Heard on [adult swim]: "Japan" > [dZei p&n]

[Jonathan Lighter]

1945 Ernie Pyle _Last Chapter_ (N.Y.: Henry Holt, 1946) 23: I noticed a lot
of people [in the Marianas] unconsciously pronouncing Japan as "Jay-pan,"
just as in Africa we always used to say "A-rab" instead of "errab," as we
were taught in school. Sometimes they carried it into multisyllables, such
as "We're going to Jay-pan-man-land" tomorrow.

Pyle grew up in west-central Indiana: hence "errab."

JL

On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 3:24 PM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on [adult swim]: "Japan" > [dZei p&n]
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> You would not hear that today, Wilson.  Wake County NC is practically the
> exclusive province of relocated Yankees.
>
> Bill P
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 1:04 AM
> Subject: Heard on [adult swim]: "Japan" > [dZei p&n]
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Heard on [adult swim]: "Japan" > [dZei p&n]
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Spoken by a Squidbilly, according to the story line, a native of the
> > North-Georgia hill country:
> >
> > "Sushi? That's made over yonder in JAY-pan."
> >
> >
> > The only other time that I've heard "Japan" pronounced this way, it
> > was spoken by a step-relative of mine from Wake County, NC.
> >
> > No, I'm not assuming that someone playing the voice of a cartoon
> > character is truly a representative speaker of any real local dialect
> > of Georgia. But, I'm just saying, you know? This isn't the first time
> > that I've heard _Japan_ pronounced as "JAY-pan" and, the other time,
> > the speaker really *was* a genuine local yokel in his home county.
> >
> > This same voice-actor pronounced "out here" as [aut tSi at r]. I would
> > have expected [au tSi at r]. But, of course, youneverknow.
> > --
> > -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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