WHAT DO YOU SAY? We're all Americans, but the way we speak says a lot about where in the U.S. we call home.

• Author: De Stefani, Lucia
• Position: NATIONAL

What would you call a roll filled with meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato: a sub, a grinder, or a hero? How about the fizzy drinks that come in a can: Are they soda, pop, or something else?

These are examples of regionalisms--words and phrases that are specific to certain parts of the country. Though we all use regionalisms, many people assume everyone speaks the same way they do. "You might not realize the things that you say that are distinctive," says Josh Katz, graphics editor at The New York Times and author of the book Speaking American: How Y'all, Youse, and You Guys Talk. "People's language is very tied up to their sense of identity and their sense of place."

The data for the maps in Katz's book came from a dialect survey he created a few years ago for the Times. The survey, which got more than 350,000 responses, asked people what they call common things--such as sugary drinks--and how they pronounce certain words, such as quarter. On the next few pages, you'll see some of the results. "It's important to recognize that there's often no standard American English," Katz says. "You have different regional expressions, none more right or wrong than any other.... Whether you're calling it a lightning bug or firefly, it's the same little bug."

This sandwich is called a ...

Katz's survey showed that 82 percent of the country calls a sandwich on a long roll a sub. But things aren't as simple in the Northeast. Sub is common in some places, but the same sandwich is also known by other names--such as hero, hoaqie, grinder, and wedge.

What do you call a soft drink?

All the maps in Katz's book are color-coded, like the one on the right. The darker the color of an area is, the higher the percentage of people who use that term. As you can see, in many states people use multiple terms for a fizzy soft drink. For example, in Oklahoma, the terms soda, pop, and coke are each popular in certain areas.

How would you address a group of people?

About half the people who took Katz's survey say "you guys" when talking to a group of people. But in many areas in the South, "y'all" (a contraction of "you all") is used most often. A mixture of terms can be heard in the lightly shaded places on the map. The next most common terms are "you all" and simply "you."

Many people in and around Pittsburgh say "yinz." Language experts think it's a shortened version of "you ones," which was used by immigrants from Ireland and Scotland.

How would you say 3:45?

Different...