Re: Re: duke and dook

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/23/04 12:25:20 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> What of "Dukies", though?  I've heard Dick Vitale refer to Dukies
> 3,578 times, and it was ['dukiz] each time, but I don't know if
> that's a fact about Dick Vitale or about Dukies.
> 

I don't suppose that Dick Vitale is a southerner? (Who IS Dick Vitale, 
anyway?) At any rate, since Duke has been invaded by Yankees (since about 1965) the 
old distinction between "Duke" and "dook" has pretty much disappeared. There 
was a day when wicked students from Chapel Hill used to drive over to Duke and 
paint "dook" on the campus bridge--a reference to (1) the Yankee pronunciation 
of "Duke" and (2) the distinction between "Duke" (the famaily name, 
pronounced [dyuk] by the locals) and "dookie" (then a local euphemistic alternative to 
'caa-caa'). Those days are no more.