Date:  Wed, 11 Oct 1995 09:49:37 -0400

From:  Wayne Glowka <wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU>

Subject: Re: mrs/miz'/gazz



>While we are discussing fun-etic mispronounciations how about MESSERS for the

>gentlemen?

>

When I've heard /mIzrIz/, no one has been laughing. As an outsider, I

noticed the difference. When queried, however, my local students usually

say that they have never noticed the difference. I once had a student who

said that her mother told her that the correct pronunciation of "Mrs." was

/mIzrIz/. Formal occasions have great potential for unintended humor, but

no one seemed to flinch over /mIzrIz/, which I have seldom heard and can

remember hearing in the two places I listed in the previous post. By the

way, the speakers were both white Southern males.









Wayne Glowka

Professor of English

Director of Research and Graduate Student Services

Georgia College

Milledgeville, GA 31061

912-453-4222

wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu