ah/ awe

[Tom Zurinskas]

>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>
>In a similar way, a great many people find it almost impossible to imitate
>the old-time NYC diphthong in "bird."  It's written as "boid," but does not
>usu. sound like the surname "Boyd."
>
>   They can't do it, just as many people can't hear the difference between
>"cot" and "caught" - no matter which sound they prefer.
>
>   A Candid Camera segment in the '60s showed people in eastern North
>Carolina insisting that "oil" and "all" sounded entirely different. What
>made it hilarious was that one after another kept saying, "One is AWL and
>the other's AWL ! They're different !"
>
>   At least that's how I and the producers of Candid Camera heard it.

I actually remember the original of that one.  Dating myself.  The speaker
would say all and oil the same way and insist they were said differently.
Makes one wonder if those saying cot and caught the same way would insist
they were saying them differently.

Tom Z

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