Warsh or wash?
Anthony Ferrante
of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
Your thoughts?
Anthony
D. Glenn Arthur Jr.
Anthony Ferrante <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
>of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
>
>My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
It's not uncommon in some parts of Maryland. They still
spell it 'wash'; only the pronounciation changes. (I've
also heard folks refer to 'Warshington DC' -- again, only
vocally, not in print unless deliberately trying to convey
the accent or lampooning those who have that accent.)
>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
I'm accustomed to hearing that occasionally, but not often;
I've ascribed it to ignorance (but perhaps I am ignorant of
a relevant dialect difference?).
--
D. Glenn Arthur Jr./The Human Vibrator, dgl...@panix.com
Due to hand/wrist problems my newsreading time varies so I may miss followups.
"Being a _man_ means knowing that one has a choice not to act like a 'man'."
http://www.panix.com/~dglenn/ http://dglenn.livejournal.com
John Kane
wrote:
> I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
> of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
Perfectly normal around here. I grew up saying it.
John Kane Kingston ON Canada
Raymond O'Hara
"Anthony Ferrante" <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:0pc4845mthnhaj5fi...@4ax.com...
It's an accent thing.
Donna Richoux
Bartleby.com has an article here on the "Midland" dialects:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/5d.html
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition. 2000.
Regional Patterns of American Speech
I'll let anyone interested consult the article for the history,
geography, and pertinent features, but it does say:
From upstate New York and across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa
westward, the division of Northern and North Midland remains apparent in
... [snip several other characteristics] the existence of an epenthetic
r in "warsh" and "Warshington" in some Midland speech.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Don Phillipson
news:0pc4845mthnhaj5fi...@4ax.com...
> I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
> of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
AF invented for himself Robertson Davies' shibboleth
for detecting echt Canadians by their accents when uttering:
"Wash and curl the hair of the squirrel," viz.
"Worsh and currl the hairatha squrrl."
(The test for Australians is: "The land of Australia is dead smooth,"
as published in Samuel Marchbanks i.e. about 50 years ago.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Raymond O'Hara
"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
news:g5to2u$ilc$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
"Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass as an
American.
CDB
> "Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
> news:g5to2u$ilc$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>> "Anthony Ferrante" <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>> news:0pc4845mthnhaj5fi...@4ax.com...
>>> ["warsh"]
>> AF invented for himself Robertson Davies' shibboleth
>> for detecting echt Canadians by their accents when uttering:
>> "Wash and curl the hair of the squirrel," viz.
>> "Worsh and currl the hairatha squrrl."
Davies spent much of his life in South-Eastern Ontario; he was writing
about the speech of the people John grew up with.
[ask a suspected Australian what he wants to drink; he'll say "bee",
and you'll know.]
> "Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass
> as an American.
Nah, but it might expose some Canadians *not* trying to pass as
Americans.
Hatunen
"Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
talking about missiles in Cuber.
But "subscription" seems just plain wrong.
--
************* DAVE HATUNEN (hat...@cox.net) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
Raymond O'Hara
"Hatunen" <hat...@cox.net> wrote in message
news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
> <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
>>of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
>>
>>My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
>>
>>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>>not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
>>
>>Your thoughts?
>
> "Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
> talking about missiles in Cuber.
Fiart for the Italian automobile was common too.
One never hears the added R much anymore
Sara Lorimer
I know several people from Washington State who call it Warshington.
It's a regionalism, that's all.
--
SML
Roland Hutchinson
Sounds about right. I learned if from my Chicago-born mother; unlearned it
from my SoCal schoolmates. Probaby still say it if I'm tired or stressed.
--
Roland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food.
NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to
remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it.
mm
<ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
>of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
I've only known one, a long time ago. He was from Chadwick, in
northwest Illinois, 20 miles south of wisconsin and 20 miles east of
the Mississippi. Still said it after he graduated an Ivy League law
school.
>My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
>
>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
Do you go to the phamacy?
>not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
>
>Your thoughts?
I lived in Chicago, in Hyde Park for 6 years, with many other students
who were from Chicago, but didn't hear it there.
>Anthony
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
mm
>On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
><ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
>>of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
>>
>>My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
>>
>>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>>not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
>>
>>Your thoughts?
>
>"Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
>talking about missiles in Cuber.
My mother, born in 1908 in Indiana, was just amazed at that. She
said she couldn't imagine an educated man saying that.
>But "subscription" seems just plain wrong.
