Do "dawn" and "don" rhyme? (1 Viewer)

[Ilov80s]

Sorry, I mistook you for one of them .

There's no shame in not distinguishing "Don/Dawn", though. It's the same thing as native Spanish speakers not distinguishing between "lip/leap". The vowel distinctions don't exist for those speakers, and thus the perceptual difference is never acquired.

I am just joking about looking down on anyone for their dialect. I just find it very fascinating that people can't hear the difference.

 

[bostonfred]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

 

[Jayrod]

So let me get this straight.....when I make an O with my mouth while saying Don, I'm suddenly now saying Dawn....even though it sounds virtually identical?I'm sitting here in my office moving my mouth back and forth between wider and narrower saying, "Don, Don, Don, Don, Don..." Thanks to all of you who insist that this is some differnt pronunciation, my co-workers think I'm ######ed.

If you can't distinguish between don and dawn, your co-workers are right.

If you think you've invented some special way of saying things that only dogs can hear, maybe you're ######ed.

 

[Doug B]

So let me get this straight.....when I make an O with my mouth while saying Don, I'm suddenly now saying Dawn....even though it sounds identical?

Yes -- because of the speech community you grew up in, you're not "wired" to hear the difference without practice. But the sound you're making is as different as the vowels in "lip" & "leap".

 

[Jayrod]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

POTD

 

[Jayrod]

So let me get this straight.....when I make an O with my mouth while saying Don, I'm suddenly now saying Dawn....even though it sounds identical?

Yes -- because of the speech community you grew up in, you're not "wired" to hear the difference without practice. But the sound you're making is as different as the vowels in "lip" & "leap".

"ih" is light year's different from "ee" and is changed in the throat."ah" is just a slight mouth shaping difference from "aw". You are literally making the same sound with every other part of your mouth, throat and voice box.

 

[commisholio]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

keep fighting the good fight

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

nobody says this, or at least I don't.

 

[Black Box]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

Hawt.

 

[Ilov80s]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

Nobody is pronouncing it doe-uhn or awuh.

 

[Foosball God]

awe is pronounced identically to ah. It is not pronounced awah.

In YOUR dialect, yes. Not right, not wrong ... a variant.Can't believe people aren't grasping the equivocality here, and insisting on some kind of nonexistant standard.

Perhaps you're not grasping that, while I fully understand the dialecticity of your wordology, I don't speak some dialect of English. I treat this language as something to be revered, not something spoken in Revere. I fully appreciate aspects of different dialiects - I think y'all is really no different from the indefinite pronoun you, but I appreciate the ability to distinguish "y'all" from "all y'all", and am willing to use the phrase in a group that would understand it. I find it fascinating that people warsh their clothes in more than one area of the country, but I don't participate, because it sounds like you're turning the key in an engine that's already started. And more importantly, I understand and can fully hear the sound made by people who say "aw" different from "ah" or a soft "o", but I don't choose to join people who mistakenly use the English language by trying to force sounds with completely different etimologies into a set of rules for a language that already has too many. We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt, and the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds. There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound. There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English, but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak, and I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

I'm still trying to figure out who says "doe-uhn"?

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

We're a melting pot, not a melting pawt

This is the problem with your argument. We're not pronouncing words spelled with a single 'o' with the 'aw' sound. We're pronouncing words that have an 'a' and a 'w' the way they were meant to be pronounced.You actually point out the difference in how an 'aw' word is supposed to be pronounced in your example.

 

[Masked Vigilante]

Conveniently slipped "Doe-uhn" into the conversation with a co-worker. He asked me if I was re######.

 

[Pickle Rody]

Voted NO......because they do not rhyme. They are not even pronounced the same.

Tried out that American accent link on the first page.....it nailed it. Pegged me as a Philadelphian and I only live 50 or so miles outside the city.

Accents are strange though.....my ex wife pronounced "roof" as "ruff".....you know, like a dog's bark. She also pronounced "wolves" as "wuvs". Just couldn't get the "L" to sound when she said it. She was born and raised right here in the same area, so I don't understand how her pronunciation could be so off. Possibly a genetic thing because her mother was atrocious at pronouncing words correctly.

For all you folks that think "Dawn" and "Don" are pronounced the same......they are not, and you are mistaken.

 

[Doug B]

... I don't speak some dialect of English ...

EVERYONE in the world speaks a dialect of their language. EVERY English speaker speaks a dialect of English -- that goes for newscasters, professional speakers, and those at the very bottom of the gutter.All speakers have an accent, too. If you think you have no discernable accent, go ask an Englishman or an Australian.

 

[Doug B]

... the Englishification of words should merge pronunciations into correct and common sounds.

Meaningless. Live speakers guide and shape pronunciations at the local levels of the speech community ... and there is no one correct standard with which to compare (if you think there is, who's speaking incorrectly among the Canadian Peter Jennings, the Texan Dan Rather, or the British Prince Charles?).

There is no functional difference or aesthetic beauty in a separate "aw" sound.

