Dogs & Accents & Nerds, Oh My!

I took an online quiz to find out what kind of dog I am—or would be, if I were a canine. Soon after finishing the quiz, I found out I was an Irish setter. Yep, "Becky, you're a Irish Setter!" they said.

Hmmm. I never pictured myself as red-haired and hyper, which is what I think of when I think of Irish setters. This is my alleged profile:

No bones about it, you're a devil-may-care Irish Setter. Fun-loving and light-hearted, life is an adventure for you — an attitude your nearest and dearest find refreshing and inspiring. Witty, with a nose for fun, you can turn any social gathering into an unforgettable event, which is why you're always at the top of the guest list. Your varied interests — anything and everything from sky-diving to club hopping — make you extremely well-rounded. Just make sure you don't get distracted and lose sight of your responsibilities. As long as you stay balanced, you're a lucky dog who will always be a kid at heart — woof!

"Sky-diving?" "Club hopping?" Not me! OK, "witty" and "nose for fun" are right on.

Deciding to find out what American accent I have, I took another quiz:

My result: Philadelphia. Huh?! I've passed through Pennsylvania a few times—and stayed for a while in Lancaster, Gettysburg, and Hershey—but I've never visited Philadelphia. I'm Virginian, born and bred. Nevertheless, this is what the quiz results said:

Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.

Nope, none of the above. I'm married to someone from northern Jersey—and I've passed though south Jersey—but I've never been to Wilmington or Baltimore. Could my two years in South Carolina, two years on the Virginia peninsula, and six months in western Massachusetts average out to a Philly accent?

Finally, I too another quiz to see what kind of nerd I am.

My result: Literature Nerd. Yes! This actually describes me:

Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.

And I'm enough of a literature (actually grammar and punctuation) nerd to be irked by the cliché "today's society" and overly-critical enough to know that a semicolon should go in front of however and a comma after.

And "it's eloquence"? Don't get me started on such an obvious error! Its is the proper form of the possessive personal pronoun. It's is the contraction for it is.

What would the world do without us "overly-critical" folks—us literature nerds— to set the others straight?