Re: CHAT: Names, was: Re: Brithenig-heads

Dan:
> And wrote:
> > John Cowan
> > > It's my wife's sister's name.  Her father used to say:
> > >
> > >         I knew a little girl
> > >         and her name was Ruth
> > >         She lost her tooth
> > >         in a telephone booth.
> >
> > I knew a little girl
> > and her name was /ru:T/
> > She lost her /tUT/
> > in a telephone /bu:D/
> >
> > --at least I expect that's how Dan says it.
>
> er, me? well, depends on the company I'm in. If I'm feeling quite "accenty",
> something like:
>
> U njIw @ lidl ge.l,
> an e. neim wUz rIwT,
> Si: lost e. tUT
> in @ tel@fo@n bIwD.
>
> e. represents the reversed small letter epsilon.
>
> BTW, I'm not uneducated, I can talk "normally", it's just that I'm quite
> attatched to my accent.
You because you've said you're from Coventry and have the local accent. For
the rest of us, _Ruth_ & _tooth_ will rhyme. N.Americans/Non-N.Americans
will divide on whether _booth_ rhymes with _sooth_ or _soothe_. I was simply
tickled at how John's socer's rhyme works fine for many but fails completely
for some.

As for educatedness, if what you know is due to formal education, then
British undergrad programmes must be much much better than I had supposed.

--And.