hoss

[Mark A Mandel]

On Sun, 4 Aug 2002, Gordon, Matthew J. wrote:

#Could those of you with a phonemic distinction in the low back vowels
#confirm that the vowel in 'hoss' (the derivative of 'horse' made
#popular by Bonanza and Keith Jackson) is open o (i.e., the same as
#'bought' ) and not the vowel of 'hot'? The word doesn't appear in the
#dictionaries I have handy. Thanks.
#
#If you're curious, I'm asking because I came across a poem in which
#'hoss' is rhymed with 'sauce' and I wanted to be sure these rhyme for
#everyone, not just those of us who have the 'cot/caught' merger.

Yes, it rhymes.

-- Mark A. Mandel, native and still low-back distinguisher