Herb: Is this NCVS responsible for otherwise standard speakers of English 
saying "Missour-ah" for "Missouri"? Along the same lines, how did New 
England get to "Pack the kaa, Mack" for "Park the car, Mark"? Just curious. 
Helene



>From: "Stahlke, Herbert F.W." <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 14:53:45 -0500
>
>I wonder of the flush/flesh confusion might not be a feature of the 
>Northern Cities Vowel Shift.  I hadn't heard of the NCVS going all the way 
>to the west coast, but it has gotten at least as far as Minneapolis and St. 
>Louis.  If you're not familiar with this sound change, it's a change that 
>has taken place over the past century in the major cities around the 
>southern shores of the Great Lakes, extending from about Syracuse west 
>through Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee.  
>From those centers, it has spread out to smaller cities so that it's found 
>now in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis as well as in Lansing and Traverse City. 
>  In this change, which effects quite a number of vowel sounds, the vowel 
>/ae/, as in "cat" raises to /E/ ("pet"/) and even gets as high as /i/ 
>("seat"), so that the name "Anne" sounds like "Ian".  In the process, /E/ 
>gets moved back to /A/, as in "cut", so that "bed" sounds like "bud".  This 
>set of shifts would, then, account for "flesh" sounding like "flush", but 
>then I don't know if there's any other sign of NCVS hitting Seattle, or if, 
>maybe, this speaker came from the Great Lakes states.
>
>
>
>Herb
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar 
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wollin, Edith
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:14 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>
>
>I've been hearing the same problem with another phrase here in Seattle: 
>"This needs to be flushed out." I'm not even sure if they are really saying 
>"fleshed" and it just doesn't sound that way to me or if they know they are 
>saying "flushed" and the meaning of "flesh out" has stuck to the whole 
>phrase for them and they don't notice that they are saying almost the 
>opposite of what they mean.
>
>
>
>This is how we entertain ourselves in meetings!
>
>Edith Wollin
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar 
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda DiDesidero
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:33 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>Thanks for responding, Herb.
>
>Yes, the students pronounce blase /blah- ze/.  I have heard it is from a 
>rap song that has that refrain, but I'm afraid that I'm not that familiar 
>with rap music.
>
>
>
>What bothers me about the "chock it up to experience" example is that the 
>student has no idea what 'chock/chalk' means--the phrase has become a 
>linguistic whole for this student.  She has no clue that she is writing 
>about metaphorically making a chalk mark or tally.  So this might be 
>isolated BUT the /blah--ze/ is not.  I'm actually wondering if this could 
>be thought of as onomatopeia.
>
>
>
>Thanks.
>
>Linda
>
>PS I know what you mean about cot/caught and hock/hawk--we lived in Chicago 
>for several years, but now we are back East where all my NE Philly 
>relatives say things like "Yeeah, lez go howme"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Stahlke, Herbert F.W. <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:26:43 -0500
>Subject: Re: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>Interesting questions.  Do they pronounce "blasé" with two syllables or as 
>if it has a silent e?  The chock/chalk confusion may arise from a sound 
>change, the a/aw merger that is found in a band about 100 miles north to 
>south from about Pittsburg west to the Mississippi and then everywhere west 
>of the Mississippi north of a line from about St. Louis to El Paso.  These 
>speakers pronounce "cot" and "caught" with the same vowels, which, 
>depending on area, may be either both /a/ or both /aw/.  There was until 
>recently a store in here in Muncie called "The Muncie Hawk Shop".  At first 
>I thought it was a similar confusion of "hawk" and "hock" until I spoke to 
>the owner and learned that it was intentional.  Because he had an earlier 
>felony conviction he could not be bonded and therefore could not get a 
>pawnbroker's license, so instead he opened a buy-sell shop.  By spelling 
>the word "hawk", which this area pronounces the same as "hock", he was able 
>both to be within the law and to given the impression of functioning as a 
>"hock shop".
>
>
>
>Another widely used form of a different sort is "hone in on" for "home in 
>on".  The Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage dates this usage to 
>1978, citing it in a primary campaign speech by George H. W. Bush.  I have 
>since found it in such places as the New York Times Magazine.  I still 
>reject it in student writing, which is, I fear, every bit as pedantic and 
>tendentious as rejecting "most unique".
>
>
>
>Herb
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar 
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda DiDesidero
>Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2006 8:44 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Question: Language change and malapropism
>
>
>
>The discussion of the broadening of the meaning of 'unique' is interesting, 
>but I see a different problem that I might call widespread malapropism.
>
>
>
>My students often create terms or use them as malapropisms--and these may 
>be derived from rap music or these may have their roots in Microsoft Word's 
>spell-checker. Does anyone else know anything more about this?
>
>
>
>One frequently occurring example is the word 'blase' to mean "bla-bla-bla" 
>or 'yadayadayada".  My students will actually say: "blase blase blase" 
>thinking that it is equivalent to these other terms.  So when this phrase 
>enters widespread use, can we say that the meaning of 'blase' has altered?  
>(even though most students who use it in this context do not know that they 
>have altered a meaning; they think they have learned a new word.)
>
>
>
>The other phenomenon has to do with what we might call homonyms, such as:
>
>
>
>'chock it up to experience'
>
>"she was a pre-madonna"
>
>
>
>While these examples are clearly homonyms--and you think that the person 
>had heard the phrase and has just spelled it incorrectly, perhaps with the 
>aid of a spell-checker--they really do express concepts that are 
>fundamentally different from the ones they mimic.
>
>
>
>Chalking it up to experience is different than chocking it up (or chucking 
>it up) to experience.
>
>
>
>A prima donna is a different concept than a pre-Madonna, even though they 
>both involve females.
>
>
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>
>
>Linda DiDesidero
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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