farty

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 22, 2004, at 4:48 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: farty
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> In a message dated > Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:53:19 -0400
>> "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> writes:
>>
>> Close but no cigar. Yes, forty (with open o) falls together with
>> farty (with short o), but four (with long o) is actually preserved in
>> St Louis, as it is in my dialect (Louisville) ,one of the few which
>> keeps the hoarse-horse distinction. (Alas, used to keep the
>> hoarse-horse distinction, I should say.)
>
> I am from Louisville and I have no recollection of any hoarse-horse
> distinction.  In fact, I can't imagine how whichever one does not
> rhyme with "course"
> would sound.

In Saint Louis, you probably wouldn't notice anything strange about
"hoarse," but "horse" would probably strike you as sounding a lot like
"harse."

-Wilson Gray

>
> "My mother's throat was red, but the doctor said that I had a hoarse
> of a
> different color" is a joke I heard in high school.  ("Horse of a
> different color"
> appears in the 1939 movie "Wizard of Oz".)
>
>           - James A. Landau
>