Dook's

[Charles Doyle]

Back in 1981 Betty Phillips vividly discussed how the "non-Southern" pronunciation of Duke University's name marks the perceived non-Southernness of the school itself, despite its location. For instance, students at rival University of North Carolina sport banners urging "Beat Dook" ("Lexical Diffusion and Southern _Tune_, _Duke_, _News_," _American Speech_ 56: 72-78).

Duke's [brand] Mayonnaise features itself, in its paid advertising and on the jar label, as "The Secret of Great Southern Cooks." Imagine my surprise last night to hear the Duke's TV spokesman pronouncing the brand name as [duks] rather that the "traditional" Southern [djuks]!

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

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