Naomi: how is it pronounced?

Jim Parish jparish at SIUE.EDU
Sun Feb 8 02:43:36 UTC 2009


Wilson Gray wrote:
> Wils: Why are they (Cleveland) pronouncing it that way?
>
> Wife (Wilkes-Barre): What way?
>
> Wils: [naj 'o mi].
>
> Wife: That's the right way. Why? What do you think it is?
>
> Wils: "Think"? I *know* that it's [nej 'o mi].
>
> Wife: I've never heard it pronounced that way before, in my life.
>
> Wils: Well, I've heard [naj 'o mi] before, here and there. But, of
> course, the correct pronunciation is [nej 'o mi].
>
> Wife: You're just messing with me, right? N-A-O-M-I? It's [naj 'o mi].
> Nobody says [nej 'o mi].

Well, it was [nej 'o mi] on The Electric Company (in the recurring series
of sketches, "Boy and Chair"), which settles it as far as *I'm*
concerned...

Jim Parish

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



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