Did she ever use "poke" for a paper bag?

I was warned by the parents that locals might use this word when we moved there (not that far from P'burgh) but I never heard anyone use it.

I'm 1,400 posts behind in Minearville, which appears to have become the new Natter. I'm printing it out and will attempt to skip and skim tonight. I mention this here only because it's the only place I'm even remotely caught up. eta: besides F2F. Does anyone care about Balti? It's okay if not, but it'd be supernice to get feedback.

::waving at Susan:: How's the bed rest going? Did DH get you a laptop?

Well, I left out whether or not people pronounced "wh" differently than "w" because I honestly can't remember whether we hashed that out in the collegiate version of the pronunciation discussion. With me, "wh" is breathier than plain "w", but I've never paid close attention to how anyone else says it.

Pronunciation discussions were very popular freshman year, since on my hall we had everything from Brooklyn to Boston to Bama. I can't remember if Paulette called paper bags "pokes," though--I don't think it ever came up, since we weren't doing much grocery shopping that year.

I'm surviving bedrest, and using a loaner laptop from a friend in my writers group. There are certain vague signs that I'm likely to go into labor on my own before they need to induce, though I hope and believe I'm still at least a week away.

I thought memes were mems, not meems. Yet another reason for me to hate that word.

Um . . . I'm reading a Greg Bear novel!

I say DAM-isk. With conviction.

Word. Despite how you pronounce Damascus. It's a syllable-shift thing. Like vowel/vocalic.

Susan, the w/wh thing is notable in New England, and I don't know where else in the US/world. A lot of people around here make a "hw" instead of "w" noise for things spelled "wh".

Also, I spent some time in central Connecticut. With provocation, I can disappear into the kitten/Wharton/New Britain glottal stop. It sounds extremely provincial even to my ears.

Does anybody know what you call it when one syllable is even less than non-stressed, it's practically swallowed? Like how most people say Lancaster (the county, not the actor) -- LAAAAAANG-cstr. Like how boatswain became bo's'n and waistcoat weskit.

Elision?

Is is still elision if you spell it the long way? I guess probably it is.

I had trouble with "halcyon". Butchered that sucker. And I still screw it up occasionally - my brain, having glommed onto it as "HAL-lee-con" at about age eight, refuses to shift. Buggeration.

I pronounce my t's. Like Plei, I was told about it if I didn't. So? The second R in February.

I will only say u-r-l, so as not to give Plei hives.

I don't call URLs earls, but I'm as likely to say your-uhl (kinda like Ural, but not exactly) as U-R-L. Anyone else do that?

I pronounce my t's. Like Plei, I was told about it if I didn't. So? The second R in February.

I can't remember if I was told off about that one, but I certainly say both of them. Though they sometimes come out mangled, because it's a word with F and U, which, oddly, are my problem letters. Lot of trouble with those. It's almout a miracle I can say fuck, actually.

(My f/v distinction is the kind that's not. I got enough lecturing about that to drive me to tears, and half of my phone issues are from the frustration of trying to make myself understood over the things.)

Like how most people say Lancaster (the county, not the actor) -- LAAAAAANG-cstr.

There's not really a "g" sound in Lancaster, though (I go to school there! I have valuable regional knowlege!). Local people say LAN-ca-str. Everyone else says lan-CAST-r. If you are an outsider who manages to adopt this useful piece of regional dialect, you will be INVISIBLE! Really! Okay, not really, because you will make faces when presented with a piece of spaghetti pizza. Like all right-thinking people.