ERR

[Simon,Beth]

Wouldn't this set of jokes work no matter how the individual pronounces "err" --
because reading "purr" produces the rhyming err pronc.

I was reading the first line and automatically said err to rhyme with purr, and
proceeded through the list that way. It wasn't until I was finished that I
remembered how I normally said "err"



American Dialect Society wrote:

> M Lynne Murphy wrote:
> >
> >Then again, the joke could have originated in England...
> >The only American I ever knew to say 'ur' was my high school
> >English
> >teacher.
> >
> I also had a teacher insist on this pronunciation. The prevailing
> pronunciation in East Texas was with /E/.  It didn't rhyme with "air,"
> which was pronounced  with /ae/.
>
> Dick Heaberlin
> Southwest Texas State University,
> which is, of course, in Central Texas.
>
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> From:         Dick Heaberlin <Heaberlin at SWT.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: ERR
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