Heroin pron. "hair-on"

[Wilson Gray]

I've seen this pronunciation represented as "heh-ron" elsewhere. Sure
wish I could remember where, dammit! And there's the black
pro-football player who insists that his first name, "Aaron," be
pronounced [ei-rOn]. Now, I wish I could remember his whole name, so
that I could check whether he's from the New Orleans area. The usual
BE pronunciation is [ei-r at n].

-Wilson Gray

On 9/18/05, Grant Barrett <gbarrett at worldnewyork.org> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
> Subject:      Heroin pron. "hair-on"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Interesting anecdotal tidbit about a pronunciation of "heroin" in New
> Orleans:
>
> "You could fill whole mixtapes with 50-year-old New Orleans songs
> about heroin -- or 'hair-on,' as it is pronounced often there -- not
> to mention booze, and you could stock several amazing bands solely
> with former and current inmates at Angola Prison Farm."
>
> http://www.newtimesbpb.com/Issues/2005-09-08/music/music2.html
>
> --
> Grant Barrett
> gbarrett at worldnewyork.org
>


--
-Wilson Gray