Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. How to add character without offending. BGneiss grammar Where I'm from in Pennsylvania, "caught" is pronounced like "fraught" or "naught", if that helps. If not, maybe the next-easiest explanation is that the vowel sound is like that in "Awwwww!", "awful" (as opposed to "offal"), saw, song, or a crow's "caw". The ending mouth position it kind of like you're blowing a smoke ring. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=19779#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=19779#Comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:45:03 GMT Ingrid Foster grammar Good information, very timely, thanks much. BTW, I grew up pronouncing cot and caught differently (southeastern Pennsylvania.) But don't ask me about crick and creek. LOL http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=18117#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=18117#Comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:57:37 GMT Marcie grammar I agree with Steve from Denver on the caught/cot issue. I pronounce them identically, too. I lived in Utah for about eight years and found that many native Utahns have a definite accent, but I wouldn't go so far as to label it a "dialect," as Mr. Carson does. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of the Utah accent is, in my opinion, the "watering-down" of long vowel sounds, particularly long "a"s and "e"s. For instance, "sale" sounds like "sell," and "feel" sounds like "fill." But now I'm curious about this cot/caught idea. Is there anywhere in the world where they are not pronounced in the same way? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=16353#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=16353#Comments Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:12:47 GMT Steve grammar So, are you from Utah? I assume you are since you pronounced "cot" and "caught" identically in this podcast. I'm from Colorado and I say them exactly the same, too. Can you enlighten me on how the words differ in places other than Utah (and Colorado, apparently)? Steve in Denver http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13359#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13359#Comments Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:38:20 GMT Ann grammar Great podcast as always, Grammar Girl. Just a quick note to say that Eliza is pronounced el-eye-zah, rather than el-ee-zah. At least, that's how it's been pronounced the couple of times I saw My Fair Lady. Then again, that was in Illinois and Minnesota, so I suppose we aren't exactly experts on how to pronounce the words of George Bernard Shaw. Thanks for cranking out more episodes! Your book is also fantastic. It was the prize at our technical writing education week here at my software company. :) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13168#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13168#Comments Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:26:48 GMT Jacovie grammar In the footnote at the bottom, it says that "These rules are mostly unconscious". I screamed in horror! This should be subconscious, not unconscious! Even then, it would probably sound better if it's "These rules are generally part of the subconscious" or something similar to that. I see you didn't write this Mignon, but I'm so surprised! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13162#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13162#Comments Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:46:43 GMT Terry grammar You need a proof reader! I was just reading the latest on communicating in dialects and hadn't even finished it before I came across 2 errors. A grammar site should be perfect with NO ERRORS! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13157#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13157#Comments Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:53:38 GMT Kim Siever grammar What are your thoughts on Flowers for Algernon? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13151#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx?commentid=13151#Comments Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:25:24 GMT Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:45:03 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/writing-with-accents.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us