kneck and kneck

[Laurence Horn]

>  It's a funny expression for human runners anyway.  Must come from horse
>racing. " Toe & toe"  or "chest & chest" would be more appropriate to the
>posture of  human racing.

Yup, that is odd now that you mention it.

>There's something about that initial k in /kneck/ that (to my mind) insists
>on being voiced. Anyone else?
>AM
>
Voiced as in /gnEk/?  Or voiced as in pronounced, i.e. /knEk/?  I've
heard "knock" jocularly pronounced /knak/ as in "knock knock jokes",
but never having even seen "kneck" before tonight, I have no idea how
I might hear it.

LH

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