The neighborhood kids say chark instead of chalk.

[conuly]

At first, I had no idea what the kid down the block meant, so I just waited until he showed up with some chalk and figured that, at the age of five, he still had some trouble with pronunciation.

I was disabused of this notion when a different child (with a very strange name - I'd say her mother was reacting to a lifetime of being Jennifer 3 all the time, but then the woman up and named her new baby Jennifer!) used the same pronunciation.

I'm assured by family friend Michele that this is as historically valid as aks instead of ask, but I've never heard it, and because of that fact, unlike aks, it really grates on my ears. And google has no knowledge of this, either. Searches for chark just get me information on sharks. Gah.

Of course, chalk is a pretty unattractive word no matter how you say it. I wish I could frindle a new word into existence to take the place of it. Ugly word.

Comments

[rhicat.livejournal.com]

That's one I'd never heard before.
Does s/he also pronounce "earl" for "oil" and "terlit" for "toilet"?

[conuly]

Doubt it. Chalk doesn't sound like choik to me usually anyway, so I can't see how it'd do that.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I wonder if it's solely a matter of pronunciation or if it's historically coming from "charcoal."

[conuly]

Pretty sure it's a pronunciation thing. Why would it come from charcoal?

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Both come in sticks that you use to make art - and I know that when my dad was a kid, they used to draw on the road with charcoal because chalks were too expensive. I'm sure you're right, though. The range of linguistic variance in your corner of the world is pretty cool.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

"Aks" does grate on my ears. So does "warsh", "ernj" (orange), and one of my husband's words is "weapondry".

::Henry Higgins singing "WHY can't the English teach their children how to speak?"::

[conuly]

Ah, well, see, we're Americans.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Certain English accents grate on my ears as well ;)

[conuly]

Certain languages grate on my ears, if we're being honest.

[rhicat.livejournal.com]

That's one I'd never heard before.
Does s/he also pronounce "earl" for "oil" and "terlit" for "toilet"?

[conuly]

Doubt it. Chalk doesn't sound like choik to me usually anyway, so I can't see how it'd do that.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I wonder if it's solely a matter of pronunciation or if it's historically coming from "charcoal."

[conuly]

Pretty sure it's a pronunciation thing. Why would it come from charcoal?

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Both come in sticks that you use to make art - and I know that when my dad was a kid, they used to draw on the road with charcoal because chalks were too expensive. I'm sure you're right, though. The range of linguistic variance in your corner of the world is pretty cool.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

"Aks" does grate on my ears. So does "warsh", "ernj" (orange), and one of my husband's words is "weapondry".

::Henry Higgins singing "WHY can't the English teach their children how to speak?"::

[conuly]

Ah, well, see, we're Americans.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Certain English accents grate on my ears as well ;)

[conuly]

Certain languages grate on my ears, if we're being honest.