For example, did you know that, in an Australian accent at least, "Harry" and "hairy" are not homophones? I bet you didn't. And I bet your life has functioned perfectly adequately without that knowledge. Mine has, until, in a conversation about unfortunate names, I tried to make a joke about "Harry and Peg Legg."
"Haha, 'peg leg,'" my Australian friend said.
"And 'hairy leg!'" I pointed out after a reasonable amount of time.
She paused, then said charitably, "Right."
Cue Sad Trombone.
chhhk. they're not homophones for me either!
ReplyDelete(actually i had an annoying argument with a midwestern friend about this, which was mostly my saying "i just say it differently, you probably don't hear it because you say them the same" and her saying "BUT THEY ARE THE SAME")
linguistically yours
julliard