buoy = boy

[Laurence Horn]

On Mar 30, 2014, at 12:09 PM, Bergdahl, David wrote:

> Growing up on LI in the 1940s and 1950s for people who had boats it was a homophone of 'boy.'

This would make for an interesting isogloss.  I lived in Long Beach, L.I., a block from the Atlantic Ocean from 1957 to 1961 (and during summers from 1949) and, as mentioned, I had "buoy" rhyming with "phooey" except for Lifebuoy ("Lifeboy") soap.  But then I never had a boat.

LH

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