Neither function nor aesthetics matter. Language is not fashioned by logic -- if it were, we could get by with many fewer vowels and conosnants (cf Hawaiian, Samoan, and Maori).

There are dialects that refuse to move to proper English, and other dialects that continue to diverge from proper English ...

Again, meaningless. "Proper English" is a matter of style and context -- there is no one unassailable standard.

... but I refuse to believe that the horrendous whiny "aw" sound is part of the English language I speak ...

So what?

 

[rick6668]

I find it outright offensive when people like Aaron pretend that my ears are broken because I supposably can't hear the cheese grater on chalkboard sound of him saying "doe-uhn" instead of dawn and awuh instead of awe, when he refuses to admit that those are the malformed sounds coming out of his own damn mouth.

You're a funny guy. No one says "doe-uhn" or "awuh". I'm sorry you can't tell the difference.

 

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

Let it go, Doug.

 

[bostonfred]

... I don't speak some dialect of English ...

EVERYONE in the world speaks a dialect of their language. EVERY English speaker speaks a dialect of English -- that goes for newscasters, professional speakers, and those at the very bottom of the gutter.All speakers have an accent, too. If you think you have no discernable accent, go ask an Englishman or an Australian.

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words. It doesn't even have to be a real word. It could be your username. Maybe it's pronounced Doog B, like Doogie Howser, or Dougub, like a stuffed up person saying they dug up some weeds from their garden, but I pronounce it Dug Bee, like come watch Doug B a dork in the dawn and don thread.

 

[Doug B]

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words.

What you're calling the "proper way to say [a word]" is not a singular entity, because there is not a single standard against which to compare. Also, as I posted before, the "Don/Dawn" thing does not get in the way of communication, so either pronunciation is legitimate on the basis of comprehension.

 

[bostonfred]

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words.

What you're calling the "proper way to say [a word]" is not a singular entity, because there is not a single standard against which to compare. Also, as I posted before, the "Don/Dawn" thing does not get in the way of communication, so either pronunciation is legitimate on the basis of comprehension.

I honestly have no idea what you're saying here. You're probably saying it wrong.

 

[Doug B]

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words.

What you're calling the "proper way to say [a word]" is not a singular entity, because there is not a single standard against which to compare. Also, as I posted before, the "Don/Dawn" thing does not get in the way of communication, so either pronunciation is legitimate on the basis of comprehension.

I honestly have no idea what you're saying here. You're probably saying it wrong.

I'm saying:a) there are multiple ways of saying almost any word "properly", andb) the "Don/Dawn" thing doesn't confuse people in actual conversations, which is pretty much the smoking gun that demonstrates that both pronunciations are fine.

 

[EYLive]

There is no difference for elite Americans.

There is a difference for the average unwashed American mass.

 

[bostonfred]

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words.

What you're calling the "proper way to say [a word]" is not a singular entity, because there is not a single standard against which to compare. Also, as I posted before, the "Don/Dawn" thing does not get in the way of communication, so either pronunciation is legitimate on the basis of comprehension.

I honestly have no idea what you're saying here. You're probably saying it wrong.

I'm saying:a) there are multiple ways of saying almost any word "properly", andb) the "Don/Dawn" thing doesn't confuse people in actual conversations, which is pretty much the smoking gun that demonstrates that both pronunciations are fine.

Are you saying conservations or conversations?

 

[GloryDaze]

toot and about rhyme also

 

[Foosball God]

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that there is usually a proper way to say words.

What you're calling the "proper way to say [a word]" is not a singular entity, because there is not a single standard against which to compare. Also, as I posted before, the "Don/Dawn" thing does not get in the way of communication, so either pronunciation is legitimate on the basis of comprehension.

I honestly have no idea what you're saying here. You're probably saying it wrong.

I love me some bfred, even if he can't hear words correctly.

 

[Doug B]

I honestly have no idea what you're saying here. You're probably saying it wrong.

I'm saying:a) there are multiple ways of saying almost any word "properly", and

b) the "Don/Dawn" thing doesn't confuse people in actual conversations, which is pretty much the smoking gun that demonstrates that both pronunciations are fine.

Are you saying conservations or conversations?

 

[moleculo]

does dawn rhyme with lawn?

Of course

does don rhyme with lawn?

Of course not.

He really thought he was going to get you with that one.

you people are insane.I can accept people pronounding Dawn as "Dawun" or whatever...you want to differentiate between Dawn and Don, that's fine.

No way people pronounce lawn as lawun. Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron, and there's no excuse for anyone to mess with this one.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

you people are insane.I can accept people pronounding Dawn as "Dawun" or whatever...you want to differentiate between Dawn and Don, that's fine. No way people pronounce lawn as lawun. Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron, and there's no excuse for anyone to mess with this one.

there's no u in Dawn. WTF is Dawun?Lawn, Dawn, Pawn, Shawn, Fawn all sound alike and are one syllable words. They do not rhyme with Ron, Don, On, Lon, Con, Jon, etc.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

only if a W is a foreign concept to you.

