Is That a Y'all In Your Tweet? Study Shows Regional Accents on Twitter

If you write, "Coo" in a tweet, you're probably from Southern California. If you opt for "koo," you're probably from up north. "Uu" means you likely hail from New York, while "Yu" means you're rural. Twitter stereotypes? Nope, just the facts, according to new research showing regional "accents" are not just of the spoken kind.

If you write, “Coo” in a tweet, you’re probably from Southern California. If you opt for “koo,” you’re probably from up north. “Uu” means you likely hail from New York, while “Yu” means you’re rural. Twitter stereotypes? Nope, just the facts, according to new research showing regional “accents” are not just of the spoken kind.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University examined 380,000 messages from Twitter during one week last March and found they could pinpoint a user’s location to within 300 miles by analyzing the vocabulary in the tweets.

For example:

  • New York City residents often use “suttin” for “something,” “youu” for “you” and “II” for “I.”
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