Gene Weingarten on the pronunciation of "what"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

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Washington Post, September 17, 2006; Page W56

Say What?
You can't be serious . . .
By Gene Weingarten

I AM A "WORD PERSON." My vocabulary is extensive, my command of
grammar and syntax almost without error. I can accurately conjugate
most any verb, including "to lie," which gets pretty complex in the
pluperfect. I understand the difference between epistemology and
hermeneutics.

And so it came as something of a surprise and shock to me the other
day when I learned that, at 54, I apparently do not know how to
pronounce the word "what."
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Read the rest here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301610.html


--Ben Zimmer

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org