Date:    Mon, 2 Mar 1998 22:21:18 -0500
<br>From:    "Jeutonne P. Brewer"  jpbrewer[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Semantic distinc. betw. "crick" and "creek"?
<br>
<br>On Mon, 2 Mar 1998, Jesse T Sheidlower wrote:
<br>
<br>  A correspondent wrote in about an alleged semantic distinction
<br>  between "crick" and "creek." This writer, who is from an unspecified
<br>  but "rural" part of the country, claims that he uses both pronunciations,
<br>  but that a "crick" was smaller than a "creek." He states that he has
<br>  had a long-running disagreement with his wife about this, and he recently
<br>  found someone else who makes this distinction. DARE doesn't show any
<br>  semantic distinction, and Joan Hall isn't otherwise aware of any.
<br> 
<br>  Is this distinction familiar to anyone on the list?
<br>
<br>As an Okie I I first learned "crick" and in school I learned "creek."
<br>We went down to the same "crick" in wheat field country--Ames, OK about
<br>30 miles south of Enid where I was born--even when we later learned
<br>to say "creek." I don't think I've ever heard a semantic distinction
<br>based on size.
<br>
<br>Jeutonne
<br>
<br>
<br>**********************************************
<br>Jeutonne P. Brewer, Associate Professor
<br>Department of English
<br>University of North Carolina at Greensboro
<br>Greensboro, NC 27412
<br>email: jpbrewer[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu
<br>URL:   http://www.uncg.edu/~jpbrewer
<br>***********************************************
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