Punxutawney Phil

[Paul Johnston]

Tom,
Pnnxsutawney is right in the middle of an old merger belt.  If your
locals had [O] in it, they probably had one in "Don" too.  They've
been AWE-droppers for centuries, though they actually might be AH-
droppers rather than AWE-droppers.  Same throughout W PA, adjoining
parts of OH, WV...

Milwaukee residents usually make the distinction, though they may
have a low back UNROUNDED vowel there, as opposed to the front one in
"rocky".  A stereotype pronunciation sounds like "Mwocky" to a NY
area person like myself.

Paul Johnston
On Feb 3, 2009, at 6:45 AM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Punxutawney Phil
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> Feb 2 is Groundhog day in US.  If Punxutawney Phil, the groundhog
> at Punxutawney Pennsylvania, sees his shadow, it's 6 more weeks of
> winter.  He's been about 60% wrong in this prediction.
>
> Locals pronounced it as punks-a-TAW-nee   ~Punksuttaunee
>
> Poor Phil has fallen victim to the awe droppers.  A local weather
> forecaster hereabouts in S FL has renamed the rodent punks-a-TAH-
> nee (~Punksuttaanee) Phil.  Have they no shame.
>
> To me this means that some folks either will not say the sound
> "awe" or have some sort of speech impediment.  Will Milwaukee now
> be pronounced mil-WOK-ee ~Milwwaakee instead of mil-WALK-ee
> ~Milwwaukee.  Well if you listen to the speaker at m-w.com it
> already is (event though the notation indicates the "awe" vowel.
> But when you listen to "awe" at m-w.com, the same lady speaker says
> "ah".  Not good for this otherwise very good product).
>
> I wonder if Milwaukee'ns prefer walky or wocky?
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> see truespel.com
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>> Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 23:42:53 -0500
>> From: jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA
>> Subject: Re: "dungarees"
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: James Harbeck
>> Subject: Re: "dungarees"
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>>
>> We didn't use it when I was growing up in Alberta (though my parents
>> were from the Buffalo area), so it stood out for me when I saw it in
>> a Dave Berg cartoon in MAD Magazine (in the 1970s). It was clearly a
>> normal word for Berg and, evidently, for his editors at MAD.
>>
>> James Harbeck.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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