Knowing one's ass from one's elbow

[Mark A. Mandel]

Re: slang/slant, "Paul A Johnston, Jr." <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU> replies to
Tom Zurinskas:
 >>>
 And you've just come out with a regionalism--and one that is NOT
traditional in American dictionaries.  My students will love you for it,
though.
 <<<


Re: Can some native USA English speakers say "awe" or not, Wilson sez:
 >>>
 I may be out of step with the rest of mankind, but my own experience
is that a merger can not be automatically undone just because you feel
like it.
 <<<


Re: slang/slant, Bev asks:
 >>>
 If you "find it very hard to say 'slang' with a short a" (IPA /ae/), why do
you insist that m-w's notation "should be short a"? Since dictionaries
purport to represent "real" pronunciation, isn't your argument quite
illogical?
 <<<


Given Mr. Zurinskas's record of analyzing what he hears (e.g., on m-w.com)
quite differently from any of us here who have had training in phonetics, I
wouldn't trust his report of this purported new-found regionalism without at
least hearing a recording.

Is it not plain by now that Mr. Zurinskas Knows The Truth and nothing we say
will penetrate his impervious shield? See my previous post and compare.

(BTW, listening to m-w.com's pronunciation of "slang" led me to their
definition:

1 : language peculiar to a particular group: as a : ARGOT b : JARGON 2
2 : an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages,
arbitrarily changed words, and extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of
speech

My!)

m a m

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