A couple of Saint Louis oddities

[Beverly Flanigan]

When I get my paper grading done, I'll look for a reference cited at the
recent NWAV conference in Columbus on "sunda" in St. Louis.  "Tossel"
wasn't mentioned, but I've heard that in Minnesota too; I always suspected
it was just a fancified pronunciation of the hat piece to distinguish it
from "corn tassels," which we had plenty of up there.  (The "tossel," as
you know, hangs down from the "toboggan."  We've covered this in the
distant past, I think.)

Incidentally, the "for/far" homophony was also discussed at NWAV, as was
"innit"--undoubtedly an invariant and very common British tag unrelated to
Hinglish (which is studied in the code-switching and new Englishes literature).

Beverly

At 04:49 PM 11/20/2006, you wrote:
>Wilson,
>I'm not sure about the distribution of "sunda" but "tossel" might be
>widespread.  I've heard it from my wife and brother-in-law (Cleveland, OH)
>and from my MI students.  I wonder for how many people "tossel" means
>specifically corn tassel, too.
>
>Paul Johnston
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Date: Sunday, November 19, 2006 3:05 am
>Subject: A couple of Saint Louis oddities
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------
> > ------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      A couple of Saint Louis oddities
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------
> >
> > The pronunciation of "sundae" as though it were spelled "sunda" and
> > the pronunciation of "tassel" as though it were spelled "tossel."
> >
> > -Wilson
> > --
> > 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 Clemens
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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