Surprise

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:23 AM -0500 2/17/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I rarely pronounce the first r in "surprise," but I can't imagine eliding it
>in "surmise" (now that I try, it actually seems difficult!).
>
>You may not believe this, but...when I was four or five I began to notice
>that most New Yorkers, including my  family, were what I would now call
>"non-rhotic" - quite different from most of the old-movie cowboys I was
>watching every afternoon on Channel 13.
>
>I deliberately set out to get rhotic so that, when I grew up and went
>West, I'd fit right in with Roy and the other punchers.  And you know
>what? My dream partly came true!  I rarely miss an r !

If only to avoid the contretemps of addressing Dale and Trigger's
longtime companion as Oy.

LH

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