"war" [wor]

[Tom Zurinskas]

m-w.com shows "war" and "four" both with the "awe" vowel.  Not quite right.  Truespel identifies these as having the "or" vowel ~or (o as influenced by consonant r).  It's beween "oh" and "awe".  Some r-dropping accents would say for "more money" "moe money" or "maw money".  But "mor money" has a slightly different sound between the two, and should be recognized phonetically as truespel does.  Unfortunately m-w.com does not have this sound.Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at authorhouse.com. > Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:34:09 -0400> From: cdoyle at UGA.EDU> Subject: Re: "war" [wor]> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> > ---------------------- 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> > ------------------------------------------------------------> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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