The Meaning of "Rhyme"

[Baker, John]

Remember Gein Weingarten, the humor columnist who recently wrote a column about the pronunciation of "what"?  He has been discussing pronunciation issues in his online chat (his views are fairly similar to Tom Z's).  What I find really striking, though, is his consistent use of "rhyme" to mean "sound like."  For example, he writes, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/08/23/DI2006082300429.html, "Mary is pronounced the way you guys pronounce all three of the words. So we have that one out of the way. To you, Mary rhymes with marry and merry."  His usage is most striking in his online poll, where one of the questions is:
 
<<3. The middle syllable of the word "piano":
a. Rhymes with "stare."
b. Rhymes with "bat."
c. Rhymes with "on."
d. "Stare" and "bat" rhyme! And they BOTH rhyme with the middle syllable of "piano.">>
 
Is this just an idiosyncrasy, or are there others who use the verb "to rhyme" in the same disturbing way?
 
 
John Baker
 

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