conuly | And in other news, sometyping I typed up while internetless...

I'm confused by the difference between "rilly" and "really!" Make a phone post reading this post outloud. That would be fun. And I wouldn't be confused anymore.

The first is rilly, to rhyme with hilly. The vowel is the same as in pit or sit or kith and kin.

The second is reeeeeeeely, to rhyme with... um... well, anyway. The vowel is the same as in see, or be, or tweet, or fleet, or keen.

...I suppose I say "rilly," then.

I wonder if it's a general Wyoming thing, or if it's a pronunciation idiosyncracy of mine specifically.

Now you'll be stuck listening to people and finding ways to prompt them to say the word (and similar words) to see how they pronounce them.

Do you also say real and deal to rhyme with hill and Jill?

Oh, no, not at all. And no one else in Wyoming does either, I'm sure of it. I'd notice that. We know the difference between dealing cards and eating dill pickles.

So, it's just that you dissimilate ee to ih before the vowel ee? Or is it only before "lee"? Would you say tinny where I'd say teeney, or slippy where I'd say sleepy? Or maybe kih-wee for the bird/fruit?

*is tired AND curious, a dangerous combination*

All of those have ee sounds. It's just "really" that doesn't. To me, it sounds quite unnatural to say "reelee," just as unnatural as it would sound to say "kih-wee."

Huh. Interesting. No idea what it means, but... interesting.

It's quite possible that I picked it up from someone who said all of the others. I think I'm a bit of a sponge when it comes to pronunciation -- I blame it on the fact that when I talk with people, I almost always find myself unconsciously mimicking their body language and word emphases and vowel sounds. It doesn't usually stick around for long outside of a conversation with the person, but if I talk with someone enough, I think I sort of steal the way they talk more permanently. Some words that I say have a distinct Canadian bent, just because the person outside of family who I spend the most time with is from Canada.

Then again, it might be regional. I just asked my friend Nick how he says "really," and he says that he only ever uses ree-lee when it comes to emphasizing. If something is especially large, he says reeeee-lee. Rest of the time he says rilly. I think he lives in northern AZ, which isn't terribly far from Wyoming.. Well, it is, but not much in comparison to other places.

Or, you know, you can pronounce it like real, but with a y on the end ;0) Ree-ul-ee. Like the theer-tuh, thee-ur-tuh distinction for theatre. Or maybe you don't have those pronunciations your side of the pond.

Are you mocking my pronunciation of 'root' again? :P

I can't help it, my ruhts are in Minnesota!

Mocking? No. I'm spasming in delight, perverse as that sounds.

I wish i could be as perky as you seem to be right now. I frigging projectile vomited all over my computer chair.

damn nerves.

everything seemed so promising today...

I wonder what you'd think on hearing a typical New Zealand accent :p. Heard one?

Dunno whether Connie has or not, but between the interviews with Peter Jackson I've seen and the Kiwi prof I had for musicianship several years ago, I know precisely what you're referring to. :)

Yup the tupical Nyew Zullnd accent can have emphasis put in strange places too (not to mention missing out vowels altogether) but no where near as bad as Richard Taylor ugh o.O.

Apparantly I sound more Australian than Kiwi... odd.