Jimmies (1954); American Chop Suey (1938, 1939)

[Joanne M. Despres]

My parents, from NE Mass, use the "loom" pronunciation for
"loam."  As far as I know, they have no connection to SE Mass, so
the pronunciation must extend a ways up the coast.  They don't
have college degrees, though they've both taken college courses,
FWIW.

Joanne Despres
Merriam-Webster

On 11 Jul 2003, at 10:21, Frank Abate wrote:


> One of the oddest (to me) things about SE Mass is their pronunciation of the
> word "loam", the kind of dirt that is best for topsoil.  They say "loom",
> rhyming with "gloom".