yahoo

Fri Apr 4 02:51:08 UTC 2008

The "oor" with a "short oo" is a tough one.  I'll write what I hear in m-w.com.  The m-w.com notation does not copy/paste well. A good reason to switch to truespel.  Truespel notation (~) will always copy/paste perfectly.  I'll check words cure, lure, tour, poor , sure, moor, spoor, jury........ for the ~oor sound (with short oo (~oo) as in "book").  To me the "short oo" sound (as in foot, book, push)  is just not natural before ~r.

Main Entry: 1cure
Pronunciation: \ˈkyu̇r\    (The box stands for a u with a dot over it.)
I click the icon and hear the man say ~kyer (with ~er as in "her")

Main Entry: 1lure
Pronunciation: \ˈlu̇r\
I click the icon and hear the lady say ~luer (with ~ue as in "true")

Main Entry: 1tour
Pronunciation: \ˈtu̇r, 1 is also ˈtau̇(-ə)r\
I click the icon and hear the man say ~tuer (with ~ue as in "true")

Main Entry: poor
Pronunciation: \ˈpu̇r, ˈpȯr\
I click the icon and hear the man say ~poor (with ~oo as in "book")

Main Entry: 1sure
Pronunciation: \ˈshu̇r, especially Southern ˈshȯr\
I click the icon and hear the man say ~sher (with ~er as in "her")

Main Entry: 1moor
Pronunciation: \ˈmu̇r\
I click the icon and hear the lady say ~mor (with ~or as in "or")

Main Entry: 1spoor
Pronunciation: \ˈspu̇r, ˈspȯr\
I click the icon and hear the lady say ~spoor (with ~oo as in "book")

Main Entry: 1ju·ry
Pronunciation: \ˈju̇r-ē\
I click the icon and hear the man say ~jeree (with ~er as in "her")

So of these eight, two are close to ~oor, the rest to something else, even though m-w.com give the notation for short oo (a letter u with a dot over it).  One phoneme m-w.com doesn't have is the ~or phoneme (the sound of letter "o" in "or").  It's not a "long o" because the letter "r" changes it a bit.

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

> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 03:35:13 -0400
> From: preston at MSU.EDU
> Subject: Re: yahoo
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Dennis Preston
> Subject: Re: yahoo
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> cure, lure, tour, poor , sure, moor, spoor, jury........ Surely not rare.
>
> dInIs
>
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Tom Zurinskas
>>Subject: Re: yahoo
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Thanks Mike,
>>
>>Being an old geezer with a lot of TV westerns under my belt, I'm not
>>as accepting as thee when I'm told that "yahoo" is pronounced
>>YAY-hoo (yay as in hay) ~yaehue. Never heard that. It's always
>>been YAH-hoo ~yaahue as in the website name or yah-HOO ~yaahhue as
>>an exclamation.
>>
>>Right. There is a second entry that pops up showing "yahoo" as an
>>interjection. So you must cursor down to select it to see the info.
>>Why that's a good idea I don't know. I'd like one word with all the
>>info under it so I don't miss selecting something. I wonder if it's
>>new, because I've been using m-w.com for years. It's a great free
>>resource.
>>
>>If they use OR then a yahoo as defined might not be stupid. I don't
>>think a yahoo is supposed to be smart. According to that definition
>>(using OR) a smart person that happens to be boorish can be called a
>>yahoo.
>>
>>Strange word "boorish" ~boorish. It has the sound of "oo" in
>>"foot". Before "r" is rare.
>>
>>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems"
>>at authorhouse.com.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 17:31:02 -0400
>>> From: mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU
>>> Subject: Re: yahoo
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Michael Covarrubias
>>> Subject: Re: yahoo
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>>
>>>> The basic issues were.
>>>> 1. m-w.com's majority pronunciation is YAY-hoo (yay as in hay),
>>>>but I'd think it is YAH-hoo or yah-HOO.
>>>>
>>> OED lists only [ja:hu:] for the N. As I said before -- YAY-hoo is new to
>>> me. But I'm willing to accept that it's out there somewhere regardless
>>> of what I've heard.
>>>> 2. m-w.com doesn't recognize yahoo as an interjection, which is
>>>>obvious to me as the majority use, as yahoo.com would after the
>>>>interjection not the noun (stupid person).
>>>>
>>> M-W.com does recognize the interjection. Look carefully after you do the
>>> search. You'll see the following:
>>> yahoo
>>> 2 entries found.
>>> yahoo[1,noun]
>>> yahoo[2,interjection]
>>>
>>> Click on the second and you'll get your longed-for entry.
>>>
>>>> 3. m-w.com defines a "yahoo" as a "boorish (rude), crass
>>>>(undignified), OR stupid person." I maintain they must mean AND
>>>>not OR as one could be smart and boorish and crass as well.
>>>>Otherwise a boorish person is a yahoo, a crass person is a yahoo,
>>>>and a stupid person is one two.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I maintain that they mean OR because they mean to say that a boorish
>>> person is a yahoo, and a crass person is a yahoo, and a stupid person is
>>> a yahoo as well.
>>>
>>> This allows for the following:
>>> a sensitive and crass and smart person is a yahoo.
>>> a sensitive and delicate and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>> a sensitive and crass and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>> a boorish and delicate and smart person is a yahoo.
>>> a boorish and delicate and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>> a boorish and crass and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>> a boorish and crass and smart person is a yahoo.
>>>
>>> n.b. that the last type is *supposed* to be allowed by the construction.
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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