Date:    Sat, 21 Feb 1998 10:51:11 -0500
<br>From:    Gerald Cohen  gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UMR.EDU 
<br>Subject: "poor" for "pore" etc.
<br>
<br>    On Feb. 17 Peter McGraw presented the following interesting information:
<br>
<br>My aunt once told me about a woman of her acquaintance who would "poor"
<br>water out of a pitcher.  My aunt said she asked her once what she
<br>called people who didn't have any money, and she said, "Oh, you mean
<br>pore people?"  I have no information as to where this was.
<br>
<br>    I've noticed at least two other instances of similar sound switches.  A
<br>professor of mine years back told me that a woman he once spoke to made the
<br>following derogatory remark about someone lacking upbringing/good manners:
<br>"He was barn in a born."
<br>
<br>    Also, there's the well known switch of "oi" for "ir" in some immigrant
<br>speech in NYC, e.g. "She's a poil of a goil."  But the reverse change
<br>occurs in some speakers--those who say "erl" for "oil" (the fuel) and
<br>"berl" for "boil." I specifically remember hearing someone say "I berled an
<br>egg."  I think I also heard this sort of pronunciation from the TV
<br>character Archie Bunker.
<br>
<br>  At one point I had been under the impression that sound changes go in
<br>only one direction at a time..  A double switch of the type "poor" to
<br>"pore" and "pore" to "poor" (in different words) seems to present some sort
<br>of an anomaly in this picture.
<br>
<br>--Gerald Cohen
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>gcohen[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]umr.edu
<br>