flay / flea (and other "ea" words)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 2:25 PM, Randy
Alexander<strangeguitars at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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?

Sure, but I thought we were sticking to words spelled with <ea>.


--Ben Zimmer

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