vase vs. vase

[Victoria Neufeldt]

I grew up pronouncing 'vase' to rhyme with 'paws' (Saskatchewan,
Canada, heart of the Prairies; born 1939) and was probably grown up
before I discovered that there was any other pronun.  But I wouldn't
rhyme it with 'because', as in the Roche poem, since I pronounce the
latter word to rhyme with 'buzz'.  I had always thought that the story
about the pronun being related to the price was a made-up story, and
have assumed that people telling it were doing so tongue-in-cheek --
with maybe just a hint of uncertainty in some cases (i.e. that the
person thinks maybe they should be pronouncing the word differently in
a given situation).  The Roche poem demonstrates that there is a long
history of social oneupmanship tied up in this one word, but it
doesn't show that different pronuns are actually used to indicate the
quality of a particular vase.  The variants of 'vase' are surely a
totally different thing from something like, say, the pronun of
'offense' and 'defense' with initial stress in a sports context, as
opposed to its usual pronun in other contexts.

Victoria

Victoria Neufeldt
727 9th Street East
Saskatoon, Sask.
S7H 0M6
Canada
Tel: 306-955-8910




> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 4:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: vase vs. vase
>
>
> That verse reminds us that *four* pronunciations are
> possible, not just two.  Compared to "vawz"  (which I've
> never heard), my customary /vaz/ is pretty unpretentious.
>
> Wonder what price ranges we're talking about here?
>
> JL
>
> Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> Subject: Re: vase vs. vase
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------
>
> Some fin-de-siècle "vase" humor:
>
> -----
> (Mansfield, Ohio) Weekly News, June 2, 1892, p. 3
> Queensware Merchant-- What made that lady go out of the
> store so hurriedly?
> Clerk-- I don't know. I was showing her a vase --
> "Was that what you called it?"
> "Certainly."
> (With a groan.) "We have lost her custom forever. You
> should have called
> it a vawz. She's from Boston." -- Chicago Tribune.
> -----
> Newark (Ohio) Daily Advocate, Dec. 15, 1895, p. 5
> Jinks-- I am always embarrassed when I want to say the word
> v-a-s-e. I
> don't know whether to say vaze, vace, vahz, or vawse.
> Binks-- You might take a hint from our hired girl. She
> simply speaks of
> all ornaments as "them there." -- Truth.
> -----
>
> And half a century later, from Frank Colby's "Take My Word
> For It" column:
>
> -----
> Los Angeles Times, Jun 5, 1942, p. 12
>
> Please send us a RHYMOGRAM that will teach us the correct
> pronunciation of
> that vexatious word VASE. -- Mrs. H.M.
> Answer: As a Rhymogram, let me quote part of a clever verse
> written many
> years ago by James Jeffrey Roche, in which he tells of four
> young ladies
> visiting an art museum. They are from Kalamazoo, New York,
> Philadelphia,
> and Boston, respectively. They stand admiring a rare and
> beautiful vase:
>
> Long they worshiped, but no one broke
> The sacred stillness, until up spoke
> The western one from the nameless place,
> Who blushing said, "What a lovely vase!"
> Over three faces a sad smile flew.
> And they edged away from Kalamazoo.
> But Gotham's haughty soul was stirred
> To crush the stanger with one small word,
> Deftly hiding reproof in praise,
> She cries, "'Tis indeed a lovely vaze!"
> But brief her unworthy triumph when
> The lofty one from the home of Penn,
> With the consciousness of two grandpapas,
> Exclaims, "It is quite a lovely vahz!"
> And glances around with an anxious thrill
> Awaiting the word of Beacon Hill.
> But the Boston maiden smiles courteously,
> And gently murmurs, "Oh, pardon me,
> I did not catch your remark because
> I was so entranced with that charming vawz!"
> -----
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
>
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