eggcorn

[Alice Faber]

Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> On Thu, 12 May 2005 20:54:35 -0400, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I oversimplify.  Tensing of the lax high and mid front vowels and the
>>high back is common; hence 'poosh', 'feesh', and 'speycial' (and Rex's
>>'meyzure' and 'pleysure').  These are South Midland/South; listen to
>>Chuck Hagel and even Charles Grassley.
>
>
> Also, I believe the North Midland region has some tensing of "short e",
> but typically only before /g/ (as in 'eyg', 'leyg', 'peyg', 'beyg').  This
> can be heard as far east (and as far north) as northwest New Jersey.  (For
> such speakers, "eggcorn" is at its eggcorniest, since it's nearly
> homophonous with "acorn".)

A late colleague of mine who was born and raised in southern New
Hampshire was quite convinced that the use of a tense vowel in "egg" was
characteristic of New Hampshire speech.

--
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Alice Faber
faber at haskins.yale.edu
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