A Dallas, Texas, caller says his girlfriend from a rural part of his state has an unusual way of pronouncing certain words. Email sounds like EE-mill, toenail like TOW-nell, and tell-tale like TELL-tell. These sounds are the result of a well-known...
Mary in The Dalles, Oregon, wonders why some speakers pronounce this, that, them, there, and those as dis, dat, dem, dere, and dose. That voiced th sound is often realized as d in New York City, Philadelphia, around the Great Lakes (especially...
Our quiz guy John Chaneski is back with a game of wedding puns. For example, if Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader, she’d be, well, a kind of shoe, or something that might convey you to the top floor of a building. This is part of a complete...
Lori, an English teacher in North Augusta, South Carolina, grew up on Long Island and wonders why many of her students pronounce pin and pen alike but keep pit and pet distinct. The pin–pen merger is a vowel merger strongly associated with...
What colorful language do you use to when you’re angry and tempted to use a four-letter word? There’s a difference between cursing and cussing: It takes a slow mind to curse, but an active, vibrant mind to cuss. Also, what it means to be...
How do you pronounce the word won? Does it rhyme with sun or Juan? Some people, depending on their regional dialect, may hypercorrect their vowels and pronounce certain words in an unusual way. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
