/wh/ - /w/

[Lesa Dill]

For years I thought of  my hw/w distinctiion as standard.  Maybe the
two of us together can start a movement to force the distinction into
standardness.  I sometimes wonder if a few people got together and did
that with a lot of prescriptive rules.  Never members of this group,
of course.
Seriously, though, would the wine/whine joke work if there were not
two pronunciations?  I will admit that aspiration is minor these days
with [hw], but aren't there more jokes that are based on similarity in
the sound of words rather than "complete" identity or true homophony.
Something like that series of tasteless (and wonderful) jokes about
the planet Uranus wouldn't work, would they, if there was one
recognized pronunciation?  I know this is a different issue in a lot
of ways, but the point is that to have  humor of the wine/whine sort
both pronunciations have to be on the radar--so to speak. I contrast
that humor with puns. Puns behave differently and aim for a different
response, I think, maybe because of the identical nature of the two
words.
Lesa
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:59:09 -0400
 Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> 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
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >