"Fo'ward"

[Wilson Gray]

"Onry" is also still used in BE, with the first syllablr like "ah."
It's a mild insult. I had no idealthat it was from "ordinary,"
Interesting.

-Wilson

On 12/14/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Fo'ward"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 01:10 PM 12/14/2006, you wrote:
> >  Beverly Flanigan  writes:
> > >And they were all reduced in England before colonization, as far as I
> > >know.  We have Wooster and Glouster in Ohio too, founded, I believe, by
> > >early settlers from Old and New England for whom these were already reduced
> > >in speech, and respelling followed pronunciation.  As I understand it, our
> > >concern now is with recent, seemingly unexplainable, r-lessness in normally
> > >r-ful speakers.
> >~~~~~~~
> >Beverly, of course, gets my point. If non-rhotic speakers were involved
> >there'd be no question.  I did think of another example, though it's
> >perhaps somewhat old-fashioned.  The word "ornery" (for which OED gives
> >"dialectal for ordinary")  was pronounced by some  r-ful speakers as
> >"onry."  Hardly ever hear it in any context any more.
> >AM
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> "Onry" is still used in southern Ohio!  And the first vowel is closer to
> "awe" than to "ah" (actually midway between, as I've noted for short o in
> this area many times).
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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