polka(dot) pronunciation?

[Indigo Som]

>the "polka" in "polka dot" is (nowadays) usually not pronounced the same as
>the "polka" applied to the dance. I find multiple examples on the Web of
>"poker dot" and "poke a dot" in the sense of "polka dot" -- just misspellings?

I would like to know what the story is w/ these pronunciations! My friends
in high school were always teasing me for pronouncing the L in Polk Street
(San Francisco), polkadot & dancing the polka. They insisted that it was
supposed to be pronounced "poke street", "poke-a-dot" and dancing the
"poke-a". I still remember this because it remains an unsolved mystery for
me -- after all, we all grew up in the same place. I could maybe chalk it
up to my mother being from Hong Kong originally -- do the British include
the L?

Indigo Som
indigo at well.com

Every freckle on my face is where it's supposed to be -- India Arie