R r

[Wilson Gray]

As a child, I learned the name of the letter "R r" as [ar@]. (All of
the other letters had the local version of their standard names.) This
might be spelled "orra" (or "arra"?). I once heard the late Senator
Edward Brooke (R) of Massachusetts, who was a native of Virginia,
pronounce the call-letters of a radio station, WROR, as
"dubya-orra-oh-orra." I've been wondering, given that a native Texan
and a native Virginian both used this pronunciation, whether this usage
is pan-Southern or whether the fact that we both used it was mere
coincidence or, perhaps, a feature only of BE. How say ye, fellow
Southrons?

-Wilson Gray