"old wise tale"/"old wives tell"

[Mark Mandel]

Or like a hypercorrection (hyperstandardization?) of the Southern raising
of /ɛ/: "tale" pronounced [te(ə)l], interpreted as a raised form of /tɛl/
"tell".

On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 11:43 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> "Old wives tell" sounds like a Southern variety that laxes tense vowels
> before /l/.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 12:30 AM, 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: "old wise tale"/"old wives tell"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 4:50 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > FWIW, the egg corn database includes hits for "old wise tale", "old
> wise
> > > tail", and even "wise tale" without the old.
> >
> >
> > But not "old wives tell," apparently. "Old wise tail" is interesting for
> > its unintentional(?) double-entendre. Since I've never seen or heard
> simply
> > "wives' tale" where I'd expect "old wives' tale," or ever, I'm not sure
> > about that one. But...
> >
> > Youneverknow.
> >
> > Also, heard:
> >
> > "They treated me like a bald-headed stepchild."
> >
> >
> > --
> > -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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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