A nursery rhyme

[Jeanelle Barrett]

My British mother (London, 1937 to 1963)
says [far at d] and [har at d], and they rhymed
just fine ( My family knows the rhyme well).
I, on the other hand, had to consciously
change my pronunciation of [far at d] to the more
  recognizable American English "forehead" when
I went to school (Oklahoma). To this day I say
[har at b@l] and not the "open o" that most people
articulate in "horrible" in these parts.

I had to stop reciting that rhyme or risk
getting the mickey taken out of me.  Cruel!


At 11:30 AM 7/20/2004 -0700, you wrote:
>But don't you also say h[a]rrid for horrid? I do. No
>way to make this rhyme work for me :(
>
>--- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> > I grew up in NYC saying "forrid" and I still say
> > "forrid".
> >
> > You don't have to be British.
> >
> >
> >
> > Wilson Gray <hwgray at EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > Subject: A nursery rhyme
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > There was a little girl
> > And she had a little curl
> > Right in the middle of her forehead.
> > When she was good, she was very, very good.
> > But when she was bad, she was
> > horehead?/hoarhead?/whorehead? ...?
> >
> > -Wilson Gray
> >
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********************
Dr. Jeanelle Barrett
Assistant Professor of English
Coordinator, Graduate Program in English
Department of English and Languages
Tarleton State University
P.O. Box T-0300
Stephenville, Texas  76402
Office: 254-968-9319
Fax:  254-968-1931