On topic: pronouncing "whistle"

[CHIFF FIPPLE]

Well I think that the whole world and Gods there in should say Wiffile
As thas what they say most of the time anyway

[Will O'B]

Well, shore, everbidey in the worl pernounces it Shehkaygah.

Not necessarily. I had a great-great uncle. He was a plumber. From Chicago. He pronounced it CHikaga.

Ok. I admit it. I lied. But I have heard people pronounce it CHikaga. I never spoke to them about their pronounciation. To paraphrase Jim Croce, they were built like a refrigerator with a head. They also seemed to be the kind of guys who broke kneecaps for a living. Not the type of gents with whom you should want to discuss linguistics. Or anything else for that matter.

Will O'Ban

[Darwin]

So, do y'all pronounce "new" as "noo" or as "nyoo", and "dew" as "doo" or "dyoo"?

I wobble between "noo" and "nyoo", but I'm consistent in using "dyoo".

Perhaps that's because "doo" would conflict with "do". "Morning doo" sounds like something your dog leaves in the neighbor's yard during his early walk.

[Lambchop]

So, do y'all pronounce "new" as "noo" or as "nyoo", and "dew" as "doo" or "dyoo"?

I wobble between "noo" and "nyoo", but I'm consistent in using "dyoo".

Perhaps that's because "doo" would conflict with "do". "Morning doo" sounds like something your dog leaves in the neighbor's yard during his early walk.

new = neu-wuh . . . two syllables, but the second is almost not there (unless you need it for extra emphasis)

Mountain Dew = Maount'en deu-wuh, five syllables, with the most emphasis on the Deu.

Interesting observation about "doo." That had never occurred to me. I'm always preoccupied with the fact that it looks like the stuff your dog leaves on the sides of trees during his early walk. That and trying to figure out what it tastes like. (Thank goodness they came up with the red version.)

[izzarina]

So, do y'all pronounce "new" as "noo" or as "nyoo", and "dew" as "doo" or "dyoo"?

I wobble between "noo" and "nyoo", but I'm consistent in using "dyoo".

Perhaps that's because "doo" would conflict with "do". "Morning doo" sounds like something your dog leaves in the neighbor's yard during his early walk.

I say nyoo and dyoo, as well as Tyoosday. And I agree about doo sounding like what my kids have on their feet when they come in after running through the present my lovely neighbor's dog left in my yard :roll:
I also used to say "ungyins" for onions. Someone laughed at me one day and told me that was a "New York" thing. I don't say it like that anymore (I say unyuns). Anyone else say "ungyins"?

[Walden]

Sometimes I say ungyins. My mother (who, unlike most of the family, grew up in the western part of the state) prounounces milk as milngk, and she says the word coin in such a way that I have trouble distinguishing it from corn.

[Walden]

Oh... I don't say nyoo or dyoo, although I think at least sometimes I make a distinction between the vowel sound in do and dew.

[Nanohedron]

I cannot, cannot, *cannot* say "woarsh" in reference to cleaning my hands.

[Walden]

I cannot, cannot, *cannot* say "woarsh" in reference to cleaning my hands.

I orta knowed.

[Darwin]

I cannot, cannot, *cannot* say "woarsh" in reference to cleaning my hands.

At some point in my childhood--either while living in Mississippi, or down in South Texas, I was saying "warter" and "idear" for "water" and "idea", because I can remember my mother correcting me. Now I no longer say "idear", ever, but I still find myself saying "warter" on occasion.

Never said nothin' like "woarsh", though.

Took a bit of effort to stop saying "chimley" for "chimney", as that didn't come up until somewhere in my mid-teens.

[Nanohedron]

I've heard "woarsh" from some easterlings, although I believe it's found as far west as Michigan.

[Walden]

At some point in my childhood--either while living in Mississippi, or down in South Texas, I was saying "warter" and "idear" for "water" and "idea", because I can remember my mother correcting me.

I've heard "warter" among the Missouri Ozark folks. There is a tendency, hereabouts, to say "ideal" for idea.

I've heard "woarsh" from some easterlings, although I believe it's found as far west as Michigan.

It's found farther west than Michigan. It is pronounced thus, here, and I have it on good authority that the locals pronounce it that way in some places farther west than Oklahoma.

[Redwolf]

We were having a discussion at choir rehearsal the other day about whether the word "shone" (as in "and glory shone around") should be pronounced "shun" (as our Canadian choir director said it) or "shown" (as most of the Californians in the group said it). I finally suggested the North Carolina alternative: "Why don't y'all just say "done shined"?

Redwolf

[izzarina]

in South Texas, I was saying "warter" and "idear" for "water" and "idea", because I can remember my mother correcting me. Now I no longer say "idear", ever, but I still find myself saying "warter" on occasion.

Since I was born in Trenton (pronounced Tre-in for those not in the know ), NJ, I said "wooter" for water for quite some time. We always put our "wooter" into our RADiators (rad sounds like sad here). I no longer say "wooter" even when I slip back into the New Jersey/Philadelphia accent while talking to my family from there.

[emmline]

I've heard "woarsh" from some easterlings, although I believe it's found as far west as Michigan.

Yes, as an easterling, I hear, but don't say that. I'm sorry to say I have a Henry Higgins-like way of classifying people (in my area, I mean,) by the way they pronounce things, and guessing what part of the county they hail from, and what sort of lifestyle they enjoy.