PEAS: "crick" in North, N Midland; "creek" in South, S Midland

[Beverly Flanigan]

"Proper"?  "as spelled"?  Spelling doesn't dictate pronunciation, and there
ain't no "proper" way of pronouncing anything!


At 12:29 PM 10/25/99 -0700, you wrote:
>D. Ezra Johnson wrote:
>
> > This from "Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States" (1961):
> >
> > "creek (Map 97)
> >
> > "_Creek_ has either the vowel /i/ of _peak_ or the /I/ of pick. The
> > dissemination of the variants is largely regional.
>
>I was born, and mostly raised, in Battle Creek, MI. A high proportion of the
>natives, perhaps 50-67% (by recollection, not survey) said "Battle Crick".
>This
>pronunciation was often the subject of good-natured kidding among my cohorts,
>but everyone seemed to know that the proper pronuciation was as spelled.
>
>Bob