/wh/ - /w/

[Dennis R. Preston]

My nephews and nieces have also lost the good old Louisville /hw/ -
/w/ distinction, which was never mentioned in school in my day. Its
disappearance must have been being noticed (oh lovely verbal string!)
by the guardians of the local tongue.

Bowman Field! What a blast from the past!

dInIs





>In a message dated  Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:27:40 -0400,
>  "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> writes:
>
>>   Look like the old /hw/-/w/ jumped up. It bit me the other day. I was
>>   out in the garden working and bitching and carrying on about how hard
>>   I had it, etc... My neighbor said " You want some cheese and crackers
>>   to go  with that wine." Luckily my pragmatic organizer took over, and
>>   I had to figure out why what he said make sense. Finally, of course,
>>   I got to his "wine" - "whine" homophony.
>
>It's an old Jewish joke:
>      What's a JAP's (Jewish-American Princess's) favorite wine?
>      "Why can't we go to Miami this year?"
>
>I pronounce "wh" as /w/ and don't even hear /hw/ when someone uses it.  I do
>remember elementary school teachers trying to teach us that "wh" is pronounced
>/hw/ but I don't recall any of my classmates taking this seriously.
>
>Born and raised in the "Highlands" (East End) section of Louisville, near
>Bowman Field.
>
>       - Jim Landau