flay / flea (and other "ea" words)

[Randy Alexander]

On Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 2:09 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.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".


What about leisure?

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
My Manchu studies blog:
http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu

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