Re: Cloakroom
| From: | Eric Christopherson <rakko@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, May 15, 2008, 4:37 |
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On May 13, 2008, at 1:51 PM, Peter Collier wrote:
> This brings to mind an old joke, which requires some familiarity
> with the Birmingham (UK)/Black Country accent to fully appreciate:
>
> Q What's the difference between buffalo and bison?
> A "Yow cor wash yer onds in a buff'low" /jau) kU: w&S j@ rOnz
> in @ bVfflau)/ - 'you can't wash your hands in a buffalo'
>
> The joke being bison/basin are homophonous (/boi)sn/)
That's pretty cool. Where does <cor> /kU:/ come from? Does <or>
correspond to /U:/ in other words?
On the subject of <can't>, I've heard British people on TV saying
what sounds to me like [kA:n], but it might have a [?] at the end
that I'm missing. It almost sounds like they're saying <can>,
especially if you're naive about British vowels like I was a few
years ago, and assume that American /&/ is [A] or [A:] in British
speech.
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