Query: women > wimming

[Wilson Gray]

Wasn't "wimming" Popeye's normal pronunciation of "women"? FWIW, my
mother is unique in my experience in pronouncing "women" as [wI m at n].

-Wilson

On Jan 21, 2005, at 1:47 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Query: women > wimming
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>
>> Ron,
>>
>> I'm pretty sure you;re right. Dicken's has got some '-ing'
>> hypercorrectors among his characters; I done forgot who.
>>
>> dInIs
>>
>
> that's Dicking's, innit?
>
>>
>>> I have a videotape from a 1961 press conference in which a Lake
>>> Charles, LA,
>>> sherriff pronounces "women" with a final velar nasal and then
>>> corrects
>>> himself. In general in this press conference, he pronounces "-ing"
>>> with a velar
>>> nasal, and there are other indications of formality as well.
>>>
>>> Am I right in concluding that the "wimming" pronunciation is a
>>> hypercorrection occassioned by the sherriff's self-conscious of the
>>> "-ing" pronunciation?
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dennis R. Preston
>> University Distinguished Professor
>> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>>        Asian and African Languages
>> Wells Hall A-740
>> Michigan State University
>> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
>> Office: (517) 353-0740
>> Fax: (517) 432-2736
>