O is for Orange --- Or maybe not

Leah tells me I say "orange" wrong.

One of the skills an actor or actress acquires at NYU is speaking properly. And, though we Midwesterners like to think we don't have an accent, clearly, we do. Now, it happens that her accent is closer to correct pronunciation than that of many students, there are some telltale signs of her linguistic origin.

One of those is "orange."

We've always pronounced the word with a long "o" -- as in "oar" or "oak." The proper pronunciation, it turns out, is with one of the shorter "o" sounds -- either the one in "ought" or the one in "hot" -- dictionaries seem to differ, and Leah's not around at the moment to tell me for certain which one she's being taught in her speech class.

So, I've learned something. With most things I learn, they are just facts. They may cause me to discard old facts, but they don't really affect my daily living.

The pronunciation of "orange" will be challenging, however. Can I really train myself to say it differently? I'm a pretty old dog, after all.

And besides, there are all those other "or-" words that need to be considered. "Orangutan" still has the long "o" but "order" doesn't. How am I supposed to know?

Well, I'll decide some other day. For now, I'll just prepare for Christmas, and watch the snow.

And ask Sherry not to serve oranges.