Date:  Thu, 9 Mar 1995 13:35:57 -0600

From:  Natalie Maynor <maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU>

Subject: Re: suite /sut/



>Does anyone have any data, formal or informal, on *suite* pronounced /sut/, as

>in "My parents just bought a new bedroom /sut/"?



I've never heard it pronounced any other way. I just asked a colleague if

she had ever heard any other pronunciation of it, and she said "only on tv."

Since I almost never watch tv, I've missed this pronunciation. Neither my

colleague nor I can remember ever having heard a real live human being

pronounce it [swit].



>         It occurs more frequently than

> you might think, and not just among speakers with relatively low levels of ed

> ucation. (My mother-in-law, for example, who has a Master's Degree



I don't know whether I've heard the word used by people with less than a

college education. I know that my parents both said [sut], BS '31, BA, '35

and that all the friends I've ever heard use it say [sut]. Since I live in

a small town dominated by a university, almost all of my friends have PhDs.

  --Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)