"Blawg"

[Dennis Preston]

LH,

There has been much discussion of this, but not of such an
idiosyncratic -og man as you. Could it be (since you are a
city-slicker) that all the other high-frequency and early-learned
words for aple-knockers like me (hog, frog, log,...) were unknown to
you, but you must have had some early life dog-sightings along the
sidewalks.

See you in Chicago,

Dennis

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: "Blawg"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 10:04 AM -0500 12/30/07, Dennis Preston wrote:
>>us open-o /a/ distinguishers have a very uneven assignment of the
>>phonemes to different words, especially before /g/.  In my case,
>>which I bet is not very different from David's, my earliest learned o
>>+ /g/ words are all open-o (hog, frog, log, dog, etc...); my later
>>learned words (cog, togs, etc...) are either /a/ or variable (e.g.,
>>smog). I think I would assign /a/ to "blog," although I ain't much
>>for introspection in such matters.
>>
>>dInIs
>
>We effete easterners (or me, anyway) also distinguish two
>collections, and frequency/early acquisition are relevant variables
>for us too, but playing out in a rather imbalanced way.  I have /dOg/
>with open-o and...that's it.  The other -ogs all have /a/.  So not
>only doesn't "blog" rhyme with "dog", but nothing else does either!?
>Did I realize this?
>
>Actually there might be local Indian names in New England whose last
>syllable end in things like -paug that would rhyme with "dog".  Or if
>I were pronouncing PAUG [the acronym for the Portland Access Users
>Group, the Professional Auto-CAD Users Group, or the Philadelphia
>Auto-CAD Users Group] or PAWG [Pissed Americans With Guns] that would
>as well.  For -og words, though, "dog" stands alone, it appears.
>Anyone else share this weird idiolect?  Have we already discussed
>this?
>
>LH
>
>
>
>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
>>>Subject:      Re: "Blawg"
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>From:    Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>>
>>>>   How will "dawg"-sayin' folk distinguish "blawg" from "blog" in speech?
>>>>   By contex', I reckon.
>>>
>>>Actually, my cot-caught-distinguishin' self pronounces blog with an
>>>open-o, probably out of analogy with log, which has an open-o for me.
>>>
>>>(Hence my weakly-joked wonderment at why it was spelled blawg, not blog
>>>in my earlier post. I realized right after i sent it that that was a
>>>pretty opaque comment.)
>>>
>>>--
>>>David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
>>>       Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>>>       house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>>>       chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor
>>Department of English
>>Morrill Hall 15-C
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org