Saying 'pope' (was standard US English Dialect)

[Mark Mandel]

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 11:52 AM,  <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
> In a message dated 4/16/08 11:40:30 AM, truespel at HOTMAIL.COM writes:
>  > I'd hate to hear him say the word "pope".
>
>  Just about anyone who was alive in the 1950s in the USA would have heard Ed
>  Sullivan (and speakers of his dialect) say the word "pope." So far as I know no
>  one ever expressed any "hate" for what they heard.

I don't think that was a general raising for Sullivan. "Really big
show", pronounced (or heard) as "really big shoe", was part of his
standard introduction, and this particular phrase and pronunciation
were as closely associated with him as the cigar, mustache, and
eyebrows were with Groucho, but AFAIR it was specific to this word
with him, and maybe even to this phrase.

--
Mark Mandel

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