vise

[Jonathan Lighter]

/vaIz/ is how I say it and how my grandfather said it.

I'll even assert that /vaIs/ sounds weird in this case, though not
absolutely unfamiliar.

JL

On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 8:35 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: vise
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 2/21/2011 7:39 PM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
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> > Poster:       Charles C Doyle<cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> > Subject:      vise
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I doubt if I'm the only one who found odd Leslie Stahl's pronunciation of
> the word "vise" on "Sixty Minutes" last night (she was speaking
> figuratively):  She said [vaIz].
> >
> > Is that pronunciation common in some dialect?  Where?  Or was she
> emulating the pretentious pronunciation of "vase" as [vaz]?
> --
>
> Assuming the word in question refers to a bench-mounted clamp with a
> screw or so, I don't recall ever hearing a "vize" pronunciation ... but
> this might go unnoticed by me.
>
> A quick Google indicates that some non-US-ans are uncertain about the US
> pronunciation, given the apparently unfamiliar (to them) spelling "vise"
> (the spelling "vice" is more prevalent in the UK and elsewhere,
> apparently).
>
> Maybe some US-ans are similarly uncertain.
>
> More to the point, I find one remark (at a sort of a philology site)
> (Google [e.g.] <<vize "rust belt" pennsyltucky>>) suggesting that there
> is/was an alternative pronunciation with some currency:
>
> <<I believe the clamping instrument to which you refer is actually
> spelled vise, which was pronounced "VIZE" by the old machine shop
> workers I knew as a kid in the steel city (now the rust belt) back in
> Pennsyltucky.>>
>
> Today I surveyed a few Pennsyltuckians. All used the "vice"
> pronunciation ... but my sample size was very small. I'll ask around
> some more as time permits, and we'll see whether I find a "vize" user.
>
> -- Doug Wilson, Steel City PY
>
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