hanger

[D. Ezra Johnson]

I think I noticed my father (from London) saying the word this way, so I
looked it up in the Concise OED.

"hangar (-ngg-), n. Shed for housing aeroplane etc. [F, = shed for carriages
etc., etym. dub.]"

The French pronunciation is [a~ga:r] (Heath).

Were you implying that the (-ngg-) pronunciation is normal in New York for
"hangEr"?

There might even be a distinction for some between "[clothes] hanger" and
"hanger" 'person (or baseball pitch) that hangs'.

But surely, for most Americans, "hanger" = "hanger" = "hangar".

DEJ

>From: Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: hanger
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 15:12:28 -0400
>
>I heard another new pronunciation (to me) on NPR yesterday:  A newswoman
>referred to a plane kept in a [haeNGg at r] at Cape Cod.  I'm aware of [NGg]
>use in "Long Island," of course, but she didn't sound like a New Yorker.
>(Weren't we talking about homophonic 'finger/singer' on this list recently
>too, or was that the Childes list?)  I wonder in this case if the word
>usage (for plane storage) might have been new to the newswoman and she
>thought it must be [NGg]?  I hear a lot of bloopers on NPR lately....
>


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