Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 14:52:42 -0500

From: GURT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUVAX.BITNET

Subject: Re: croissants



Larry Horn has heard [kr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SANT], and that's what I hear from people who

aren't trying to produce the French word. My guess is that on the

analogy of, e.g., restaurant, which is now an English word and

pronounced in the U.S. according to American English phonological

rules, croissant is also now an English word and pronounced in the

U.S. (well, in Washington, anyway) according to American English

phonological rules.



Doesn't Burger King have a breakfast sandwich called Croissan'wich?

And wouldn't that be related to a notion that croissant is the

(new) English word for what used to be called crescent rolls? And

could the pronunciation of crescent have had some influence on the

pronunciation of (English) croissant?



Just speculating,



Joan C. Cook

Department of Linguistics

Georgetown University

gurt[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]guvax.georgetown.edu