hearst

[Ronald Butters]

Well of course no pun was intended. It is remarkable that a news reporter would make such a mistake, but confusion about what words have final clusters in /s/ and what words just have final /s/ alone is so common in American dialects as to be totally unremarkable.


On Oct 7, 2010, at 10:17 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 10:01 AM -0400 10/7/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> CNN's Kyra Phillips was reporting a moment ago on ceremonies surrounding the
>> return of the casket of a dead soldier from Afghanistan.  She explained that
>> the casket "is about to be placed on the hearst."
>>
>> Of course I assumed that the excrescent T was just a slip (after all,
>> _Citizen Kane_ was on TCM last night!).  But then she said it again very
>> clearly: / hrst /.  And again.
>>
>>
>> JL
>
> Wonder if there was interference from _Citizen Hearst_, an excellent
> biography of the latter by Swanberg.  Presumably no pun was actually
> intended.
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org