Lately I'm noticing some people pronouncing the word news as "noose" rather than "nooze." For example, on Morning Edition, Steve Inskeep says "This is NPR nooze" but co-host Renee Montagne says "NPR noose." Generally Americans use the z sound for the plural marker following a vowel sound, as in days, fees, sighs, potatoes, and dues. So what's up with "noose"? Does it mean that news has become a monolithic morpheme ( {news} rather than {new} + {PLURAL} ) for them and so escapes the rule mandating the z-sound-after-vowels for the plural marker? Dick Veit ________________________________ Richard Veit Department of English University of North Carolina Wilmington To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/