Nicaragua

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nobody says "booeeant" for "bouyant," do they ?

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Nicaragua
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On Apr 3, 2005, at 4:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: Nicaragua
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> --------
>
> I say "boy" for "buoy" too, and I'm over here.
>
> TV ads for "Lifebuoy" soap always said "boy" also.
>
> JL

And as the more mature posters can attest, "Lifebuoy" was also
pronounced "lifeboy" in ads and singing commercials ["Can't help
singin' / 'Cause I know / Lifebuoy really stops / Be-e-e-e-e
O-o-o-o-o-o!"] on the radio. I'm not sure how old I was when I first
heard "buoy" pronounced as "Bowie," but I was old enough to find that
pronunciation odd and I have never used it. Here's an old joke that I
remember reading - in Readers Digest? - from some time in the 'Forties.

A couple are celebrating their 25th anniversary and have just entered
their room. Referring to the fact that the husband didn't carry her
across the threshold, the wife says to him, "You're not as gallant as
you were when I was a gal." The husband replies, "And you're not as
buoyant as you were when I was a boy."

-Wilson Gray

>
>
> Michael Quinion wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Michael Quinion
> Organization: World Wide Words
> Subject: Re: Nicaragua
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> Barbara Need wrote:
>
>> Sorry. An American saying this is pretentious. (I also consider the
>> pronunciation of _Jaguar_ with three syllables to be pretentious --
>> especially in a TV ad on American TV.)
>
> Understood. Only joking. As another datum, I'd never say "jaguar"
> other than as three syllables. But then over here we say "buoy" like
> "boy", to redress the syllable count.
>
> --
> Michael Quinion
> Editor, World Wide Words
> E-mail:
> Web:
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