e-dress

[Wilson Gray]

On Dec 2, 2004, at 4:02 PM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: e-dress
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> In fact, I think it's pretty common here to stress the first syllable
> for
> the noun (what's your AD-dress?) and the second for the verb (a-DRESS
> me
> politely!).  Do most of you agree?

For me, the difference is slightly finer. I use the end-stressed
version for any instance wherein "address," merely under other
circumstances, *could* be a verb. E.g. Lincoln's Gettysburg [@DRES] :
the speech vs. Lincoln's Gettysburgh [AEdres] : his summer home.
There's a Wahnuh Brudduhs cahtoon in which Bugs Bunny, as Lincoln,
says, "Write me at my Gettysburg [@DRES]" = "Write me at my speech."
For me, this pun loses much of its punch, if Bugs says, instead, "Write
me at my Gettysburgh [AEdres]" = "Write me at my house."

-Wilson

>
> At 12:57 PM 12/2/2004, you wrote:
>> Yes, you stress 'e'. But I don't think you need to stress 'a' in
>> address.  To me, 'e-dress' is  more like 'e-commerce', 'e bay' 'e
>> mail'
>> and so on.
>> Fritz
>>>>> halldj at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU 12/02/04 09:19AM >>>
>>  It seems to me that the
>> substitution of the first vowel in the word to produce a novel item
>> for
>> *e-mail
>> address* only works if you stress the first syllable in the word
>> ['aedrEs], as
>> many (at least) Americans do, since the first syllable in the parallel
>> ['i:drEs] needs to be stressed to make the point.
>>
>> FYI, at least when I last lived there (I moved to the States in
>> August 2003),
>> the usual term for *e-mail address* was, well ... *e-mail address*,
>> or, if you
>> wanted to be less clunky, simply *e-mail*.  Of course, you can use
>> both those
>> terms in the US too.
>>
>> Damien Hall
>> University of Pennsylvania
>