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"Southerners don't even think 'good' rhymes with 'blood'!" Andrew announced, no doubt something he learns from the internet he's glued to every waking moment. I've been busy tidying so if there's a context for this I don't know what it is.
When my brain finally gets around to processing this I say, "...They don’t!"
To which of course the only reply is to shout both words, because volume and repetition will solve everything.
Then a terrible realization dawned on me. "Oh, God, this is gonna be like how you think I'm saying the same thing when I say 'rum' and 'room,' isn't it?" That one went on for ages, and it was such a long time ago -- maybe even before we were married? -- that I hoped we were done with it...
..."for good," I was gonna say, but no. Turns out it's still "for blood"! Ha.
The shape of my mouth is different and everything, I now notice, when I say these words. It wouldn't be the first time my dialect aligns me with the south of England (I prpnounce "scone" so it rhymes with "phone" too).
I hear a distinction between these two words that he doesn't, and that's fine. Because some people's linguistic capabilities really do develop in such a way that they retain or lose certain sounds; most remain separate but a few that don't get used enough to be worthwhile can get elided together. "Cot" and "caught" sound the same to some English speakers and different to others. There are many and varied examples of this phenomenon of people who hear and speak a variety of languages.
But then there are also people who insist that their way is Right and all others are Wrong and Inferior.
It's much easier to be one of those, I think, if you basically have always lived in the same place.
"Good! Blood!" Andrew said again. "Goodbloodgoodbloodgoodblood..." ad infinitum until it was time for me to leave the house. Which, thankfully, was only a few minutes later!
When my brain finally gets around to processing this I say, "...They don’t!"
To which of course the only reply is to shout both words, because volume and repetition will solve everything.
Then a terrible realization dawned on me. "Oh, God, this is gonna be like how you think I'm saying the same thing when I say 'rum' and 'room,' isn't it?" That one went on for ages, and it was such a long time ago -- maybe even before we were married? -- that I hoped we were done with it...
..."for good," I was gonna say, but no. Turns out it's still "for blood"! Ha.
The shape of my mouth is different and everything, I now notice, when I say these words. It wouldn't be the first time my dialect aligns me with the south of England (I prpnounce "scone" so it rhymes with "phone" too).
I hear a distinction between these two words that he doesn't, and that's fine. Because some people's linguistic capabilities really do develop in such a way that they retain or lose certain sounds; most remain separate but a few that don't get used enough to be worthwhile can get elided together. "Cot" and "caught" sound the same to some English speakers and different to others. There are many and varied examples of this phenomenon of people who hear and speak a variety of languages.
But then there are also people who insist that their way is Right and all others are Wrong and Inferior.
It's much easier to be one of those, I think, if you basically have always lived in the same place.
"Good! Blood!" Andrew said again. "Goodbloodgoodbloodgoodblood..." ad infinitum until it was time for me to leave the house. Which, thankfully, was only a few minutes later!