A couple of Saint Louis oddities

[Jonathan Lighter]

My grandfather, a lifelong New Yorker, used to say "Cincinnata" and "St. Looey." My grandmother, ditto, said "Cincinnati" and "St. Lewis."

  Both learned their pronunciations, presumably, in the 1890s.

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: A couple of Saint Louis oddities
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good point, Paul. "Sunda" is a well-known localism. Local columnists
would write about it on a slow day. On the other hand, "tossel" was
something that I heard, but I never used it myself, and never saw it
mentioned in the local papers. That is, "tossel" could very well have
been spreading *to* Saint Louis. I have to remind myself that, WRT the
Saint Louis dialect, I have to remember that I'm talking about what
was true fifty years ago. But, even then, I knew several people who
had moved from, e.g. Cincinnata ;-), to Saint Louis.

-Wilson

On 11/20/06, Paul A Johnston, Jr.
wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Paul A Johnston, Jr."

> Subject: Re: A couple of Saint Louis oddities
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson,
> I'm not sure about the distribution of "sunda" but "tossel" might be widespread. I've heard it from my wife and brother-in-law (Cleveland, OH) and from my MI students. I wonder for how many people "tossel" means specifically corn tassel, too.
>
> Paul Johnston
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wilson Gray
> Date: Sunday, November 19, 2006 3:05 am
> Subject: A couple of Saint Louis oddities
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------
> > ------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: A couple of Saint Louis oddities
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------
> >
> > The pronunciation of "sundae" as though it were spelled "sunda" and
> > the pronunciation of "tassel" as though it were spelled "tossel."
> >
> > -Wilson
> > --
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> > complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> > -Sam Clemens
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam Clemens

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