CONtract/conTRACT

[Thom Harrison]

Not to mention HO-tel and PO-lice, and the women's names DI-ane and JO-ann.
 Verily, it done slup.

Thom



At 01:51 PM 10/31/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Many of us Southerners eschew fancy-pants Romance stress rules and go
>for a root (or even misunderstood as root) earlier syllable. I bet
>them good ol- CON-tract speakers are also
>
>CE-ment
>ICE-cream
>UM-brella
>and even
>TEN-nessee
>
>speakers.
>
>It ain't slipping; it's done slupt.
>
>dInIs
>
>>I have heard several spokespersons talk about the victims who have
>>CON-tracted anthrax. My understanding has always been that you CON-tract
>>with someone for a sale or service, but you con-TRACT a disease. Is this
>>ideosyncratic or is this proper susage that is just slipping. (It seems
>>to be the same people who constantly say "as best we can.")
>>
>>D
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>Department of Linguistics and Languages
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
>preston at pilot.msu.edu
>Office: (517)353-0740
>Fax: (517)432-2736
>
Thom Harrison
Macon State College