I missed that, but maybe he subscribes to the drug of the month club.
Or maybe he has a weekly subscription for uppers.
Roland Hutchinson
> Raymond O'Hara wrote:
>> "Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
>> news:g5to2u$ilc$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>> "Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass
>> as an American.
>
> Nah, but it might expose some Canadians *not* trying to pass as
> Americans.
It will also give a false positive on a certain number or North Dakotans &
other Northern Tierers from the USA.
tony cooper
wrote:
I grew up in Indiana, and have never said "warsh". One of my best
friends, who grew up a few blocks from me, did.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Garrett Wollman
tony cooper <tony_co...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>I grew up in Indiana, and have never said "warsh". One of my best
>friends, who grew up a few blocks from me, did.
A friend of mine, the son of a schoolteacher from New York, married
the daughter of a schoolteacher from Indiana. Neither has the accent
their antecedents might otherwise suggest. I know that my friend's
mother-in-law felt very strongly that her daughter ought to speak
"properly" (read: "not like a stereotypical midwesterner"). The jury
is still out on their children.
A former co-worker of mine, who consciously shed his Arkansas southern
accent, reports that his Boston-born daughter has a stereotypical
Dedham accent indistinguishable the rest of the kids in her elementary
school (and of course entirely unlike either of her parents). Another
co-worker, who is from eastern Mass. but has a Southern California
accent, has two older children who went to school in Somerville and
sound nothing like the natives.
I suppose this is as good a time as any to note that WBUR's "Radio
Boston" this week was about Boston-area accents. See
<http://www.radioboston.org/> for a recording of the show. A nice
complement is stage actress and mimic Sarah Jones's appearance on
"Studio 360" this week <http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/07/18>.
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | The real tragedy of human existence is not that we are
wol...@csail.mit.edu| nasty by nature, but that a cruel structural asymmetry
Opinions not those | grants to rare events of meanness such power to shape
of MIT or CSAIL. | our history. - S.J. Gould, Ten Thousand Acts of Kindness
Peacenik
My grandmother, who grew up in West Central Illinois, said "warsh" and
"squarsh".
Raymond O'Hara
"Garrett Wollman" <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote in message
news:g5ukev$1aeu$1...@grapevine.csail.mit.edu...
>
> A former co-worker of mine, who consciously shed his Arkansas southern
> accent, reports that his Boston-born daughter has a stereotypical
> Dedham accent indistinguishable the rest of the kids in her elementary
> school (and of course entirely unlike either of her parents). Another
> co-worker, who is from eastern Mass. but has a Southern California
> accent, has two older children who went to school in Somerville and
> sound nothing like the natives.
>
I live in Dedham.{ded em}.Dedham is almost surrounded by the city, bordering
Roslindale,Hyde Park and West Roxbury neighborhoods and we sound like those
places. People from "Southie and Dorchester have a different accent.
The North Shore like Revere and Medford{meffa as we always say to goof on
them saying}.
None of the folks interviewed are from the Norfolk County which encompasses
the area south of the city down towards Rhode Island.
It shows a funny bias in that counties south and west of the city.
These types of shows always uses the places with small unique accents and
they avoid the larger areas like Norfork County which about 1/5th of the
local population and has a fairly homogeneous county accent.
Mary, merry and marry are all different, cot and caught are the same.
South Boston{southie} has for some reason become world famous despite its
name it's not the southern part of the city and it's more related to the
north shore in its speech.
The Massachusetts 6 guy is the most like my accent he has the sound of the
West Roxbury,Rosi{raw zee} Hyde Park{ no D no R}Dedham area. Dedham is not
part of the city we're but so close we are culturally part of it..
Don Phillipson
news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
> "Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
> talking about missiles in Cuber.
For most people, warsh and cuber are simply differences
in the way people pronunce standard words in standard
sentences. Dialect usualy means non-standard words or
non-standard grammar or non-standard syntax.
The UnInmate
"Chicargo" belongs in the same category. So, incidentally, does "Tranna,"
which is how "Toronto" used to be pronounced by the locals.
Roland Hutchinson
>
> "Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
> news:g60i55$ac1$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>> "Hatunen" <hat...@cox.net> wrote in message
>> news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
>>
>>> "Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
>>> talking about missiles in Cuber.
>>
>> For most people, warsh and cuber are simply differences
>> in the way people pronunce standard words in standard
>> sentences. Dialect usualy means non-standard words or
>> non-standard grammar or non-standard syntax.
