lawyer/liar confluence

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:21 AM -0400 4/16/08, Laurence Horn wrote:
>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"

Oops, make that Henry VI, Part 2.  D'oh!

>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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