bo(l)th

[Wilson Gray]

Sigh! Youth is so wasted on the young! Motrin began life as a
prescription drug. I'm a chronic headache sufferer because of cervical
arthritis, so friends suggested that I ask my primary-care physician
about a new drug named what I heard as "Mole-trin." I continued to
refer to the drug as "Mole-trin" till my girl friend pointed out to me
my error. Of course, I had never bothered to read the generic label on
the generic plastic bottle supplied by the pharmacy.

FWIW, white listeners tend to hear my pronunciation of, e.g. "cool"
and "mole" as "coo" and "mo." Apparently, then, white people add
something to their /o/ such that I hear it as [ol] in certain
contexts, whereas I leave something out of my /ol ul/ such that white
people hear them as /o u/ in certain contexts. Hearing "cool" as "coo"
seems to be rather common. Black speakers are often quoted in
eye-dialect as saying, e.g. "Thass coo" instead of "Thass cool."
--
-Wilson Gray