Phonetic alphabets

[Wilson Gray]

On Dec 8, 2004, at 5:59 PM, James A. Landau wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Phonetic alphabets
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> In a message dated Tue, 7 Dec 2004 15:17:03 -0500,   Wilson Gray
> <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> writes:
>>
>>  James Bowie of knife fame was definitely a [bui]. Once upon a time,
>>  there was a TV adventure series based upon his life. The program had
>> a
>>  theme song that began, "Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]!" The
>> fraternal
>>  twins, Raymond and Rosemary Bowie, with whom I attended grade school
>> in
>>  the '40's, were also [bui]. That is to say, it was once the case that
>>  *everybody* knew that "Bowie" was pronounced [bui].
>
> The theme song was "Jim [bui]! Jim [bui]!  He was a bold..." and I
> forget
> what followed.  It had a catchy tune.
>
> From my years in Washington DC I can say with some authority that Bowie
> Maryland is /bui/.  A coworker who lived there had a daughter who was
> on her
> school's track team.  I dubbed her the /bui boo-let/.
>
>>  Speaking of namesakes, I received an e-mail today from one "Wilson
>>  Gunn."
>
> A Wilson gun would be a Garand idea, but I'm afraid it won't happen.

Please, James! Mercy!

>   What is
> more likely is the Wilson Sword Blade razor, with the obvious
> advertising
> slogan "A Wilson has 14 points!"
>
> The crossed-sabers logo for the US Cavalry apparently was invented by
> General
> James H. Wilson for the cavalry corps he commanded in the Union Army.
>
> A list of cavalry carbines used in the Civil War:  Spencer, Sharps,
> Burnside,
> Starr, Smith, Gallagher, Maynard, Ballard, Cosmopolitan, Remington
> Joslyn,
> and Henry (the last became the famous Winchester).
>
>     - Jim Landau
>