Heard on The Judges

[Dennis Preston]

I agree; when I say I am from Louisville, its important to know lots
of stuff, including DOB; younguns there now conflate /hw/-/w/ and
there is even a rumor of the low-back merger being sighted (auded?)
on the eastern edge of the city. To the ramparts!

dInIs

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET>
>Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges
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>From:    Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>
><snip>
>
>>  Ah, there's really no need to be so specific about DOB. Sen. Specter
>>  of PA was on the Daily Show, the other night and, for some reason, Jon
>>  asked him his age. Specter's reply was approximately as follows:
>
>>  "The other day, while I was looking at my birth certificate, I decided
>>  that something so trivial that had happened so long ago was no longer
>>  worthy of mention."
>
>>  He shoots! He scores!
>
>>  Yes, I admit that, when I was but a mere stripling of your age, I
>>  enjoyed letting people know that I was an adult. I had such a baby
>>  face that I was still being carded at the age of 36. As has often been
>>  said, "Those were the good old days!" And, as has been said just as
>>  often, "Those days are gone forever."
>
>No, just included year of birth 'cause the area i grew up in has been
>going through some pretty severe and rapid linguistic changes over the
>last century--so the *when* is pretty much as important as the where for
>that community.
>
>Specter's line is pretty good, though.
>
>--
>David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
>      Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
>      house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
>      chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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