ERR; BUM

[D. Ezra Johnson]

Regarding "err" -- does the American Heritage Dictionary really have it
pronounced "air" as one of the pronunciations? I know some people have a
merger here, but I would have thought the dictionaries would have the open e
sound, as in the first syllable of "error".

Regarding "bum" (verb), as in "Can I bum a smoke?" -- does anyone think the
below is possible? I am taking a Haitian Creole course, and "give me" is
"ban-m" with a nasal vowel plus [m]. It reminded me of the English "bum" --
and the dictionary I looked in derived one meaning of "bum" (that relating
to a homeless person) from a German term meaning to wander or stroll around,
but it allowed that other senses of "bum" could have "other origins". Could
the Kreyol "ban-m" possibly be one of them?

Daniel
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