> "Chicargo" belongs in the same category. So, incidentally, does "Tranna,"
> which is how "Toronto" used to be pronounced by the locals.
Sometimes it's hard to draw the line between non-standard pronunciation and
non-standard words. In what circumstances would a dialect that doesn't
pronounce final <s> in plural nouns or in singular verbs be using
nonstandard syntax and in what circumstances nonstandard phonology?
The UnInmate
"Roland Hutchinson" <my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:g615ab$r5t$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
> The UnInmate wrote:
>
>>
>> "Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
>> news:g60i55$ac1$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>>> "Hatunen" <hat...@cox.net> wrote in message
>>> news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
>>>
>>>> "Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
>>>> talking about missiles in Cuber.
>>>
>>> For most people, warsh and cuber are simply differences
>>> in the way people pronunce standard words in standard
>>> sentences. Dialect usualy means non-standard words or
>>> non-standard grammar or non-standard syntax.
>
>> "Chicargo" belongs in the same category. So, incidentally, does "Tranna,"
>> which is how "Toronto" used to be pronounced by the locals.
>
> Sometimes it's hard to draw the line between non-standard pronunciation
> and
> non-standard words. In what circumstances would a dialect that doesn't
> pronounce final <s> in plural nouns or in singular verbs be using
> nonstandard syntax and in what circumstances nonstandard phonology?
<Puts on erudite expression> Well, <changes to vacant expression> er, um,
ah....
Roland Hutchinson
Bravo. The erudite expression was _very_ convincing.
(at least while it lasted)
Cece
> On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:06:30 -0400, mm <NOPSAMmm2...@bigfoot.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >0On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
>
> >>I am truly amazed at the number of people I hear using "warsh" instead
> >>of "wash". Anyone else hear people use "warsh"?
>
> >I've only known one, a long time ago. He was from Chadwick, in
> >northwest Illinois, 20 miles south of wisconsin and 20 miles east of
> >the Mississippi. Still said it after he graduated an Ivy League law
> >school.
>
> >>My buddy said last night that he was going down to warsh his clothes.
>
> >>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>
> >Do you go to the phamacy?
>
> >>not the only one I know that does that exact same thing.
>
> >>Your thoughts?
>
> >I lived in Chicago, in Hyde Park for 6 years, with many other students
> >who were from Chicago, but didn't hear it there.
>
> I grew up in Indiana, and have never said "warsh". One of my best
> friends, who grew up a few blocks from me, did.
> --
>
> - Show quoted text -
I grew up in Indianapolis, and never heard "warsh" until I moved to
Texas and new friends asked why I said "warsh."
Actually, I don't! The retroflex r is not in that syllable when I say
it. I think I've figured it out: others say /wAS/; we say /waS/, and
between /a/ and /S/, the lips pass through the position they assume
for the American retroflex r (which phoneme is not determined solely
by the tongue), leading others to hear an r that isn't actually
there. (Oddly enough, when Elmer Fudd leaves the retroflex out of his
speech, everyone hears /w/.)
John Kane
> >news:g5to2u$ilc$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> >> "Anthony Ferrante" <ferrante276-ngs...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >>news:0pc4845mthnhaj5fi...@4ax.com...
> >>> ["warsh"]
> >> AF invented for himself Robertson Davies' shibboleth
> >> for detecting echt Canadians by their accents when uttering:
> >> "Wash and curl the hair of the squirrel," viz.
> >> "Worsh and currl the hairatha squrrl."
>
> Davies spent much of his life in South-Eastern Ontario; he was writing
> about the speech of the people John grew up with.
Worsh and currl the hairatha squrrl
I'd say "Worsh and currl the hairaoftha squrrl". I don't know where
Davies got that 'a' from. Must have been a posher version of the
accent.
John Kane Kingston ON Canada.
> [ask a suspected Australian what he wants to drink; he'll say "bee",
> and you'll know.]
>
> > "Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass
> > as an American.
>
> Nah, but it might expose some Canadians *not* trying to pass as
> Americans.
No, it does work. I've been idenfited as a Canadian walking down the
street in a Detroit suburb in a blizzard and while cyclilng in Bath UK
by things like that.
John Kane
> "Don Phillipson" <e...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
>
> news:g60i55$ac1$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>
> > "Hatunen" <hatu...@cox.net> wrote in message
> >news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
>
> >> "Warsh" is a dialect thing. No worse than hearing John F Kennedy
> >> talking about missiles in Cuber.
