route

[Donald M Lance]

on 6/23/02 5:36 PM, Dennis R. Preston at preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU wrote:

>> Class or register?
>
> dInIs
>
>> The different pronunciations may have more to do with socio-economic levels
>> than geography.  In New York, anyway, you typically heard news reporters,
>> e.g., saying "root." When I worked in the Post Office in Queens in the 1970s,
>> on the other hand, the mail carriers universally refrred to their delivery
>> routes as "routs."
>>
>> Steve Boatti

Several months ago when I was looking over a paper I'd written on the
Cherokee Trail of Tears through Missouri, I noticed that I'd used 'route' a
number of times and wondered how I would say the word as I gave the
presentation.  As I was reading it, I noticed that sometimes I said -u- and
sometimes -au- but couldn't think fast enough while reading to see if I
could tell why I had used one or the other, and afterward I couldn't
remember where I'd used each.

For some people, the rute-pronunciation (Northern) may be considered more
elegant, but for me they're just interchangeable, though I might consciously
opt for rute in a very formal situation in which I suspect some people more
persnickety than dInis might be in the audience.

DMLance