reservoir.

[Beverly Flanigan]

But all these words are "bookish," whereas 'reservoir' has been in common
use for a long time.  Even our Minnesota farm had a reservoir for storing
water (and the cookstove also had one for keeping water hot).  I'd guess
most people had no idea the word had French roots, or even knew how to
spell it.

At 12:50 AM 4/17/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Lots of us recognize syllable-end ~oir as requiring the 'wah', 'wahr'
>pronunciation, not so much as faux French, but as a real English rule. There
>are not too many words with this, but voir dire, boudoir, film noir, savoir
>faire, memoir, and avoirdupois come to mind.
>
>For myself, I wobble between a Frencified form and reservore.
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_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm