Great job! It's really nice to see an author utilize classism and regionalism so effortlessly! One of the most amazing parts of this piece is how the writer could have stopped to consider that maybe some of these words are "mispronounced" by people simply in the operation of their accents, but nope, they just blasted on through! Amazing! On the real though, the way we speak is a part of who we are as individuals, and English language purists and their non-regional dialect everyone should learn how to talk "correctly" blah blah blah are the most nauseatingly boring people in the entire world. Peter on January 5, 2012 4:27 am While the vowel in law is ? Well, that's not standard American -- Websters says 'o?', same as 'lore'. I guess it's just possible in Georgia; my attempts to pronounce it that way have an exaggerated Southern ring to them. (Actually, Websters uses the same notation for the vowel in 'off'. And 'dog' is either the same or '', the vowel in 'father') The Bob/Barb confusion is a good example of the mistakes I would think would be all too common in your seemingly indistinguishable non-rhoticisms. That R on the end is as important (importan?) and crucial (crucia?) as other conclusive consonants. And initial ones...do you pronounce the 'k' in 'knight' (not to mention the 'g' and 'h' in the middle)? And final silent 'e's? 'Bob' and 'Barb' are impossible to confuse if you don't mix up your vowels. Final