"New Orleans," pronunciation thereof

[Tom Zurinskas]

Battle of New Orleans - song.  Says it as ~~Nue Orlleenz~~ in truespel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsRK3DNoa_Q

I too have said Los Angeleez.  It's Los Angelis now ~~Laus Anjoolis~~.  Not ~Laas.

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com



> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: "New Orleans," pronunciation thereof
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> All my life I said "New Or-LEENs" (note the "r"). Then I met people from
> there who ridiculed me because they said "NAWlins" only. They were my age,
> so that pronunciation must have been standard in the 1950s if not before.
>
> Reminds me of a note I posted a few years back about (Anglo) characters in
> 1930s movies saying "Los Angeleez," with a [g].
>
> JL
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 8:56 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>> Subject: "New Orleans," pronunciation thereof
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> All of my life, I've been under the impression that the "proper," i.e.
>> local, pronunciation of the name of this city was - eye-dialect is
>> sufficient unto this post - "New Aw-LEENS." However, I've long since
>> seen the claim in print that the pronunciation is N'AW-lins. But what
>> do travel reporters for the NYT know about the Mouth of The South?
>> However, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I was able to hear
>> many instances of the local pronunciation of the city's name and lo!
>> to my astonishment, the locals *did* say, "N'AW-lins"!
>>
>> Needless to say, since that time, I've wondered where TF did I get the
>> impression that "New Aw-LEENS" was the local pronunciation. To the
>> best of my memory, which is, as y'all know, unchallengeable, I learned
>> that pronunciation down in Texas, about the time that I learned to
>> understand English. But, in instances wherein my memory clashes with
>> what even I recognize as the reality, I'm forced to "check myself."
>>
>> Getting to the point, iTunes has yielded the LC recordings of talk and
>> piano-playing by Ferdinand Joseph "Jelly-Roll Morton" LaMothe. In a
>> rap in which he conversates about the difference between ragtime as
>> played in Saint Louis vs. the manner in which this musical genre is
>> played in New Orleans, using The Maple-Leaf Rag as his exemplar, he
>> clearly and consistently pronounces the name of the Crescent City, his
>> hometown, only as "New Aw-LEENS."
>>
>> Apparently, we elderly have to concern ourselves with all kinds of
>> changes in what is considered "correct" speech. Even *descriptive*
>> grammar can't be relied upon, cross-temporally. Or should the be,
>> "trans-chronically"?
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> =96=96=96
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -----
>> -Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync.
http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_BR_life_in_synch_062009

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