lawyer/liar confluence

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:14 AM -0700 4/16/08, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>So they'd already figured it out.
>
>   JL

Maybe Dick the Butcher in "Julius Caesar" was really ("The first
thing we do...") recommending the genocide of prevaricators, not
attorneys.

LH

>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Charles Doyle
>Subject: Re: lawyer/liar confluence
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"Lawyer is to be pronounced _Lyer_ as is common now in some
>counties"--John Harland,_A Glossary of Words Used in Swaledale
>[etc.]_ (English Dialect Society, vol. 4 [1870]: 75).
>
>The confluence occured with some frequency in satiric epigrams and
>dramatic repartee of the 17th century.
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________________________________
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:22:44 -0700
>>From: Jonathan Lighter
>>
>>
>>Several female members of the polygamous Texas sect appeared on Fox
>>& Friends earlier today. One spoke of being unable to see a
>>"lawyer," but the stressed vowel was so unrounded that the word was
>>virtually identical to a Texas pronunciation of "liar." At first,
>>that's what I thought she said.
>>
>>  The woman's phonology was otherwise unremarkable,
>>
>>  I wouldn't go so far as to call this homophony "phonological
>>justice," but it comes close.
>>
>>  JL
>
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