"last stitch effort"

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 23, 2004, at 8:18 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "last stitch effort"
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> At 6:13 PM -0400 9/23/04, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>> I probably say "inclimate" myself. I'm going to have to monitor
>> myself,
>> as I had to do to unlearn "irrevalent." BTW, have you noticed that C-J
>> Bailey makes a point of saying "e-pock"? I don't have his guts. The
>> first time that I said "e-pock" in front of a Northern audience was my
>> last time. The room fell silent. Finally, someone asked, "Do you mean
>> 'eppuck'?"
>>
> I wouldn't have thought that would earn such a reaction.  I don't
> think "e-pock" for _epoch_ is that uncommon.  It may have originated
> as a spelling pronunciation, but I see it's listed in AHD4 as a
> secondary pronunciation option without any opprobrium attached.
> Maybe like pronouncing _often_ with a "t", which I don't do but
> frequently hear.  Of course if you or C-J were talking about "e-pock
> proportions" or "e-pock poems", that would be something else...
>
> larry
>

This was back in 1959. I didn't meet C-J till 1971. By that time, if I
had occasion to mention "epoch," I made a point of saying "eppuck."
However, regardless of the circumstances, C-J went with "e-pock" every
time. In fact, he never made any attempt to hide his down-home,
good-ol'-boy accent. Very impressive. After we - my brother and I - had
lived in St. Louis long enough to lose our Texas accent, we went back
to Texas for a while, where we came under heavy pressure to speak the
local dialect. (You may recall the story of my brother being ridiculed
for mispronouncing "Cooper.") By the time we got back to St. Louis,
people who hadn't known us from before took us for fresh-off-the-bus
hicks from the sticks. This, of course, motivated us to lose the Texas
accent ASAP. Fortunately, we were still pre-adolescent, so switching
accents was no problem.

-Wilson