native USA English speakers say "awe" > Supremes

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:17 AM -0800 10/30/06, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:
>Wilson,
>I have had exactly the same experience with 'tin' and 'ten.'  Sometimes
>I've tried to distinguish the two, but it gets complicated.  I have to
>remember each word. It's really bad  when this carries over into German
>and I start hypercorrecting 'ich bin..' to 'ich ben' (which is also
>problematic because in Dutch, it is 'ben') and other similar words.
>
>Along the lines of not being able to hear certain things.  This is not
>exactly what we have bin talking about, but perhaps amusing.  The
>Supremes had a huge hit with "Stop, in the Name of Love."  If you have
>bin alive in the last 40 years,  you know the song.  Well, for decades
>I've bin singing right along with the girls "Stop, in the Name of Love,
>big boy you break my heart."    It was only a few weeks ago that my wife
>looked at me as if I had just landed from Mars and said, "It's not 'big
>boy', it's 'before'."  My daughter, who knows everything, confirmed my
>wife's claim.  Shock!! Shock!!  Now, I have heard this song 800
>bazillion times over the last 40 years and never once heard Diana say
>'before.'  I just didn't hear it.  (BTW, I still think 'big boy' is
>'hear-able.')
>
>Fritz 'scuse-me-while-I-kiss-this-guy Juengling
>
I never came up with the "big boy" parsing (despite regularly
partaking of the eponymous burgers during those Motown years), but I
did always have problems trying to figure out whether Diana & Co.'s
rhetorical musical question was

But is her sweet expression
Worth more than my love 'n' affection?

or

But is her sweet expression
Worth more than my lovin' affection?

Luckily, it doesn't affect the content of the sing-along.

Larry (there's a bathroom on the right) Horn

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