Staff writer Martha Quillin's story about the pronunciation of Lejeune reminds me of the peculiarities of place name pronunciation. Even if the name of the family was pronounced one way, the name of the Marine base has come to be pronounced another way.

I love North Carolina dialects. I have one myself -- western Piedmont. I ran across this nifty site today. Take the North Carolina Dialect Quiz and see if you can distinguish among North Carolina regional dialects. One speaker on the quiz sounds just like my mother, born in 1929 in Hickory.

You can also learn more about why people in parts of North Carolina speak the way they do. The quiz is part of the North Carolina Language and Life Project.

If you want to hear more examples of authentic North Carolina dialect, go to the International Dialects of English Archive. My kinfolks sound like North Carolina #17.

My earlier post about Sarah Palin's speech has received a good number of reads since I posted Sunday. I have another link for you. Slate has a piece that turns Palin's interview with Katie Couric into poetry.

Thanks to my colleague Judson Drennan for pointing this out.

Here is a quiz to help you figure out which American accent you have. Mine is Southern.

I am fascinated by the language of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and by the comments on it in the news and entertainment media.