Raleigh, N.C. -- awesome or aw-dropping?

[Tom Zurinskas]

I thought the game would be over when "Paul" of Paul McCartney was pronounced "Poll" (as in "doll").  Sure enough it happened at the CBS commemoration of the Beatles 50 th anniversary of appearing on Ed Sullivan show on TV last Sunday.  The lady announcer in front of the national audience said "Poll".  A sad day.  This is the beginning of the end of the phoneme "awe".  Get set to change the dictionaries.

Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk


 
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Raleigh, N.C. -- awesome or aw-dropping?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I suspect I've gone back and forth on Raleigh (North Carolina, Sir Walter, cigarettes, whatever), between Rollie (which I pronounce with an [a], or really script a, vowel as in the first name of the ex-A's/Brewers' relief pitcher Fingers) and Rawley.  I think I might be more likely to use the open-o for Sir Walter Raleigh because of the rounding in his first name, more so than in the snow- and ice-bound N.C. city.   It's hard for me to be sure exactly how I tend to pronounce these unselfconsciously, though. (
> 
> (No danger of "awe"-extinction for me, though--I would never merge the pronunciation of "Cawley" (as in the late Jim McCawley) and "collie", for example.)
> 
> LH
> 
> On Feb 12, 2014, at 7:10 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> 
> > Raleigh, North Carolina, is much in the news this moment for its
> > proximity to North Carolinians of stupidity (to paraphrase its
> > governor).  I hear announcers saying "Rollie" (almost "Rah-lee", but
> > not quite?).  I learned "Raw-lee".  Is that because I'm an effete
> > (North-)* Easterner?  Or did I learn it from hearing pre-modern announcers?
> >
> > * South-Easterners' methods may differ.
> >
> > Joel
> >
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