fooferall

[Wilson Gray]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 1:31 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Note that Google DOES suggest "Foofaraw" as the "proper" alternative.
> Still, no one else mentions this particular spelling...

Victor, haven't you mentioned on other occasions that you're not a
native-speaker, sensu stricto, of AmE? If this sort-of memory be
correct, then there is, for me, a clear explanation.

That _-aw_ and _-all_ are clear, in-your-face alternates in words that
are learned by ear and almost never by sight may not be something that
you simply _know_, without having to check any source.

/l/ acts similarly after /u o/.

We've long since discussed the fact that whites are sometimes simply
unable to hear in the speech of blacks any trace of [l] in words like
_cool  coal_ in certain environments, whereas we colored usually
"hear" whites saying [kuw at l  kow at l] in certain environments.

My WAG is that a black speaker damps the vibration of his vocal folds
as soon as he feels the tongue-tip touch the roof of the mouth. That's
what *I* do, anyhow. OTOH, a white speaker allows the vibrations to
continue after the contact is made.



--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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