lawyer/liar confluence

[Paul Johnston]

And in a whole load of British dialects--Northumbrian, Border Scots
and Northern Scots informants with cynical views about the legal
professions made puns on this to me.  Mergers in the first two
places, near mergers based on vowel length in the third.  Funnily
enough, modern Swaledale does NOT have the merger.

Yours,
Paul Johnston
On Apr 16, 2008, at 9:54 AM, Charles Doyle wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> 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 <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>
>>
>> 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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