Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Herb, we may have had the same teacher. Or depending on the vowel
distribution, complementary mirror-image teachers.

Mine was in the second grade. She ran us through the set with "ahg": frog,
hog, log. Then she tried to trick us with "dawg," but we knew better.

BTW, as someone may have mentioned long ago, the spelling "dawg" in the
South doesn't mean what it means in NYC.

JL



On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 10:10 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Is there some objective reason why "vahz" came to be stigmatized? How and
> when did the masses get the idea that "vahz" is a rebarbative affectation?
>
> It's actually hard for me to remember to say "vayz" so as not to sound like
> an insufferable snob. That must be why I had so few dates in high school.
>
> "Vahz" is the sole pronunciation mentioned by the OED. Why the cover-up?
>
> JL
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:59 PM, Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I refuse to say "vahz," even though the rest of America thinks that's how
>> it
>> should be pronounced. ..to me, it's another affectation and people feeling
>> it's the "proper" way for so-called "educated" people to speak.
>>
>> I should just wear earplugs!
>>
>> jl
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 5:47 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>> >wrote:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > I say /Ant/, but I also used to say "tomahto" like my grandparents until
>> > Southerners ridiculed me out of it.  (I still say it in secret.)
>> >
>> > Their working-class backgrounds didn't keep them from saying "vahz"
>> either.
>> > But a putayto was a putayto.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 9:30 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>> > >wrote:
>> >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > -----------------------
>> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> > > Subject:      Re: Aunt; was Re: "Authentic pronunciation"
>> (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
>> > > At 9:09 PM -0400 10/6/10, Barbara Need wrote:
>> > > >I  was corrected by my fourth grade (MA) spelling teacher. I have
>> just
>> > > >moved from near Cleveland and said that we had gone out to visit my
>> > > >[Ant] and she asked me if I meant the little black insect and I said
>> > > >no, my mother's sister, and she said, you mean your [Ont] (low back
>> > > >rounded vowel). Of course, I meant nothing of the sort. Just one more
>> > > >contribution to my decision NOT to adopt the accent of the Northern
>> > > >Shore.
>> > > >
>> > > >Barbara
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Hmph.  We New Yorkers never correct the ignorant folk who say "Mary"
>> > > when they mean either 'cheerful' (as in greetings around Christmas
>> > > time) or 'wed'.  But then we're known for our tolerance.
>> > >
>> > > LH
>> > >
>> > > >
>> > > >Barbara Need
>> > > >Ithaca
>> > > >
>> > > >On 5 Oct 2010, at 5:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > >>For a number of years, the preferred media pronunciation on both Fox
>> > > >>and CNN
>> > > >>seems to have been "Ont."
>> > > >>
>> > > >>One of those things I notice. I can't even tell you the last time I
>> > > >>heard
>> > > >>one of a leading telejournalists say "ant."
>> > > >>
>> > > >>As it was explained to me by a know-it-all some thirty-five years
>> > > >>ago, "Ant"
>> > > >>is "insulting because an ant is an insect and an Ont isn't."
>> > > >>
>> > > >>I couldn't argue with that logic. (Actually I could have but didn't
>> > > >>want
>> > > >>to be bothered.)
>> > > >>
>> > > >>JL
>> > > >
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>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
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>
>
>
> --
>  "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>



--
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