Square from Delaware, etc

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 7:46 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> At 8:36 PM -0300 9/4/08, David A. Daniel wrote:
> >Mebbe wrong, but I don't think the pronunciation of Spokane is the issue; I
> >think it is the meaning of "lane" if any(thing special other than "street")
>
> That would surprise me.  Seems like a spelling pronunciation of
> "Spokane" would be a lot more likely than an anti-spelling
> pronunciation of "lane" (as /laen/).  Is there any evidence for the
> latter?  We've already seen that there are speakers who pronounce
> "Spokane" to rhyme with, er, "mane".

This is further underscored by the variant spelling of "lane" as
"lain". In fact, that's the earliest attested spelling -- HDAS has
1933 and 1936 cites, predating the "Spokane" elaboration. HDAS also
speculates that it represents "a Black E. Pronun. of 'lame' with
strongly nasalized vowel and consequent obscuration of following
consonant, but attested prior to corresponding sense of 'lame.'"

And if anyone missed the HDAS definition given in the original thread,
a "lane"/"lain" is "a person easily imposed upon or cheated; victim;
sucker; (also) (now usu.) one who is foolish or socially
unsophisticated; square."


--Ben Zimmer

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