Flapping

[Wilson Gray]

On The People's Court there appeared a West-Indian
(African-Caribbean?) plaintiff named "_Teddence_ Johnson." Needless to
say, this spelling yields a pronunciation approaching that of the
British pronunciation of "Terrence." A pronunciation-based spelling,
perhaps, as opposed to the more common spelling-based pronunciation?

On a similar topic, it's been reported that "Antoine" is the most
common first name borne by black ballers in the NFL and that it's
spelled in 27 different ways. Missing from the list of spellings was
"Antwine," the surname of an acquaintance back in Saint Louis. My
favorite names of this type, also from Saint Louis, are "Conta-John"
and "Pap-pan," spelled "Conte-Jean" and "Papin," resp., and both
stressed on the first syllable.

-Wilson
--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org