 

[commisholio]

you people are insane.I can accept people pronounding Dawn as "Dawun" or whatever...you want to differentiate between Dawn and Don, that's fine. No way people pronounce lawn as lawun. Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron, and there's no excuse for anyone to mess with this one.

there's no u in Dawn. WTF is Dawun?Lawn, Dawn, Pawn, Shawn, Fawn all sound alike and are one syllable words. They do not rhyme with Ron, Don, On, Lon, Con, Jon, etc.

All those words sound exactly the same. I don't know WTF you people are talking about.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

#### no and you know it.

100% serious. No I don't. And it's not just because that's how I say them. It's how I hear people say it as well.You honestly mean to tell me that if someone told you "My cousin Dawn is coming to town." you would automatically know they meant a female named "Dawn" and not a man named "Don"?

I might ask for clarification, but i would then say do you mean "Dawn or Don"

 

[Doug B]

Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron ...

Not around here.

 

[Ilov80s]

I feel like this is the biggest fishing trip in board history. Surely, there are 90 some people here all in on this joke. D-awun? WTF?

 

[Christo]

Everyone who thinks dawn and don are pronounced the same, when a baby does something cute, do people say "awww, how cute!" (same sound as if you are in "awe" of something), or do you guys actually say, "ahhh, how cute!" (same sound as "ah-ha, I got you")?ETA, Do you ever use the word awe?

awe is pronounced identically to ah.

OMG

 

[GloryDaze]

Does dawn rhyme with Braun?

 

[Ilov80s]

Does dawn rhyme with Braun?

Yes

 

[moleculo]

you people are insane.I can accept people pronounding Dawn as "Dawun" or whatever...you want to differentiate between Dawn and Don, that's fine. No way people pronounce lawn as lawun. Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron, and there's no excuse for anyone to mess with this one.

there's no u in Dawn. WTF is Dawun?Lawn, Dawn, Pawn, Shawn, Fawn all sound alike and are one syllable words. They do not rhyme with Ron, Don, On, Lon, Con, Jon, etc.

"Dawun" is my attempt at spelling what I think you people are saying. close?

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

What American accent do you have?Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak \"Standard English straight out of the dictionary\" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like \"Are you from Wisconsin?\" or \"Are you from Chicago?\" Chances are you call carbonated drinks \"pop.

By the way which of you #######s rhymes bag and vague?

 

[Mr. Pickles]

supposably

Now we've got a problem.

 

[GloryDaze]

By the way which of you #######s rhymes bag and vague?

 

[Doug B]

I feel like this is the biggest fishing trip in board history. Surely, there are 90 some people here all in on this joke. D-awun? WTF?

A lot of people do rhyme the two in real life. Many posts have provided links to reasonable explanations -- this probably should've been a 20-post thread. But fishing and schtick are more fun than reading stodgy linguistics articles.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

#### no and you know it.

100% serious. No I don't. And it's not just because that's how I say them. It's how I hear people say it as well.You honestly mean to tell me that if someone told you "My cousin Dawn is coming to town." you would automatically know they meant a female named "Dawn" and not a man named "Don"?

I like new cousins that come to town.

Ask Daisy Mae how she say don and dawn.

Dis sound likee studz

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

What rhymes with 'orange'?

Whorange

 

[bostonfred]

supposably

Now we've got a problem.

Supposably, adverb: 1) Able to be supposed. Differs from the adverbified past participle supposedly in that it describes something which might be supposed, as opposed to something which has been supposed.

 

[Doug B]

"Dawun" is my attempt at spelling what I think you people are saying. close?

Not close -- it's not adding a syllable, it's using a different vowel.Here's the vowel for "Don" (listening sample at right) ... and for those who pronounce them differently, here's the vowel for "Dawn" (listening sample at right).

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

Ian’s story illustrates another vowel shift in American English. In the Great Lakes region including Michigan, the short a sound of bat and had is often pronounced like the ea of idea; thus, bat sounds like “beeyut” and had like “heeyud.”

Oof.

Perhaps way up north in Michigan, but I am from the Detroit area and have never heard this in my life.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

My Puerto Rican's family hear no distinction between "reach" and "rich" even when I say it (Boston area).

thats because they pronounce rich wrong (like "riche" in spanish).

 

[Billy Bats]

does don rhyme with lawn?

Of course not.

He really thought he was going to get you with that one.

you people are insane.I can accept people pronounding Dawn as "Dawun" or whatever...you want to differentiate between Dawn and Don, that's fine.

No way people pronounce lawn as lawun. Lawn is an exact rhyme with Ron, and there's no excuse for anyone to mess with this one.

WHAT?!?!?!? Lawn is LAW with a ####### n attached. Can you say LAW? Now add an N, and it's LAWN. NOT LON.What the #### is wrong with you people???

I can't believe how many people say Dawn and Don the same way. YOU SOUND LIKE #######.

 

[Hipple Long Ware & Peete]

What two three words amongst the known human languages that are pronounced exactly the same DON'T RHYME?

err, air, heir ?