vise

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 2/21/2011 7:39 PM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle<cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      vise
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I doubt if I'm the only one who found odd Leslie Stahl's pronunciation of the word "vise" on "Sixty Minutes" last night (she was speaking figuratively):  She said [vaIz].
>
> Is that pronunciation common in some dialect?  Where?  Or was she emulating the pretentious pronunciation of "vase" as [vaz]?
--

Assuming the word in question refers to a bench-mounted clamp with a
screw or so, I don't recall ever hearing a "vize" pronunciation ... but
this might go unnoticed by me.

A quick Google indicates that some non-US-ans are uncertain about the US
pronunciation, given the apparently unfamiliar (to them) spelling "vise"
(the spelling "vice" is more prevalent in the UK and elsewhere, apparently).

Maybe some US-ans are similarly uncertain.

More to the point, I find one remark (at a sort of a philology site)
(Google [e.g.] <<vize "rust belt" pennsyltucky>>) suggesting that there
is/was an alternative pronunciation with some currency:

<<I believe the clamping instrument to which you refer is actually
spelled vise, which was pronounced "VIZE" by the old machine shop
workers I knew as a kid in the steel city (now the rust belt) back in
Pennsyltucky.>>

Today I surveyed a few Pennsyltuckians. All used the "vice"
pronunciation ... but my sample size was very small. I'll ask around
some more as time permits, and we'll see whether I find a "vize" user.

-- Doug Wilson, Steel City PY

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