Like croissant, like quiche, focaccia and ciabatta

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 9/15/06, Mark A. Mandel <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
>    Chris F Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET> quoted :
>     >>>>>
> Bratwurst is pronounced with a short A (rhymes with "lot").
>
>  <<<<<
>
> O tempora, o mores! Whatever happened to "short A" as [ae], the vowel of The
> Cat in the Hat?

Note that the source Chris quoted was from Wisconsin, where "brat"
takes the "cot" vowel, not the "cat" vowel (shifted according to NCVS,
of course). In 2004, John Kerry was jeered by a Sheboygan crowd for
pronouncing "brat" with the "cat" vowel:

http://slate.com/id/2108319/


--Ben Zimmer

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