/wh/ - /w/

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 28, 2004, at 4:35 PM, Lesa Dill wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Lesa Dill <lesa.dill at WKU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: /wh/ - /w/
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> I've always done something strange with some [hw]/[w] distinctions.  I
> have two words--one with [hw] for why and one with [w].  The first is
> a question, the second an exclamation as in "Why, lordy, what do ya'll
> mean?"  I remember once talking about this in class to a group of wide-
> eyed linguistic students who always seemed to be wide-eyed about
> language use.  Now I can explain that particular reaction on that
> particular occasion.
>
> Lesa

I, too, make precisely this distinction. However, I don't think of it
as "strange." Rather, I think of it as the proper way to speak English.
Unfortunately, I lack the police power to enforce that opinion. [For
those readers lacking a sense of humor, I do but jest. As the sign on a
local pre-owned clothing store proclaims, "To each their own."]

-Wilson Gray

> On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 15:31:08 -0400
>  "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:
>>> The poshness of /hw/-/w/ is odd to me too (since I had it nateral as
>>> a kid), but I came to learn later that many thought of it as a swell
>>> form (and have been teased mercilessly by my Milwaukee wife, who
>>> also mocks my /a/nvelope, /ku/pon, and pa/ja/mas).
>>
>> dInIs
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Interesting. I would never consider the /hw/-/w/ distinction
>>> elitist. Exactly the opposite, in fact.  I associate it with very
>>> old or rural people.  For the most part, it's pretty much dead here
>>> in Oregon, exept from the two groups I mentioned above.  Almost none
>>> of my students makes it and most of them don't even have any idea
>>> what I am talking about when we discuss it.
>>> Fritz
>>>>>>  sod at LOUISIANA.EDU 09/28/04 07:55AM >>>
>>> I seem to regularly make the /hw/-/w/ distinction without
>>> even realizing it until my mortified middle-school-aged
>>> daughter cringes and criticizes me for speaking like an
>>> elitist...
>>>
>>> sally donlon
>>> (on the Third Coast in way South Louisiana)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>>
>>>>  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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>