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

[Wilson Gray]

On Jun 28, 2005, at 12:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: wush (was Re: "Sock It to Me")
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> --------
>
> 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 represented as 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

Thank you, Jon! You deserve a standing "O."

-Wilson

> "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU
>
>> wrote:
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> 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
>
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