Author Topic: Body vs Bawdy (Read 2426 times)

Noemon · « **on:** June 06, 2005, 08:44:15 AM »

There is an upcoming production of Steve Martin's play "The Underpants" at a local theater, and my local public radio station has been plugging it for the last couple of weeks. The announcer invariably refers to it as "Steve Martin's bawdy play 'The Underpants'", but she pronounces "bawdy" exactly the same as she does the word "body". It always throws me for a second.

Am I unusual in pronouncing these two words slightly differently?

Jonathon · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2005, 09:46:52 AM »

Unusual? No, not really. Though I believe it might be more common in the U.S. to rhyme the two. This phenomenon is generally referred to as the cot-caught merger. This Wikipedia article has a lot more information on it.

So where are you from, Noemon?

Noemon · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2005, 07:31:21 PM »

I'm from NE Kansas (a tiny little place called Clinton, about a half hour from Lawrence, if that means anything to you). I lived there for...oh, 30 years I guess, and have been living in Dayton, OH for the last three.

Jonathon · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2005, 08:10:45 PM »

Dialects never fail to surprise me. It's weird that you would have grown up in Nebraska pronouncing them differently and that you'd hear someone in eastern Ohio pronounce them the same.

Of course, I was completely surprised to learn that not everybody rhymed words like cot and caught or body and bawdy.

rivka · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2005, 08:26:36 PM »

Cot and caught sounding alike is bad enough. But body and bawdy the same?

It's just WRONG, I tell you!

Jonathon · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2005, 09:09:43 PM »

Psh. Maybe I should change your title to Language Snob.

rivka · « **Reply #6 on:** June 07, 2005, 06:34:41 AM »

*laugh* Probably.

eslaine · « **Reply #7 on:** June 07, 2005, 08:16:13 AM »

What the george has your avatar got in its hands, rivka?

Noemon · « **Reply #8 on:** June 07, 2005, 09:14:44 PM »

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It's weird that you would have grown up in Nebraska pronouncing them differently and that you'd hear someone in eastern Ohio pronounce them the same.

I was very puzzled by this for a moment, but then I realized that you (completely reasonably) took the "NE" in "NE Kansas" to mean Nebraska rather than "north east". What I meant was that I grew up near Lawrence, Kansas, which is located in the north eastern corner of the state.

Jonathon · « **Reply #9 on:** June 08, 2005, 09:29:17 AM »

D'oh! I know how to read. Promise.

But yeah, that's not so weird, then. Eastern Kansas is in the transitional zone of the merger.

rivka · « **Reply #10 on:** June 08, 2005, 10:44:49 PM »

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What the george has your avatar got in its hands, rivka?

Gold ribbon.