC, but I've lived in both NC and LA; LA is much better.

Maybe he is only counting barbecue.

[Flake]

Best Food: North Carolina

Explain. Not to bash NC, but I've lived in both NC and LA; LA is much better.

Never been to Louisiana, I'll try some food whenever I go there.