Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 00:49:00 -0500 From: ALICE FABER Subject: co'cola DInIs P said: > Good shot Rudy! Your comment awakened in me the memory (but see below for > its possible sociolinguistic inaccuracy) that the geminate pronunciation > was the one that I used (in the 40's in Louisville) and the open syllable > form was the one I associated with older (and, sad to say) 'hickish' > speakers. In fact, the nongeminate pronunciation was one I (and > schoolmates) used (along with 'hep' for 'help,' 'a'-prefixing, etc...) as a > stereotypical imitation. On one of the Usenet groups I waste time with (have to do *something* when the ADS digest has fewer than 65 messages on root beer and the like), I noticed the spelling "coke cola" in a posting that appeared to have been proofread. Alas, there were no clues as to the poster's home region, but this certainly seems like a non-linguist's attempt to represent a geminate. Alice Faber faber[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]haskins.yale.edu