DEE-fense

[sagehen]

>A semi-related question: does anybody know anything about the
>pronunciation of "defendant" with fully-realized ash (rather than schwa)
>in the last syllable? I get the impression it's a Northeast (NYC?)
>lawyer/police-speak feature, presumably a spelling-pronunciation in
>origin. I only heard it for the first time a couple of years ago in "Night
>Falls on Manhattan" (1997), but I'm guessing it's probably been around a
>while. Is it limited to law-enforcement authorities and legal
>professionals in certain regions, or...?
>
>Ben Fortson
 ~~~~~~
This reminds me of a somewhat similar  instance of spelling-pronunciation:
a bit of radio spam that refers to the National Association of RealtORs.  I
assume most people give the last syllable a schwa.....?
A.Murie
billionbridges says: "I live 50 kilometres south of Toronto".........on a
houseboat?