tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post114114219820271662..comments2024-01-12T05:40:00.544-05:00Comments on Positive Anymore: Canadian Place NamesBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141974175367503222006-03-10T02:02:00.000-05:002006-03-10T02:02:00.000-05:00I remain unmerged and unbowed. My husband suggests...I remain unmerged and unbowed. My husband suggests that calling it the "haughty/hottie" merger might get more press than "caught/cot."argotnauthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084344933892371729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141930101569866692006-03-09T13:48:00.000-05:002006-03-09T13:48:00.000-05:00Yup, no low-back merger at all. You "cot" me! How ...Yup, no low-back merger at all. You "cot" me! How 'bout you? Incidentally, I'd never heard of Ottawa, although my grandfather o"h (who would have turned 100 this St. Patrick's day) grew up in Watseka and Kankakee.<BR/><BR/>Good luck with those megakudos. They say the cure is worse than the disease...Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141926889820337362006-03-09T12:54:00.000-05:002006-03-09T12:54:00.000-05:00Clearly you don't have the low back merger!Mega ku...Clearly you don't have the low back merger!<BR/><BR/>Mega kudos? Hmmm, that sounds a bit like something you wouldn't want ... "I got me the mega kudos real bad!" But thanks. :)argotnauthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084344933892371729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141915242521842822006-03-09T09:40:00.000-05:002006-03-09T09:40:00.000-05:00p.s. I'm extremely jealous of you for coming up wi...p.s. I'm extremely jealous of you for coming up with "argotnaut." As a Classics rofessor of mine used to say, mega kudos!Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141914589496322822006-03-09T09:29:00.000-05:002006-03-09T09:29:00.000-05:00Good point, and not only do we Illinoisans pronoun...Good point, and not only do we Illinoisans pronounce Ottawa IL that way, we pronounce the capital of Canada that way too. In fact, because of weird constraints I don't understand having to do with vowel reduction, I have trouble even saying /Ottawah/ the Canadian way; the closest I can come is /Ottawaugh/, and even then I have to stress the last syllable a bit too much.<BR/><BR/>You've touched on a related matter of American towns named after well-known cities elsewhere, though their pronunciations differ. In Illinois, for instance, we have Cairo, which is pronounced differently from Cairo, Egypt.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141869222254371402006-03-08T20:53:00.000-05:002006-03-08T20:53:00.000-05:00I grew up in a small town not too far from Ottawa,...I grew up in a small town not too far from Ottawa, Illinois. We pronounced the last syllable with a schwa, not the clear "ah" that I heard during a recent visit to Toronto.argotnauthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084344933892371729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141151105998417782006-02-28T13:25:00.000-05:002006-02-28T13:25:00.000-05:00Oh yeah, now that you mention it I've certainly he...Oh yeah, now that you mention it I've certainly heard "Chronno" - thanks for pointing that out.<BR/><BR/>So you grew up in Canada - that explains why positive "anymore" is foreign to you.<BR/><BR/>On some blogs commenters try and make up definitions for the word verification words, and I've got a doozy right now.<BR/><BR/>"Yovzhle" - an adjective in Yiddish meaning "messy to a depression-inducing degree."<BR/><BR/>בײַ מיר אין שטוב איז נעבעך יאָװזשלעBenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02733601180382760718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17874090.post-1141149959725905612006-02-28T13:05:00.000-05:002006-02-28T13:05:00.000-05:00I grew up in Toronto and I think there are actuall...I grew up in Toronto and I think there are actually many ways of pronouncing it. Some Canadians barely pronounce the second T at all, so it sounds something like "Tron-O." Some also pronounce the initial T almost like a ch. No one in Toronto pronounces the first O as in the Spanish way of saying Toledo, but many do pronounce it like the first O in Montreal. And of course, French Canadians pronounce it quite differently, never skipping the first vowel.mznhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12336592183292185884noreply@blogger.com