>
> > For most people, warsh and cuber are simply differences
> > in the way people pronunce standard words in standard
> > sentences. Dialect usualy means non-standard words or
> > non-standard grammar or non-standard syntax.
>
> > --
> > Don Phillipson
> > Carlsbad Springs
> > (Ottawa, Canada)
>
> "Chicargo" belongs in the same category. So, incidentally, does "Tranna,"
> which is how "Toronto" used to be pronounced by the locals.
It still is, is it not?
CDB
> The UnInmate wrote:
>> "Roland Hutchinson" <my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote in message
>> news:g615ab$r5t$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
>>> The UnInmate wrote:
>>>> "Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
>>>> news:g60i55$ac1$1...@theodyn.ncf.ca...
>>>>> "Hatunen" <hat...@cox.net> wrote in message
>>>>> news:pur484prfj1e18ni0...@4ax.com...
[...]
>>> Sometimes it's hard to draw the line between non-standard
>>> pronunciation and
>>> non-standard words. In what circumstances would a dialect that
>>> doesn't pronounce final <s> in plural nouns or in singular verbs
>>> be using nonstandard syntax and in what circumstances nonstandard
>>> phonology?
>> <Puts on erudite expression> Well, <changes to vacant expression>
>> er, um, ah....
> Bravo. The erudite expression was _very_ convincing.
> (at least while it lasted)
Yes, well gurned, that man. Not to leave the question hanging,
though, surely it's non-standard syntax (or morphology? grammar,
anyway) if they leave final <s> off particular grammatical forms,
phonology if they leave it off everything.
The UnInmate
"John Kane" <jrkr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:7ceeedb2-dbab-4145...@a1g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
-----------------------------------------------------
I had a Hamilton resident disagree with me about that recently, so I don't
know.
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> "Garrett Wollman" <woll...@bimajority.org> wrote in message
>
> news:g5ukev$1aeu$1...@grapevine.csail.mit.edu...
>
>
>
> > A former co-worker of mine, who consciously shed his Arkansas southern
> > accent, reports that his Boston-born daughter has a stereotypical
> > Dedham accent indistinguishable the rest of the kids in her elementary
> > school (and of course entirely unlike either of her parents). Another
> > co-worker, who is from eastern Mass. but has a Southern California
> > accent, has two older children who went to school in Somerville and
> > sound nothing like the natives.
>
> I live in Dedham.{ded em}.
Bringing up a pet peeve: people in, say, New Mexico who very very
carefully pronounce "Ded ham" /'dEd,h&m/, "Am herst" /'&m,hRst/. They
may have to pause a little before the "h" so they can pronounce it--it
would be so easy to leave it out.
--
Jerry Friedman isn't sure about Framingham, though.
Roland Hutchinson
I think that will do for a first approximation.
My main point, though, is that you can't really leave phonetics out of
dialectology. At least I don't think so.
Garrett Wollman
jerry_f...@yahoo.com <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Jerry Friedman isn't sure about Framingham, though.
/'freI mIN ,h&m/
I'm curious about the pronunciation of the English town Framlingham,
though. (Note the extra consonant.) By all accounts it is
Framingham's namesake, but it's not obvious to me how or where the 'l'
got dropped.
For what it's worth, Framingham is the largest town, by population, in
Massachusetts. All of the larger municipalities are cities.
ObAUE: "city" versus "town". AFAIK, a "city" in England, by
definition, has a charter granting it that status. That's not far
from the use in Vermont, where I grew up: Vermont's seven cities are
called cities because their charter styles them thus. In
Massachusetts, on the other hand, a city is a municipality that has a
"city form of government" (by definition, anything other than Town
Meeting), and everything else is a town. Most of the rest of the
country (outside of New York and New England) doesn't have anything
New Englanders would recognize as a "town", although parts of the
northern Midwest come close. The Wikipedia articles about this get
more confused every time I look at them.
-GAWollman
(currently in Framingham)
CDB
> On Jul 19, 6:53 pm, "CDB" <bellema...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
>> Raymond O'Hara wrote:
[...]
>>> "Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass
>>> as an American.
>> Nah, but it might expose some Canadians *not* trying to pass as
>> Americans.
> No, it does work. I've been idenfited as a Canadian walking down the
> street in a Detroit suburb in a blizzard and while cyclilng in Bath
> UK by things like that.
But were you trying to pass for a Cousin? Why (especially in Bath)?
John Kane
No not at all. I was just being myself.
