rawk (1987)

Dennis R. Preston preston at MSU.EDU
Fri Feb 25 13:31:25 UTC 2005


How bout "hog schmog--what I want is a peccary"?

dInIs (delighted by this foreign variation)

>Yes, Larry. "Shmog" in that context would have to rhyme with "dog."
>But in any other context it wouldn't.
>
>JL
>
>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: rawk (1987)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 2:19 PM -0800 2/24/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>Blog, clog, cog, flog, frog, Gog, grog, hog, jog, log, nog, tog, and
>>wog all rhyme.
>
>[and, in response to John Baker, JL observes that "Hog rhymes with
>Prague. Dog rhymes with...nothing ! Hog and Prague have the vowel of
>"car." Dog has the vowel of "saw" and "law."]
>
>I proudly share Jon's vowels. The script-a of the above words also
>shows up in "bog", "fog", and any coinages or acronyms of the form
>C(n)og that might be constructed. If I were going to invent a pet
>name for beef stroganoff, "Strog" would rhyme with "b(l)og" and not
>"dog".
>
>>Dog don't.
>
>Here's a tricky one--"dog, shmog--what I want is a ferret!" I think
>"shmog" has got to rhyme with "dog". Maybe it has to be spelled
>"shmawg" for us dog-versus-world types, though.
>
>larry
>
>
>
>>"Dennis R. Preston"
>wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>>
>>Subject: Re: rawk (1987)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>You mean there are some of you guys who don't rhyme hogs and dogs! I
>>knew y'all had different vowels in off and on, but this really pushes
>>it.
>>
>>dInIs
>>
>>>At 10:55 AM -0600 2/24/05, Jim Parish wrote:
>>>>Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>>>>  The pronunciation spelling "rawk" for "rock" (music) came up recently on
>>>>>  the alt.usage.english newsgroup. For speakers who haven't merged "cot"
>>>>>  and "caught", "rawk" suggests an exaggerated pronunciation that might be
>>>>>  associated with young male fans of hard rock (possibly also evoking "raw"
>>>>>  or "raucous").
>>>>
>>>>This spelling is also popular (AFAICT, more popular) for the verb
>>>>"rock", as
>>>>in "You RAWK!", a rather vague but forceful expression of praise.
>>>>
>>>Wonder if there's an influence from the "hawg" spelling (201,000
>>>google hits, mostly for Harleys and such). Then there's "dawg" which
>>>I've always found curious, since that would be how I'd pronounce
>>>"dog" without any help. (Sort of like "luv" or "wuz", or "wimmin".)
>>>At least in the "rawk" and "hawg" case the distinct spelling does
>>>index a distinct pronunciation.
>>>
>>>Larry
>>
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
>>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
>>A-740 Wells Hall
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48824
>>Phone: (517) 432-3099
>>Fax: (517) 432-2736
>>preston at msu.edu
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu



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