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

[Paul Johnston]

Script a for me, even with Sir Walter.

Paul
On Feb 12, 2014, at 10:46 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Raleigh, N.C. -- awesome or aw-dropping?
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>
> At 2/12/2014 08:47 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>> 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. (
>
> I find that I react (recoil?) when I *hear* a pronunciation that's
> not mine, but like LH am unsure about my own pronunciation when I
> deliberately think about it or speak it out.  I've begun to trust my
> first reaction and discount my experiments.
>
> Joel
>
>
>> (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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