wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")

[Wilson Gray]

On Jun 28, 2005, at 12:24 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> JL is indeed correct to note that "wuz" is ambiguous as to its true
> eye-dialect status. There are some of us (standard speakers like me)
> who have wedge (the vowel of "butt"). Some strange speakers

Damn, dInIs! "Strange speakers"?!" That sho' wahz col'! "Wuz" is
strange to those of us who use [waz] with a vowel approaching that of
"father," as you,  correctly, as usual, note. Another case is the
citation/stressed pronunciation of "of" as "ahv" instead of as "uv."
An' we aint no "_strange_ minori-tih," neevuh! Y'all BIN knowin' who we
is! ;-)

(Baugh, I believe it is, would prefer "been know," but for me and mine,
it's always been "been Verb+ing." A dialect split, I guess. I once
cited to John at the first NWAV a sentence spoken by a geechee Army
buddy of mine: "When I was stationed at Fort Polk [LA], man, I STOOD in
New Orleans," meaning, of course, that he STAYED - spent all of his
free time - in N.O. This was something that I found interesting, given
the existence of the much older use of "stood" as the past of "stay" in
"I should have stood in bed," supposedly spoken by a Jewish New Yorker
back in the '40's. John chose not to make a reply of any kind, though
this example in no way contradicted any of his points. So, he's not on
my list of good people. Not that this matters, of course. I'm dealing
with a migraine and I just feel like whining. ;-)  BTW, I've also heard
"nem" as in "Mama-nem" - generally considered to be a Southernism and
"scream on" - used in St. Louis BE slang to mean "shout at" - likewise
used by Jewish New Yorkers with the relevant meaning. Weird! IAC, if
I've offended anyone, I apologize.)

-Wilson Gray

>  appear to
> have the vowel of "father." For that strange minority the spelling
> "wuz" is indeed not eye-dialect but their attempt to represent the
> actual pronunciation of the correct majority.
>
> There may also be, even for us standard wedge speakers, a hint in the
> "wuz" spelling that it is fronted, common among southern speakers, a
> vowel nearer backwards epsilon than wedge.
>
> As we skip around dialects, it may be difficult to find eye-dialect
> that is only eye dialect for everybody.
>
> dInIs
>
>
>
>> It ain't necessarily so that "wuz" is meaningless eye-dialect.
>> While most people I know say
>>  / wVz / anyway, in East Tennessee I have also heard a very distinct
>> / waz /.  A roommate used to say it, so I had plenty of time to
>> observe and take notes.
>>
>> So if you're a / waz /  sayer,  we  / wVz / sayers are the oddballs,
>> and would be representedas saying "wuz."
>>
>> Confusion obtains, however, when my "wuz" is written as "wuz" to
>> represent "wuz" / wUz /.
>>
>> Amyone wishing to write a monograph on the situation is welcome to
>> use the title, " 'Wuz' : Is it is or is it Ain't ?"
>>
>>
>> JL
>>
>> "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU
>>
>>>  wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>>
>> Subject: Re: wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------
>>
>> First, these are not eye-dialect examples in the strict sense; they
>> are respellings which try to represent an actual pronunciation
>> difference (not such eye-dialect only stuff as "sez" and "wuz"
>>
>> The vowel we are after here is perhaps closer to "push" than "lush,"
>> but it is a central vowel, at IPA barred i.
>>
>> dInIs
>>
>>> MW3 shows the variant pronunciation /wUS/ for "wish".
>>>
>>> In those 'eye-dialect' examples of "wush" is the pronunciation /wUS/
>>> (rhymes with "push") or is it /wVS/ (rhymes with "lush") or is it
>>> some
>>> mixture of these? Do we know for sure? Is /wU/ an expected variant
>>> of /wV/,
>>> or vice-versa, or not?
>>>
>>> "Wush" is one conventional Scots spelling of "wiss" (= "wish"). SND
>>> on-line
>>> gives several examples from 19th and 20th century Scots. My little
>>> "Concise
>>> Scots Dictionary" seems to indicate a pronunciation /wVS/ (along with
>>> /wIs/, /wIS/, /wVs/).
>>>
>>> -- Doug Wilson
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dennis R. Preston
>> University Distinguished Professor
>> Department of English
>> Morrill Hall 15-C
>> Michigan State University
>> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
>> Office: (517) 432-3791
>> Fax: (517) 453-3755
>>
>> __________________________________________________
>> Do You Yahoo!?
>> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
> Office: (517) 432-3791
> Fax: (517) 453-3755
>