Re: Unrelated questions (was Re: Two countries)

Joe wrote:
>
> From: "Geoffrey Stone Gordonssen" <stonegordonssen@...>
>
>>On another note, a friend asked me how Brits differentiate "ta-ta"
>>for "goodbye" from "tata" for breast. I told him that I believed it
>>was primarily by tone and stress: [ta"ta:_H] versus ["tata]. Yes? No?
>
> Um...maybe I'm not representative of British people..but I have never ever
> heard "tata" as a synonym for breast.  But, I would guess, based on my
> intuition...it's a case of [t@tA:] vs [tAta]
I'm an American, and I've heard "ta-tas" used to refer to breasts. Never
heard or seen it used in the singular with that meaning, however.
"Ta-ta!" for goodbye is easily understood but sounds self-consciously
"upper crust" or snobby. "Ta-tas" has the stress on the first syllable
(if there is any stress contour at all), while "Ta-ta!" has the stress
(and a higher pitch) on the second. So I think Stone is right.