wheel barrels?

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:48 AM -0500 8/11/04, Lesa Dill wrote:
>I had always assumed "wheelbarrel" was the simply an example of
>regressive assimilation.  Perhaps all explanations for similar
>language variation are equally multidimensional.
>
I would still maintain that the prior existence of "barrel" is
crucial here.  Consider the local delicacy of "eel marrow"--would we
expect this to come to be known as "eel marrel" by regressive
assimilation?  Possible, but I would wager unlikely.

Or "oil tarrow" (something to do with burning candles) > oil tarrel?

Google turns up a Bill Tarrow (spokesman for Washington State
Employment Security); we could ask him if he's called "Tarrell" more
often than other non-l-final members of his family; ditto for Phil
Farrow (captain of Holderness boys' hockey team) vs. Mia.

larry