City Names

[Dennis R. Preston]

Joseph,

I was just woofin' you guys. Of course "Narbor" is not a written form nor
is it a folk-recognized "clipped" form. It is simply the normal fast-speech
pronunciation. If you didn't hear it pronounced that way, that was becuase
your phonemic processor (rather than your phonetic one) was at work.

dInIs (who overworks his phonetic processor, to the disgust of those around
him)

>In the sports pages, it's usually "Cincy," "Indy" (not "Indie,")
>"Philly," and "Frisco."
>I lived in Ann Arbor for six years, and I never heard it called "Narber,"
>and definitely not written that way -- "A^2," said "A-squared,"  yes, but
>not "Narber."
>Also I've seen and heard "Nawlins" for "New Orleans," and "The 'burgh"
>for "Pittsburgh" although the latter is not abbreviating the city name.
>
>In re "The Third Degree" -- what are the "First" and "Second" degrees?
>Are they more or less severe than The Third Degree?
>
>First degree murder is a more severe crime than third degree murder, but
>then a third degree burn (charring of the skin) is more severe than a
>first degree burn (just redness).


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736