"Business takes Vi[z]a"

[Wilson Gray]

There was probably a connection at one time or another. However, that
wasn't my point, which was that English is passing strange, though no
more so than any other language. Things like the fact that my wife,
from Wilkes-Barre, says Le[s]ley, but We[z]ley, whereas I, on the
other hand, say Le[z]ley, but "We[s]ley," for no better reason than
that that's the way it is, are a pistol. Of course, for Bostonians and
other Northeasterners, that last word would be "pisser."

Like Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas.

-Wilson.

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 7:35 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Business takes Vi[z]a"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> (raises hand) Both "visa" (goes with passport) and "Visa" (goes with debt)
> have [z] for me. Grew up NYC & environs (1950's, so I've known the lowercase
> one a lot longer), both parents born and raised NYC.
>
> Since when has spelling had anything to do with Eng. pronunciation, anyway?
> ;-)
>
> m a m
>
> On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 2:54 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
>> At 2:35 PM -0400 8/17/08, James Harbeck wrote:
>> >In Canada, Vi[z]a is the standard everywhere, and it's always been a
>> >bit odd to my ear to hear Vi[s]a as I do when in the US (generally if
>> >I'm in the US I'm in the East, so I wasn't aware that it's [z] in
>> >some parts of the country). I had wondered whether this is due to the
>> >influence of French in Canada versus the influence of Spanish in the
>> >US, but perhaps it's not so.
>> >
>> Are there other Easterners (besides me) who say Vi[z]a?  I'm sure the
>> pattern isn't as straightforwardly regional as that for
>> "greasy"/"greazy".
>>
>> LH
>>
>
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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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