Re: USAGE: [CONLANG] A discourse on Phonemics (was:

John Cowan:
> And Rosta scripsit:
>
> > I say /r@UT/, to rhyme with _oath_, which is what the OED lists,
> > alongside /rQT/, though I think it's a word I've only read and
> > never heard. OED also has /rQT/ for _wrath_, of course.
>
> I have /RAT/, like RP "wrath" and like the name "Roth" in GA.
There's some confusion here. _wrath_ in RP is /rQT/, [RQT],
rhymes with _cloth_ (as it does for you, but not, I think, GenAm),
and doesn't rhyme with _bath_, /bA:T/, [bAT], or _Plath_, as, I
think, it does for most Americans.

> Hence the joke:  the girl says "Mr. Epstein is waxing wroth!",
> and Groucho replies:  "Tell Roth to wax Epstein for a while."
Does the joke work for most Americans? Or only Noo Yawkas?

--And.

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