"earl" for "oil"

[Garson O'Toole]

Below are two cites that mention this style of speech. I did not find
the lines of Don Marquis in my quick search.

Cite: 1918, Longmans' English Lessons for the Fourth Year, by George
J. Smith, Page 81, Longmans, Green and Co., New York. (Google Books
full view)
http://books.google.com/books?id=pvEAAAAAYAAJ&q=goil#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
We must not speak oil as earl, or earl as oil.
We must not say terl for toil, or goil for girl.
[End excerpt]


Cite: 1912 December 18, New York Dramatic Mirror, Purifying Our
English, Page 10, Column 2, New York. (Old Fulton)

[Begin excerpt]
Of course, we all know of that queer use of the r, by which it becomes
oi, and oi becomes r, so that oil becomes "earl," join becomes "jern,"
oyster, "erst," while third becomes "thoyd," girl, "goil," turn,
"toin." and lurch, "loich;" and, too, that elegant echo of the curb,
the employment of t for the aspirate th, as when an East Side gamin
threatens to "t'row a fit."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 4:33 PM, 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: "earl" for "oil"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Do they pronounce the "r" at all audibly?
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "earl" for "oil"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 9:15 AM, Jonathan Lighter
>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > A top Iowa-born CNN anchor revealed today that she believes Texans say
>> > "earl" for "oil."
>>
>> Perhaps she's familiar only with th' earl bidniss in Kilgo' 'n' otha
>> Eess Teksiss locations.
>>
>> --
>> -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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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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