Re: against

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 11:25 AM 7/25/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>FWIW, Franklin D. Roosevelt used the "gain" pronunciation in "again" and
>"against."
>- Allan Metcalf

I suspect it was a class marker for the Roosevelts, whose r-lessness was
also associated with the upper classes, not with that of ordinary urban New
Yorkers.

But another word that's always puzzled me is "amongst."  I hear it
occasionally in the most unpredictable (to me) places.  I don't think it's
regional, but it isn't really class-based either, it seems to me.  Some
"ordinary" American college students use it, although most don't.  (I never
use it.)  Sorry, I'm not near DARE; does anyone have a clue about its
distribution?