Re: OT: YAEPT: English low vowels (was briefly: Re: Y/N variants (< OT: English a...

That word for "crazy" is, in fact, the same word: "cuckoo".
Colloquial meaning, knowledge of which helps in the appreciation of
titles like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".  I've never heard of
the two meanings having distinct pronunciations before.

It probably is significant that FOOT and GOOSE differ in quality as
well as length around here.  "Cuckoo" as /kuku:/ in fact exactly
matches my pronunciation.  But that's not FOOT-GOOSE, which would be
/kUku:/.


On 12/15/07, T. A. McLeay <conlang@...> wrote:
> Herman Miller wrote:
> > ROGER MILLS wrote:
> >> Mark Reed wrote:
> >>> I was looking for the term for the "ah" sound, and went by this page:
> >>>
> >>> http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~anth383/lexicalsets.html
> >>>
> >> Interesting, useful and illuminating! With minor exceptions (to be
> >> expected I guess), it matches my lect.
> >>
> >> Disagree on: pulse-- FOOT not STRUT
> >> cuckoo-- GOOSE not FOOT (this IMO is a genuine error-- the international
> >> word is [kuku] with variable stress, no?)
> >
> > I think I may have heard the FOOT pronunciation of cuckoo -- probably on
> > a bird song recording (but definitely not American). It's ['kuku] for
> > me, although more often used in the phrase "cuckoo clock" since the
> > birds are not common sights anywhere I've lived.
>
> I've never heard the pronunciation /ku\:ku\:/ (GOOSE-GOOSE) for "cuckoo"
> before; it's always been /"kuku\:/ (FOOT-GOOSE). Considering the
> spelling indicates a short vowel for the first syllable, I seriously
> doubt that using the same vowel for both syllables could be the
> international pronunciation.
>
> /"ku\:"ku\:/ (GOOSE-GOOSE) was, however, a word I used when I was
> younger to mean crazy. I've never before had reason to spell it, but I'd
> try to do it as "kookoo" or "koo-koo" I think, based on "kook" even tho
> the kind of craziness is entirely different.
>
> --
> Tristan.
>

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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