Caught is an awwwwww sound, low down in the back of my mouth. Cot is an ahhhhhhh sound, just as far back but higher up.
Mal: Yeah, well, just be careful. We cheated Badger out of good money to buy that frippery, and you're supposed to make me look respectable. Kaylee: Yes, sir, Captain Tightpants.
'Shindig'
Natter 33 1/3
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Katie M - Mar 05, 2005 12:37:35 pm PST #4489 of 10002
I was charmed (albeit somewhat perplexed) by the fannish sensibility of many of the music choices -- it's like the director was trying to vid Canada. --loligo on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Narrator - Mar 05, 2005 12:54:58 pm PST #4490 of 10002
The evil is this way?
Maybe Topic!Cindy. But what care I for a flying Speedo. It lacks a certain .. Xanderness up there. Not to mention it's dry.
Tom Scola - Mar 05, 2005 1:03:42 pm PST #4491 of 10002
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
I still don't understand how "caught" and "cot" could sound different. I sat here saying them over and over, trying to exaggerate the vowels, and they still sound the same.
Poor vowel-deprived Teppy.
juliana - Mar 05, 2005 1:09:49 pm PST #4492 of 10002
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss them all tonight…
Poor vowel-deprived Teppy.
I think I've bogarted all the vowels in the Midwest with my liquid "u"s and just generally trying to sound more like a Brit and less like a Norske/Swede. Sorry, Tep!
Sophia Brooks - Mar 05, 2005 1:18:19 pm PST #4493 of 10002
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
I still don't understand how "caught" and "cot" could sound different. I sat here saying them over and over, trying to exaggerate the vowels, and they still sound the same.
Strangely, I was just sittinghere wondering how "caught" and "cot" could possibly sound the same.
Also, I scored as "Dixie", even though I have never even been further south than Philedelphia and my family is either from a) New England b) French Canada or c) Italy
Susan W. - Mar 05, 2005 1:21:05 pm PST #4494 of 10002
Good Trouble and Righteous Fights
76% (Dixie). That is a pretty strong Southern score!
I'm kinda surprised that my "y'all," "roly-poly," and "rolling" usages apparently dominate over my "soda," "mischief night," and ability to distinguish between "caught" and "cot."
Caught is the vowel in "Aw," as in, "Aw, ain't that cute?"
Cot is the vowel in "Ah," as in, "Ah, I get it."
And before I forget what I came here for, congratulations, Rio!
Sue - Mar 05, 2005 1:26:46 pm PST #4495 of 10002
hip deep in pie
I still don't understand how "caught" and "cot" could sound different. I sat here saying them over and over, trying to exaggerate the vowels, and they still sound the same.
The only way I could rationalize this myself was to think of the Industrial Cape Breton accent where "caught" would sound like "cat" and cot would sound like "cawt."
DXMachina - Mar 05, 2005 1:31:38 pm PST #4496 of 10002
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.
I pronounce caught and cot the same way as Susan W.
Alibelle - Mar 05, 2005 1:33:18 pm PST #4497 of 10002
Apart from sports, "my secret favorite thing on earth is ketchup. I will put ketchup on anything. But it has to be Heinz." - my husband, Michael Vartan
The caught/cot thing was one of the harder parts of my dialect class. Distinguishing the difference is super tricky, but it's there.
I was not surprised by my Dixie score, which was something like 53%, since most of my family is from the south, I was born in Florida, which gets many of the southern vocal patterns, and yet, I've spent lots of time away from the south, in large cities, and other areas where it is easy to go accent-less. So there's a Dixie influence on my vowels and word choices, but most of my enunciation is pretty standard American. So that quiz was very accurate, for me.
aurelia - Mar 05, 2005 2:06:30 pm PST #4498 of 10002
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.
43% Yankee. But if I go with how my family says things, I come up with 60% Dixie.
Until I took Voice and Diction in college I didn't differentiate between pin and pen, or tin and ten. I probably learned some other stuff too.