"Blawg"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 12/30/2007 11:21 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
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?

I too, another effete easterner, share this -- but I don't think it's
weird.  (As a freshman at Columbia, I had to submit to a speaking
test, which I passed except for a caution about my "ng"s -- too "g"ey.)

There is Ponkapoag (Pond, Golf Course) south of Boston, misspelled
also on the Web as "Ponkapaug".  But -- although I don't hear it said
much these days; perhaps someone can phone the golf course -- the
memories of my youth say it's like "log", not "dog".

Joel

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