Word-initial /grV/ vs. /drV/ in BE

[Wilson Gray]

I once read somewhere or other (Mario Pei?) the the famous slave, Dred
Scott, was actually named "_Great_ Scott," with his forename respelled
on the basis of his own pronunciation in the BE of the time.

My own Texas reatives use "gr[E]t," with /-t/ > [d] before a following
voiced consonant. But the title of the blues song, "Grinder Man," can
be heard as "[d]rinder Man, according to who happens to be singing it,
e.g. John Lee Hooker.

Then there's Rick James, as seen on The Chappelle Show"

"... jump up and [g]rind my feet into somebody's couch ...? ,,, Yeah,
I remember [d]rinding my feet into Eddie's couch."

--
-Wilson
–––
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

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