flay / flea (and other "ea" words)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 12:36 PM, Randy Alexander
<strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 11:43 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I took the occasion (a "teachable moment," in the current cliche) to ask
> > the old favorite history-of-the-language "trivia" question:  What four
> > common current English words have that "ea" vowel spelling and preserve the
> > pronunciation /e/?
>
> I've also never heard of shea butter, but up here in the near-Siberian
> wastelands there are several classes of elementary school aged Chinese
> students (mine) who would instantly rattle off "break steak great yea", as
> well as their rhoticized companions "bear pear tear wear swear".

And I suppose in the South Midland they'd add "measure pleasure treasure".


--Ben Zimmer

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