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

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 13, 2014, at 1:11 AM, Paul Johnston wrote:

> Script a for me, even with Sir Walter.

But I assume these wouldn't be homophonous with "Rawley" or rhyme with Jane Pauley (or a putative self-diminutive Paulie) for you, right?

LH

> On Feb 12, 2014, at 10:46 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Raleigh, N.C. -- awesome or aw-dropping?
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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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