I confess that when I say the phrase high school, I pronounce the word high with a reduced vowel /hʌɪ/ instead of /hɑɪ/. It feels wrong to me to pronounce the phrase with high articulated as /hɑɪ/. In isolation, high /hɑɪ/ might rhyme with why /wɑɪ/. In high school /hʌɪskuËl/, the vowels I make sound like ice cool /ʌɪskuËl/.
I hear lots of people say high school with a fully articulated high /hɑɪskuËl/, and it generally sounds fine to me. But I don't do that. I really can't bring myself to do it.
Anyone else?
Of course, when I say it now I'm self-conscious, and it's a bit hard to know what's "normal," but as it happens, I've noticed this in myself before. I seem to say the phrase as a single word, with a heavily stressed, extremely short first syllable. Right with you, I think, Glenn.