A couple from Minnesota that I met a few years ago on the Dinner Train in Bardstown gave me their opinion that people in Kentucky didn't know that "pin" and "pen" were pronounced differently. Their son-in-law was a Kentuckian and they said he drove them crazy pronouncing those words. When I told them I had pronounced them the same way all my life and everyone in my region of Kentucky does the same, they just stared at me and didn't say much more after that exchange.

Lol. They could have at least admitted they were wrong, at least wrong once they crossed the Kentucky border. How people in Minnesoto pronounce those two words is their business.

 

A few years ago some family members of a friend of mine from Minnesota were visiting.

 

I'm from Northern Kentucky where although you might at times hear a traditional Kentucky southern twang, and more so the further south you get, but in general that twang accent is not very heavy here, if at all.

 

Personally I've never had anyone point out to me that I have a recognizable twang nor have I ever thought that I had one. I can easily turn one on, but in truth it's just fake when I do it.

 

After chatting with these people from Minnesota for a little while they couldn't contain themselves in telling me about my southern twang. I was surprised that this is what their ears heard from me when I spoke. I told them that no one has ever pointed this out to me before, and if they truly had detected this in me, and if they really wanted to hear what a true Kentucky southern twang sounded like, all I'd have to do is drive about an hour south with them, and they would certainly hear the difference.

 

Perception is a funny thing.

^Daughter in first year of PC doctoral program at Bellarmine is doing service learning along with a second-year student from Wisconsin. Seems that she has to often function as an interpreter for him. Some of the patients can't understand him.

I suppose it's a southern, a regional thing. I know most of the people I've been around all my life in eastern Kentucky do not make a difference in the way those two spellings are pronounced.

 

How is the word "pencil" pronounced in your neck of the woods, Prof?

How is the word "pencil" pronounced in your neck of the woods, Prof?

 

Three syllables is possible?

^Daughter in first year of PC doctoral program at Bellarmine is doing service learning along with a second-year student from Wisconsin. Seems that she has to often function as an interpreter for him. Some of the patients can't understand him.

Similar, but opposite, happened years ago on a fishing trip to Canada. We stopped for a sandwich in northern Wisconsin and I had to interpret for the waitress what my buddy from Jessamine County was ordering for lunch.

OK, how about an old fave that's been touched on here, and it's a pet peeve of mine as well:

 

"Loose" v. "Lose"

 

• When something is said to be "loose," that implies that it is not tight or bound, it is free, unrestrained.

 

"Man, when Johnny tried to step up to Bubba Lou, you know he had a screw loose."

 

Or:

 

"Michael first got tipped off by the neighbors. They just got tired of his fighting dogs getting loose all the time. It's untelling how many he's got in his backyard."

 

Rarely is it used in sports parlance correctly. In a quick 60-second search of my brain, I find two.

 

"I can't believe how long the ball bounced around loose on that last play when Moxon fumbled it away. Those kids must've kicked it around for 8, 9 seconds before Billy Bob finally pounced on it in the end zone."

 

"It's no wonder they got out to that huge lead. Did you see how loose Preacher and Hustler were on the pick'n'roll?"

 

 

• The term "lose" is, in fact, something of a derivative of "loose" down the line, from the standpoint of "it got away."

 

Anyway, bear with me. The dictionary.com version at the top defines it as, "to come to be without," and I like that.

 

It is most commonly the word people want to use, but instead add an extra "o" when trying to say their team came up on the short end of the scoreboard/standing/record book.

 

"As soon as Hassan-Ramallah drained that third three, I knew we would lose."

 

"Roederergestrassen is a good coach, but he's come up on the short end before when his talent suggested he should win more games. He can't survive another losing season."

 

"If Frodo loses the ring, the whole of Middle Earth shall crumble."

 

 

 

• Or, to put it more simply, something can be loose, but only someone can lose something.

How is the word "pencil" pronounced in your neck of the woods, Prof?

 

Pin-cil.

 

No one spells pencil that way, lol, but that's how it's pronounced.

There's not a difference in the pronunciation of the words "pen" and "pin" from my neck of the woods.

 

I'm still trying to understand how New England residents pronounce "car" as if it's "cah". Do they think the 'r' in the word took a leave of absence? I suppose every region of the US has their own way of pronouncing certain words.

Here's a timely one for this weekend.. It's Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time. No "S" at the end of Saving. You will see and hear this wrong a hundred times this week.

 

And for the millionth time, the grocery store is called Kroger - not Kroger's, or Krogers, or Krogers'

Don't think I've seen this one yet...

 

Who's/Whose

Don't think I've seen this one yet...

 

Who's/Whose

 

You got lucky and caught me on a rare non-work night.

 

• "Who's" is a contraction, short for "who is" and other tenses of the verb "to be." Usually used in question form.

 

"Who's the man/with the master plan?"

 

"Who's gonna fill them shoes?"

 

 

• On the other hand, "whose" indicates possession.

 

"Man, whose Jordans are those? Those are sweet kicks."

 

"Is that whose property that is? Lord, I've seen dozens of deer back in there."

Okay Jim, an honest question here. Just saw the thread about the teacher that apparently committed suicide out in California. Is "hanged" the proper term in this case, or should it be "hung"? Is using hung as the past tense of hang proper in everything else but in a cause of death?

Pin-cil.

 

No one spells pencil that way, lol, but that's how it's pronounced.

There's not a difference in the pronunciation of the words "pen" and "pin" from my neck of the woods.

 

I'm still trying to understand how New England residents pronounce "car" as if it's "cah". Do they think the 'r' in the word took a leave of absence? I suppose every region of the US has their own way of pronouncing certain words.

 

That's what I figured. How is the name "Ed" pronounced?

 

As to the bolded, no doubt.

Okay Jim, an honest question here. Just saw the thread about the teacher that apparently committed suicide out in California. Is "hanged" the proper term in this case, or should it be "hung"? Is using hung as the past tense of hang proper in everything else but in a cause of death?

 

I believe that is correct.

That's what I figured. How is the name "Ed" pronounced?

 

As to the bolded, no doubt.

 

I pronounce it like it sounds, "Ed". At least I hope it sounds that way to listeners, lol.

However, I have a few friends that would pronounce it close to sounding like "Ad".

 

I know I have a distinct mountain dialect. I've never tried to change it. I try to use correct grammar but I've never been embarrassed by my accent. I have friends who have moved to Ohio or other northern regions and in less than a year change the way they talk, or they thought they had changed. There's always going to be certain words that will let the locals know they're from the south.

 

I used to call in the basketball scores to the Herald-Leader when I was helping with the sports events at our school. We had a player named Mike Turner who many times became Mack Turner in the newspaper. I had to start spelling out his name to make sure they understood what I said. It was a total communication breakdown, lol.

Today features a favorite misused/substituted term among BGP users:

 

"Lightning" v. "Lightening"

 

• Lightening can mean a few things, but it never, ever, ever is that stuff you catch in a bottle, which is the biggest abuse I see on here.

 

The most frequent is the act of making something less dark; to illuminate it.

 

"That photo will look a lot better once Andre gets done lightening it up a bit."

 

It also is the process of the uterus descending into the pelvic cavity just before birth.

 

"Marissa is lightening right now. Shouldn't be too much longer for the new arrival."

 

 

 

• Lightning, on the other hand, is that stuff that comes from the clouds during a thunderstorm.

 

"My childhood friend Marc was struck by lightning not once, but twice. Crazy, ain't it?"

 

"Cletus sure caught lightning in a bottle with that bunch. They hit everything they threw up!"