"war" [wor]

[Wilson Gray]

Preach it, Charlie! Tell it like it T-I 'tis! Don't no "war" be
rhyming with no "four"! Not even if you put the ahras in. Cf. Mark
Twain's eye-dialect, "waw," not "woe" or some such.

-Wilson

On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 11:34 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> 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: "war" [wor]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My problem was that "war" and "four" don't rhyme! (It's an "open-o" thing.)
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:46:26 -0400
>>From: Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject: Re: "war" [wor]
>>
>>I think Charles's problem lay in the fact that this was written rather than spoken.
>>
>>m a m
>>
>>On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 10:30 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>> At 8/14/2008 09:40 AM, Charles Doyle wrote:
>
>>>>Last night the folks at MSNBC were discussing McCain's bellicosity regarding the Russia-Georgia conflict, and the caption on the screen read "War More Years."  I was baffled for a good many seconds, trying to ascertain wherein consisted the wit of the expression. Finally I realized that "war" is supposed to rhyme with (thence substitute for) "four."  Was that the point?
>
>>>
>>> I pronounce "war" to rhyme with "four"  (NYC).  Are there regional variations?  (Like as in "whar'? over thar'"?)
>>>
>>> Joel
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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