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
> In article <db8ccd93-599f-4a90-b1a1-87f076b14...@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>,
>
> jerry_fried...@yahoo.com <jerry_fried...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >JerryFriedman isn't sure about Framingham, though.
>
> /'freI mIN ,h&m/
Thanks. I should have known I could trust /1776/.
> I'm curious about the pronunciation of the English town Framlingham,
> though. (Note the extra consonant.) By all accounts it is
> Framingham's namesake, but it's not obvious to me how or where the 'l'
> got dropped.
...
> ObAUE: "city" versus "town". AFAIK, a "city" in England, by
> definition, has a charter granting it that status. That's not far
> from the use in Vermont, where I grew up: Vermont's seven cities are
> called cities because their charter styles them thus. In
> Massachusetts, on the other hand, a city is a municipality that has a
> "city form of government" (by definition, anything other than Town
> Meeting), and everything else is a town. Most of the rest of the
> country (outside of New York and New England) doesn't have anything
> New Englanders would recognize as a "town", although parts of the
> northern Midwest come close. The Wikipedia articles about this get
> more confused every time I look at them.
I believe there's some sort of legal distinction in New Mexico. FDSN.
--
Jerry Friedman
Evan Kirshenbaum
> 0On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
> <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>
> Do you go to the phamacy?
I assumed that "subscription" was the word being questioned there.
I'd question it, too. I don't think I've ever heard it.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |He who will not reason, is a bigot;
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |he who cannot is a fool; and he who
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |dares not is a slave.
| Sir William Drummond
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
The UnInmate
"Evan Kirshenbaum" <kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote in message
news:7ibczh...@hpl.hp.com...
> mm <NOPSAM...@bigfoot.com> writes:
>
>> 0On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
>> <ferrante2...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>>
>> Do you go to the phamacy?
>
> I assumed that "subscription" was the word being questioned there.
> I'd question it, too. I don't think I've ever heard it.
If anyone calls it a "subscription" rather than a "prescription" I'd love to
hear from them. It's not a usage I'm familiar with.
Cece
> "Evan Kirshenbaum" <kirshenb...@hpl.hp.com> wrote in message
>
> news:7ibczh...@hpl.hp.com...
>
> > mm <NOPSAMmm2...@bigfoot.com> writes:
>
> >> 0On Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:34:58 -0400, Anthony Ferrante
>
> >>>He also goes to the pharmacy to pick up his subscription...and he is
>
> >> Do you go to the phamacy?
>
> > I assumed that "subscription" was the word being questioned there.
> > I'd question it, too. I don't think I've ever heard it.
>
> If anyone calls it a "subscription" rather than a "prescription" I'd love to
> hear from them. It's not a usage I'm familiar with.
Probably the same folks who talk about their magazine susscriptions.
Roland Hutchinson
I'm _still_ trying to find out why people ask me if I'm Canadian when I'm in
the UK. (I'm not; I'm American.) Perhaps they are just being polite by
not assuming everyone with a recognizable Leftpondian accent is American.
Or perhaps I don't sound midwestern enough to sound like a British
actor "doing" an American accent, as seen on the tele.
CDB
[pass, friend]
> I'm _still_ trying to find out why people ask me if I'm Canadian
> when I'm in the UK. (I'm not; I'm American.) Perhaps they are
> just being polite by not assuming everyone with a recognizable
> Leftpondian accent is American. Or perhaps I don't sound midwestern
> enough to sound like a British
> actor "doing" an American accent, as seen on the tele.
If you go around saying things like "telly" with an American accent,
that probably does the trick. We have, or used to have, more exposure
to BrE idiom than your countrymen.
Raymond O'Hara
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:db8ccd93-599f-4a90...@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
Fram ing ham.
Belling ham
Ware ham
but then we do
Dedham
Ded 'em
Needham{next to dedham, dead ham need ham, go figure}
Need 'em
then theres
Chatham
chat em
but Waltham
wal tham
It's a way of tripping up foreigners from other states.
Adam Funk
> I'm _still_ trying to find out why people ask me if I'm Canadian when I'm in
> the UK. (I'm not; I'm American.) Perhaps they are just being polite by
> not assuming everyone with a recognizable Leftpondian accent is American.
> Or perhaps I don't sound midwestern enough to sound like a British
> actor "doing" an American accent, as seen on the tele.
I suspect they ask this because they think the relative probability of
giving offence outweighs the population-based probability. In other
words, they know there are a lot more USA-ians than Canadians, but
they believe (and they're probably right) that it's a lot easier to
offend a Canadian than an American by getting it wrong.
