CLEMatiS, cleMAHtis, cleMAYtis

[Herbert Stahlke]

Here in Central Indiana, it's [pai at ni], sometimes
without the @ so it's just [paini].  I have no
explanation for the diphthong, not even in the fact that
a town north of here is called [piru] (Peru).

Herb
> Where I grew up in Oregon it was "cleMAtus" and "PE at nee"
>
> allen
> maberry at u.washington.edu
>
> On Sun, 7 Apr 2002, James Smith wrote:
>
> > I grew up in Utah saying cle MA tus ("a" as in "hat").
> >  I also learned pee O nee instead of PEE @ nee for
> > peony.
> >
> >
> >
> > --- "ANNE V. GILBERT" <avgilbert at PRODIGY.NET> wrote:
> > > Bob:
> > >
> > > I grew up in the NC mountains, as did my mom who's
> > > an avid gardener.  She's
> > > always said CLEMatis in reference to that flowering
> > > plant.  I imagine that
> > > that's the same pronunciation she's heard in the
> > > local garden club.  In
> > > addition, her BS was a double major in science and
> > > home economics.  I've
> > > never asked her if she ran into clematis in the
> > > classroom or lab, but I'll
> > > quiz her when she gets back from the beach.
> > >
> > > Merriam-Webster Online features CLEMatis and
> > > cleMATis among four different
> > > pronunciations.
> > >
> > > Well, first off, I'll have to look in the friendly
> > > local dictionary .  I
> > > shoulda thought of that in the first place, but I
> > > had too many other things
> > > on my mind at the time. And second, I wonder if
> > > these pronunciations *are*
> > > regionally mediated(as well as perhaps age-mediated.
> > >  I live in Seattle, and
> > > as I said, I heard CLEMatis when I was growing up,
> > > but a lot of people have
> > > moved into Seattle from all over the place since
> > > then and presumably brought
> > > their pronunciations with them, so I'm
> > > wondering. . . .
> > > Anne G
> > >
> > >
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> >
> > =====
> > James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
> > South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
> > jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
> >                                |or slowly and cautiously.
> >
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