Probably too late, now

[Tom Zurinskas]

Good one.  Ask if the vowel in the word "wing" is closer to "wean" or "win".  Say "wing, win, wean" three times.  Try also with "wink".

Pronouncing the first "c" in Arctic retains the letter sound relationship.  Thus, a good thing.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com.





> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2007 11:34:31 -0400
> From: preston at MSU.EDU
> Subject: Re: Probably too late, now
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
> Subject: Re: Probably too late, now
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A survey this semester of over 700 MSU undergrads (none had had any
> linguistics) revealed the following:
>
> TABLE OF VALUES FOR ARCTIC
> 1.000 = /arktIk/ is correct and I pronounce it that way
> 2.000 = /artIk/ is correct and I pronounce it that way
> 3.000 = arktik/ is correct but I don't pronounce it that way
> 4.000 = /artik/ is correct but I don't pronounce it that way
>
> FREQUENCIES
> .1.0000 2.0000 3.0000 4.0000 TOTAL
> ---------------------------------------------------
> 324 231 176 34 766
> ---------------------------------------------------
> TABLE OF VALUES FOR ARCTIC
> ROW PERCENTS
> .1.0000 2.0000 3.0000 4.0000 TOTAL N
> ---------------------------------------------------
> 42.30 30.16 22.98 4.44 100.00 766.00
>
> So 65% belive /arktik/ is "correct" (and over 70% are "secure" in
> their pronunciation, regardless of which form they thin is correct).
>
> Just a little empirical crap to annoy y'all with.
>
> dInIs
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>Subject: Re: Probably too late, now
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>I grew up saying "Artic/antartic." Then one day in grade school
>>(musta been 1956 or '57) a teacher told us emphatically that only
>>losers failed to pronounce the "t." (I'm paraphrasing).
>>
>> So I switched. Had I known Wilson was doing the opposite, however,
>>I'd have stuck to my ways.
>>
>> JL
>>
>>Wilson Gray  wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Wilson Gray
>>Subject: Probably too late, now
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Some time in the early to middle 'Nineties, a brief analysis of
>>English consonant clusters, IIRC, was published in Linguistic Inquiry.
>>The author noted that her analysis had one major flaw: it predicted
>>that "Arctic" [arktIk] would be pronounced as though spelled "Artic"
>>[artIk]. When I saw this, I "jumped straight up," as we say in Los
>>Angeles BE.
>>
>>As children in Saint Louis, we were specifically taught, in
>>fourth-grade "georgaphy" - another pronunciation that the nuns labored
>>to eliminate - that "Arctic" was to be pronounced as though spelled
>>"Artic" [artIk] and *not* as [arktIk].. As a consequence, for the past
>>sixty years or so, I've been incredibly annoyed by the
>>seemingly-universal use of the spelling-pronunciation, [ar_k_tIk].
>>
>>I should have e-mailed the author and, quoting Stan Freberg's The
>>Great Pretender, written, "That's right! That's right!"
>>
>>But I just never got around to it.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>--
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>-Sam'l Clemens
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------
>>Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
>>Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> 15C Morrill Hall
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824
> 517-353-4736
> preston at msu.edu
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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