Either and try to/and

[Rudolph C Troike]

I was surprised to hear Ron Butters call the /ay/ pronunciation of EITHER
"unpretentious", since that has always seemed to me to be either genuine
British or an affectation (ditto for /an/VELOPE instead of /en/VELOPE --
this latter a school-influenced pseudo-French pronunciation).

My unscientific impression is that "try AND" is increasing, since I seem
to hear it more and more on NPR interviews and from colleagues, but
perhaps that is in part because I don't notice the occurrences of "try
TO", just as people did not notice when Kennedy pronounced "Cuba" without
an /r/. I still recall being startled to hear LBJ use "try AND" in a
formal commencement address at Texas, since it seemed more typical for
informal use.
                Rudy