blowzy

[Joel S. Berson]

At 1/21/2013 08:10 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>A reminder:  In many varieties of Southern American English
>(including my own and, I would expect, Wilson's) "blouse" and
>"lousy" are pronounced with a [z].  Unlike in the [s]-speaking parts
>of the country(which is most of them?).

Where do I come from, since I pronounce "blouse" with an [s] -- but
"blowzy" with a [z] -- and  "louse" with an [s] -- but "lousy" with a
[z] -- if I'm using "a general term of abuse", etc.; although I
might, very rarely, deliberately use [s] if I meant "full of lice",
in order to be clearly understood as not being generally abusive?

Joel


>--Charlie
>________________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>Wilson Gray [hwgray at GMAIL.COM]
>Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2013 7:59 PM
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>So, it's not "blow-zee," but rhymes wuth "lousy" or pswaydo-German
>"lausi," then.
>
>A wona thankya.
>--
>-Wilson
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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