"earl" for "oil"

[Jonathan Lighter]

At first I thought I'd learned the rhyme from an old edition of Bartlett's,
but when I checked it wasn't there.

Then I checked Mencken. Not there either.

All I can say for sure is that I picked it up in the mid to late '60s.

JL

On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 5:28 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "earl" for "oil"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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