Re: sending mail to the list

On Wed, 2 May 2001, David Peterson wrote:

> In a message dated 5/2/01 3:03:23 PM, jaspax@U.WASHINGTON.EDU writes:
> << Anyway, I wrote to say (1) that both "put" and "book" have /U/ (the lax
> sound), and (2) that it doesn't matter since the distinction between /u/
> and /U/ may be gone in 20 years anyway.  >>
>
>     I realized at the time that it was kind of a joke, yet...as I sounded it
> out and did over and over again, I found I do have two different vowels in
> "put" and "book": my lips are rounded with "put" and they definitely are not
> with "book".  Did I just invent this when I saw that?  Does any other native
> English speaker have this?  Any native Southern California English speaker?
Same here, but I didn't realize it until I tried it; and I would have
said earlier that I had no vowel difference in those two words either.  I
speak extremely bland English learned in Texas, Missouri, and the U.S.
Army base in Seoul, Korea, though.

YHL