Another twist on this: recently (in the UK), someone I hadn't met
before asked me, "Are you North American too?" (She was Canadian.)
--
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
A: Top-posting.
Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?
Chuck Riggs
I've made that mistake fifty times or more in my life, before
correcting myself.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs
Near Dublin, Ireland
John Kane
> John Kane wrote:
> > On Jul 22, 8:43 am, "CDB" <bellema...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> >> John Kane wrote:
> >> > On Jul 19, 6:53 pm, "CDB" <bellema...@sympatico.ca> wrote:
> >> >> Raymond O'Hara wrote:
>
> >> [...]
>
> >> >>> "Out and about in a boat "will expose any canadians trying to pass
> >> >>> as an American.
> >> >> Nah, but it might expose some Canadians *not* trying to pass as
> >> >> Americans.
> >> > No, it does work. I've been idenfited as a Canadian walking down the
> >> > street in a Detroit suburb in a blizzard and while cyclilng in Bath
> >> > UK by things like that.
>
> >> But were you trying to pass for a Cousin? Why (especially in Bath)?
>
> > No not at all. I was just being myself.
>
> I'm _still_ trying to find out why people ask me if I'm Canadian when I'm in
> the UK. (I'm not; I'm American.) Perhaps they are just being polite by
> not assuming everyone with a recognizable Leftpondian accent is American.
> Or perhaps I don't sound midwestern enough to sound like a British
> actor "doing" an American accent, as seen on the tele.
Probably being polite. I have only met one Brit who recognized my
accent immediately and he had spent about 5 year in Toronto.
John Kane
wrote:
> Bringing up a pet peeve: people in, say, New Mexico who very very
> carefully pronounce "Ded ham" /'dEd,h&m/, "Am herst" /'&m,hRst/. They
> may have to pause a little before the "h" so they can pronounce it--it
> would be so easy to leave it out.
I live about a kilometre or so from the start ( finish?) of the Rideau
Canal. It often takes a year or so to train new arrivals to pronounce
"Rideau" correctly.
jerry_f...@yahoo.com
wrote:
> <jerry_fried...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:db8ccd93-599f-4a90...@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On Jul 20, 7:22 am, "Raymond O'Hara" <raymond-oh...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:> "Garrett Wollman" <woll...@bimajority.org> wrote in message
>
> >news:g5ukev$1aeu$1...@grapevine.csail.mit.edu...
>
> > > A former co-worker of mine, who consciously shed his Arkansas southern
> > > accent, reports that his Boston-born daughter has a stereotypical
> > > Dedham accent indistinguishable the rest of the kids in her elementary
> > > school (and of course entirely unlike either of her parents). Another
> > > co-worker, who is from eastern Mass. but has a Southern California
> > > accent, has two older children who went to school in Somerville and
> > > sound nothing like the natives.
>
> > I live in Dedham.{ded em}.
>
> ...
>
> Bringing up a pet peeve: people in, say, New Mexico who very very
> carefully pronounce "Ded ham" /'dEd,h&m/, "Am herst" /'&m,hRst/. They
> may have to pause a little before the "h" so they can pronounce it--it
> would be so easy to leave it out.
>
> --
> Jerry Friedman isn't sure about Framingham, though.
>
> Fram ing ham.
> Belling ham
> Ware ham
I'd have gotten the latter two wrong. An "h" sound in "Wareham" would
never have occurred to me.
> but then we do
> Dedham
> Ded 'em
> Needham{next to dedham, dead ham need ham, go figure}
> Need 'em
>
> then theres
> Chatham
> chat em
Easy for someone whose mother is from Pittsburgh. (No, British
friends, Chatham University in Pittsburgh is not a coincidence.)
> but Waltham
> wal tham
>
> It's a way of tripping up foreigners from other states.
Don't think we're not grateful.
--
Jerry Friedman
Garrett Wollman
John Kane <jrkr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I live about a kilometre or so from the start ( finish?) of the Rideau
>Canal. It often takes a year or so to train new arrivals to pronounce
>"Rideau" correctly.
/'ri dou/, surely?
-GAWollman
Raymond O'Hara
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:f5e80ec4-c7cd-4a6c...@c58g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
Two fun ones are Quincy, quin zee, and Peabody, pee buh dee ,with the first
syllable stressed , out of staters want to say pea body like Sherman's
friend's name.