Heard on The Judges: pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:31 AM -0400 5/9/08, Wilson Gray wrote:
>"What happened was that the steering wheel wouldn't turn."
>
>Judge Mathis: "Why didn't you step on the brakes, then?"
>
>Driver: "I did step on the brakes, but I _broke_ too late!"
>
>Passenger: "That's what happened, your honor. She _broke_ too late!"
>
>["Brake" falling together with "break" is new to me. It may be only a
>hapax uttered in the heat of the moment. But, you never know.]

This one is much more widespread than a hapax.  As you say, "brake"
and "break" have fallen together, but for many speakers.  A bit hard
to search for, for obvious reasons, but I know I've heard it.

The problem is even discussed on the web, as below.  (Note the
eloquently phrasing of the query.)

===============
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Talk:break

does the word break really is supposed to be "I broke too late and I
hit the car in front of me", not "I breaked too late and I hit the
car in front of me"? //frizabela -This unsigned comment was added by
72.79.224.244 (talk * contribs) 2007-08-25T22:48:45.

     You're thinking of "braked". Rod (A. Smith) 04:19, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
===============


LH

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