"No pork on my fork"

[Dennis R. Preston]

Ah! Versailles, Madrid, Cairo...

dInIs

>I had a friend in grad school who grew up near Arab, Alabama.  He
>said it was always pronounced "AY-rab."
>
>JL
>
>Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Wilson Gray
>Subject: Re: "No pork on my fork"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Jun 20, 2005, at 4:45 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
>>  Subject: Re: "No pork on my fork"
>>  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  --------
>>
>>>  During the Korean-War era, a friend of mine was stationed at
>>>  Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville. According to him, GI's
>>>  referred to the locals as "doo-wahs," because of a feature of
>>>  the local dialect. Instead of saying, "huh? or "what?" or
>>>  even "say what?", the locals said, "_Do_ what?"
>>>
>>>  Thanks to Jerry Springer, I can testify that "do what?" is
>>>  still used in this way, though, unfortunately, I can't say
>>>  where, since the "guests" don't always mention their home
>>>  states or hometowns. To my ear, "do what?" has the same
>>>  intonation pattern as "say what?"
>>>
>>>  -Wilson Gray
>>
>>  I still say "do what?" in the context you mention (reared in Middle
>>  Tennessee).
>>
>>  And that would have been the KO-re-un war . . . (strong emphasis on
>>  the initial syllable)
>>
>
>Needless to say, I don't think that you'll have any problem believing
>that the same people who say "JAY pan" also say "KO rea." ;-)
>
>-Wilson
>
>
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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