Date:  Mon, 21 Mar 1994 14:29:23 -0500

From:  Martha Howard <UN106005[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]WVNVAXA.WVNET.EDU>

Subject: Homophone?



I hope that all of you expert dialecticians can figure out for me just where

the editor making up a crossword I worked comes from. (Anybody want to

diagram *that* sentence?)  The clue was "homphone for 'air' ." The

answer turned out to be "ire." (I know because I cheated, as usual, and

looked upthe answer in the back of the book.) I have heard the aIr of

fire, tire, etc. in dialects as the a in cot and father but never as

e in hate. To add my two cents to the French discussion, I too had very



pleasant experiences in Paris and also during a four week tour covering

2600 miles of France, north, south, east, and west. The French are not

really very cordial toward each other and they don't treat us any

differently--except in several cases where they were nicer. I would

try my schoolbook French, look hoepful, and say "

was that right/?" In every case I was assured that it was *almost* right

and when I asked how to correctly say something, the French were very

gracious about helping me. Of course, the fact that I obviously liked

their red wine probably helped break the ice.