wolfing/woofing (was Just wondering)

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Feb 29, 2008, at 4:55 PM, George Thompson wrote:

> It can be used to back away from a threat, while things are still at
> the wolfing stage and there's still time to escape and yet maintain a
> semblance of one's cool:
>
> Isn't this usually "woofing" -- that's what Zora Neal Hurston has,
> anyway.  Is there such a thing as an "intrusive L"?

well, sort of, via a kind of hypercorrection.  if you're someone with /
wUf/ for the word spelled WOLF, you might be inclined to "fix" /wUfIN/
by "restoring" the /l/.

arnold

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org