Exposure to language

[Barnhart]

>preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU,Net writes:

>I am a Kentuckian (well, Louisvillian) and find "washrag" (actually
>"warshrag") very common. On the other hand, "warshcloth" seems quite
>good to me too, but I'm taking bets it came later in my linguistic
>development.

>BUT - I cannot say "dishcloth." It's not English. "Dishrag" is it.

While I cannot say these are my preferences, they were so for my father
(born in Missouri with some probable connections to Kentucky, and
raised in Kansas.  I know both of these terms from my father's speech
but prefer dishcloth to dishrag and washcloth the washrag.  Sometimes I
do catch myself using the -rag form as a variant.  I was born in
Chicago (my mother came from southwestern Wisconsin.

Phonologically, I am Chicagoan with some NY suburb influences.  My
father regularly used "worsh".

Regards,
David Barnhart